east madison, schenk atwood, railroads, airport (Washington, Maple Bluff: crime, neighborhoods, living in)

[m42martin]

My wife and I really, really like the Schenk Atwood area in East Madison - and have found a few nice places near Olbrich Park, but we're worried about the railroad tracks and airport.

(see it on Google maps)
Google Maps

Can anyone confirm if these tracks are active, how often trains run on them, and what type of trains (passenger or freight)?

in my experience, neighborhoods near airports are always bad - not just for noise, but for crime and poverty and filth.

so, maybe I should ask: which neighborhood areas are best for low noise, while also being as close as possible to schenk atwood?

OR ...
are there other communities on the east side that rival or are similar to Schenk Atwood?

We'd really appreciate any thoughts and suggestions.

Thank you !!

[therrboomer]

Those tracks are active. Probably 5-6 freight movements per day.

[Megan1967]

Olbrich is not really near the airport at all.

[tchemgrrl]

Agreed with both previous comments. I used to live within about 4 blocks of there, and the train tracks were less than a block from my building. I heard the train occasionally but it never disturbed me (I would've guessed trains go through 4 times a day), and the planes look low from that area but they're not so low that you can hear them.

[7G9C4J2]

I live just off East Washington and Fair Oaks, which is a lot closer to the airport than the area you're describing, and about the only time we ever notice any noise is when the National Guard takes their F-16's out to play once a month or so. That makes for a fairly noisy Saturday morning, but it doesn't happen too often.

As for "crime, poverty and filth" characterizing airport environs, well, I've seen the regions around some big city airports (Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, etc) and can understand why you might think that would be the case. However, you've got to remember that Madison is a city of about 200,000 people, not 2 million, and the airport is scaled to match. The last time we flew out of Madison, I think there were a whopping 8 departure gates (not counting the little commuter gate where you walk out to the propeller plane bound for Marquette). While the neighborhoods nearby are mostly blue-collar, take a look once at Maple Bluff, which is about as close to the airport as the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood: you'll find some of the fanciest mansions in the county there.

As for the trains, well, that's Madison. I don't think there's anywhere you can go in the city and not hear trains at some point. Bit of history: back in the mid 1800's, when Madison's founders were scrambling to convince the legislature to site the state capitol here, one of the best ways to prove that a particular city was an up-and-coming metropolis was by the number of railroads that came through town. So the city's founders went after every railroad they could find, trying to convince them to route their rails through the city, thus boosting its importance in the eyes of the legislators who were deciding between Madison and its rivals.

As a result, living in Madison means living with train tracks and train whistles and train delays, because while the legislature hasn't threatened to relocate the state capitol in quite some many decades now, it's a fair bit tougher to get rid of railroads once you've got 'em than it is to get 'em in the first place.

In short, if you love the neighborhood, settle there. Finding the fit is the hardest part, and if you've done that, then settle in and become a part of the community. Good luck!