Milwaukee-Chicago relationship

[ReddAlert]

I have heard alot about this on this site. I have some questions...bear with me if they sound foolish because I dont have a great knowledge of these types of subjects.

Anyway....

-How will the emerging Chicago-Milwaukee metro benefit both cities?

---Are there bad points to this?

Do you think better rail transit is needed to make it more succesful? If so, why?

Is fifteen years a good estimate of this happening?

and finally..

I heard they are rebuilding the expressway between the two cities to cater to more traffic. I also heard it be much more costly and time consuming than the Marquette Interchange Project in Milwaukee. Can anyone fill me in with the details?

thanks guys

[gronier]

I think that Chicago and Milwawkee now can be considered one big Metro Area, they are very close, It's like the mega city Boston-Washington DC

[Jeff]

Bad points would be more congestion and maybe air pollution issues.

How does it benefit both cities? Hard to say. Mitchell Field as an alternative airport for Chicagoland?

To be honest, driving into Milwaulkee on "the old road" from Racine the level or intensity of new developement didnt seem that great. Kenosha is really booming though...I guess it really is becoming a new suburb of Chicago. Racine is still a stand-alone small city, or appears to be. Maybe more "connected" to MILW.

[unusualfire]

Originally Posted by gronier

I think that Chicago and Milwawkee now can be considered one big Metro Area, they are very close, It's like the mega city Boston-Washington DC

Chicago is already a one big metro. When you're in Milwawkee you don't say you live in Chicagoland.

[CG5]

^ I don't quite follow you there.

[Rockford]

I think Milwaukee would be well-advised to cultivate its relationship to not only Chicago, but also to Madision and the Rockford/Beloit area (along US-43) (total pop. over 1,000,000)

Ideally within 10 (15?) years, there will be rail service in a triangle (Chicago/Milwaukee/Madison).

And I think that any integration in the region would be positive ONLY if it is accompanied by rail transit and urban rejuvantion. For example, if the Chicago/Milwaukee merge leads to a string of true cities (Waukegan/Racine/Kenosha) and a Madison/Chicago merge leads to the same (Janesville/Beloit/Rockford/Elgin), Wisconsin and Illinois could position themselves as one of America's most desirable urban regions.

[unusualfire]

Originally Posted by CG5

^ I don't quite follow you there.

I'm just saying that if you live in a milwaukee suburb or the city it's self. When you go across country and someone asks where do you live. You will not say chicago, you will say milwaukee.

[CG5]

Oh, ok. I agree then, lol.

[samsonyuen]

True, but on the same level, people in Baltimore don't say they live in the capital either.

[Badgers77]

Milwaukee and Chicago aren't QUITE merged enough yet to talk about this. I'd say give it 10 to 15.

[The Urban Politician]

Poor Gary, IN

Always gets left out

[milwaukeeunseen]

Originally Posted by samsonyuen

True, but on the same level, people in Baltimore don't say they live in the capital either.

When I'm in another part of the country, and someone asks where I'm from, I first say, "Milwaukee." Usually people have heard of it but a lot of people aren't quite sure where it is. So then I say, "about 100 miles north of Chicago." I find that's more effective than saying "it's in Wisconsin" because I find that the same people who don't know where Milwaukee is don't know where Wisconsin is, either. But almost everyone has Chicago on their mental map of the United States.

Milwaukee has always had economic and cultural connections to Chicago and always will. Without Chicago's location as the nation's most important rail hub, Milwaukee could have never become an industrial powerhouse ... we used Chicago's postion to our advantage, to ship our stuff all over the world.

Some people might think that makes Milwaukee dependent on Chicago. Actually, I think it speaks volumes about the tenacity of Milwaukeeans that we have managed to build and maintain a major US city right down the road from this economic colossus. If Chicago is the proverbial Wal Mart, then Milwaukee is the smaller local chain that manages to thrive in the face of Wal Mart through finding a niche and exploiting it.

[lil_pc]

Originally Posted by milwaukeeunseen

If Chicago is the proverbial Wal Mart, then Milwaukee is the smaller local chain that manages to thrive in the face of Wal Mart through finding a niche and exploiting it.

Wow.....I couldn't have said it better myself!

[ReddAlert]

great post unseen...I really didnt think of it like that. Milwaukee has done quite well with its industries and business while only being 90 miles away from one of the greatest and most important cities in the world.

[samsonyuen]

That's true. It could've become like Hamilton, ON, which isn't a slouch, but still no Milwaukee.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by milwaukeeunseen

When I'm in another part of the country, and someone asks where I'm from, I first say, "Milwaukee." Usually people have heard of it but a lot of people aren't quite sure where it is. So then I say, "about 100 miles north of Chicago." I find that's more effective than saying "it's in Wisconsin" because I find that the same people who don't know where Milwaukee is don't know where Wisconsin is, either. But almost everyone has Chicago on their mental map of the United States.

Milwaukee has always had economic and cultural connections to Chicago and always will. Without Chicago's location as the nation's most important rail hub, Milwaukee could have never become an industrial powerhouse ... we used Chicago's postion to our advantage, to ship our stuff all over the world.

Some people might think that makes Milwaukee dependent on Chicago. Actually, I think it speaks volumes about the tenacity of Milwaukeeans that we have managed to build and maintain a major US city right down the road from this economic colossus. If Chicago is the proverbial Wal Mart, then Milwaukee is the smaller local chain that manages to thrive in the face of Wal Mart through finding a niche and exploiting it.

Probably because some folks are stupid enought to disregard a place close-by to an area as being an asset for that area. Look at this way: Chicagoans, unlike other people in the midwest (outside Milw), have another major city close by (90 miles) to go to (for a Cub-Brewer game, Summerfest, gambling at Pottawatomi, restaurants, weekend get-away).

As I said before, I really do see the Chgo-Milw relationship as being more mutual than so many of the other (obviously antagonistic) relationships on the board. It's not just me who stick up for Milwaukee when people outside the region come up with absurd observations about it, but other Chicagoans on the board, as well.

I still stick to the fact that people in no other city know Milwaukee as Chicagoans do, and Chicagoans are generally most favorably disposed towards it.