Will Chicago ever meet up with milwaukee?? (Benton, St. Joseph: 2009, subdivisions)

[Drover]

It's already happened. There is now contiguous development and suburbanization all the way up the lakefront. Granted, it gets to be a real thin band along the I-94 corridor around the border, but we've now reached the point where a Milwaukee suburb (Racine) literally borders a Chicago suburb (Kenosha).

I give it 20 years before there is contiguous development from Chicago to Rockford. I don't know that it will reach Madison in our lifetimes though -- I don't see enough demand for it.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Drover

It's already happened. There is now contiguous development and suburbanization all the way up the lakefront. Granted, it gets to be a real thin band along the I-94 corridor around the border, but we've now reached the point where a Milwaukee suburb (Racine) literally borders a Chicago suburb (Kenosha).

I give it 20 years before there is contiguous development from Chicago to Rockford. I don't know that it will reach Madison in our lifetimes though -- I don't see enough demand for it.

Madison-Jainesville-Beloit-Rockford. Out of these four, only one is growing (Madison). The other three are dying cities. For Madison and Chicago to join up sprawl paths, they would have to suck these dying cities into their spheres of influence. It's definitely possible, though. Kenosha and Racine sure weren't looking very good twenty years ago!

[BlackHawksfan102]

i was looking at a map the other day and when i looked at kenosha, racine, and walworth counties it was all open space/farmland. i started wondering, If and when the economy recovers and when those three counties are developed/ if a housing boom strikes in those three counties, do you guys think that the home prices in lake county will skyrocket?

[BlackHawksfan102]

P.s. I was just wondering that because i Just brought a home in Hawthorn Woods for about $380000 and i just am finding out about route 53's proposed extension and im really worried that it will affect my property value. (im really new to the chicagoland area)

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

I'd like to see more concerted efforts to join the two.

I'd like to see even more rail travel between the two, and that sort of thing. There's the Hiawatha line, but why not some variation of Metra traffic that goes on up to Milwaukee?

[Dreickx]

I doubt Chicago will expand much in geographic size in the next 100 years. New developments will be high-density and probably mostly infill within the existing urban/suburban areas due to ever-increasing transportation costs. (Yes, there is a limited supply of oil.)

Though the US census bureau projects the national population to increase to ~450 million by 2050 from the current 300 million, they are assuming that immigration policy will stay the same and that the internal birth rate (now at replacement rate) will not decrease.

Regardless, expansion of the Chicagoland sprawl would be a massive waste of some of the nation's best farmland. If nothing else the government needs to step in, like the government of Britain did way back in 1949, to draw permanent urban growth boundaries to keep things from getting ridiculous.

[Milwaukee City]

There's the Hiawatha line, but why not some variation of Metra traffic that goes on up to Milwaukee?

This was actually proposed and agreed upon until Ill didn't want to pay for their share of the cost of upgrades and expansion. So at the last minute it was canceled. Metra was proposed to go up to downtown Milwaukee with stops along Milw's south shore.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

This was actually proposed and agreed upon until Ill didn't want to pay for their share of the cost of upgrades and expansion. So at the last minute it was canceled. Metra was proposed to go up to downtown Milwaukee with stops along Milw's south shore.

What exactly was the cost (and percentage of the total cost) of Illinois' fair share?

[Milwaukee City]

I can't find the story but as I remember it, the price that ILL Governor didn't want to pay was like 10% of the cost and didn't want to help maintain it. Wisconsin was going to pay for 90% of it and split the maintenance cost/operating cost(around 8million a year) with ILL but they refused and our gov threw out the plans. Here are some stories on it:

Board considers downtown Milwaukee Metra train stop - News

OnMilwaukee.com Milwaukee Buzz: Opinion: Metra could chug from Kenosha to Milwaukee by 09

[Milwaukee City]

But now here in Milwaukee The KRM line is close to being funded and start operation soon.
Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Train Line:

Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee Commuter Trains