The Chicago-Rockford-Madison-Milwaukee Megapolitan Watch Thread

[Chicago Shawn]

Originally Posted by globill

Here's a NYT's article on HSBC's new headquarters, located in Mettawa, 30 miles north of Chicago and 60 miles south of Milwaukee

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/bu...l?ref=business


Bank Takes Environmental Step Into Rural Town
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By LONG HWA-SHU
Published: July 2, 2008
METTAWA, Ill. — HSBC, the giant London-based bank, has moved its North American headquarters to a sprawling facility that it bills as carbon neutral in this hamlet about 30 miles north of Chicago.


Sally Ryan for The New York Times
The lobby and main stairwell at the new North American headquarters for HSBC, which was intended to be carbon neutral. More Photos »

HSBC Builds a Green Headquarters The 560,000-square-foot building, a five-story, H-shaped structure, was developed for more than $100 million on 29 acres with easy access to Interstate 94, between Chicago and Milwaukee.

HSBC North America Holdings, one of the 10 largest financial services companies in the United States, selected Mettawa from a list of 50 possible sites in the Chicago area, said Mike Brown, senior vice president for corporate real estate. “We had overgrown our former headquarters in Prospects Heights,” 11 miles to the south, “which we occupied since 1979,” he said.

The new headquarters will enable HSBC North America to bring 3,000 employees under one roof in a relocation that is expected to be completed this month. They had been scattered among six sites in the Chicago area.

What a crock. The only true way to be carbon neutral would be to locate next to a transit hub, like for example, inside the Loop or West Loop. The only way to arrive at work in Mettawa is by car, and that alone disqualifies this project from being "carbon neutral". Site selection is just as important as design when building green from the start.

[Paule]

Well, that's the NYT for yah...

[GarfieldPark]

Sounds like someone at the NYT pretty much just copied a press release on the project.

[chicagoboulder]

Originally Posted by globill

Lake -Cook is a nightmare. If any East-West road should be upgraded to a highway, that should be it. Put a few mini-interchanges at Waukegan, Sanders, and Milwaukee and you could have a rather workable 10 mile highway.

As weird as it is, the "Palatine Expressway" works pretty well. Maybe a similar scheme, for Lake-Cook, on steroids... would do wonders for the area.

Problem is....try to get the Stroger folks in Cook County to work on something with the Lake County folks....talk about a culture clash...

Amen to that. Lake-Cook is probably one of the worst roads i've been on, its even worse than the Boulder Turnpike in Colorado, and that is a nightmare during rush hour.

[globill]

apparently, this thread is alive again???

[dean43]

So did all the cities merge already? You can say goodbye to any big transportation projects with Scott walker in power.

[mgk920]

Originally Posted by dean43

So did all the cities merge already? You can say goodbye to any big transportation projects with Scott walker in power.

There are several pretty big transport infrastructure upgrade projects under way or immediately planned in Wisconsin - with a total investment of well in excess of one billion dollars, perhaps over two billion dollars.

Examples:

There is a major rail line restoration and reopening project currently underway in Wisconsin - CN is rebuilding and restoring their long-dormant line between Ladysmith and just west of Rice Lake to service, with the track being completely rebuilt from the roadbed on up, including heavy new welded rail, at a total cost of about $35M. They are planning to use the line to serve several 'frac' sand mines and processing plants in the Rice Lake area and the project is 100% privately funded.

CN is also replacing their mainline Fox River swing bridge in Oshkosh.

WisDOT is also continuing with their heavy rebuild of US 41 in the Oshkosh to Neenah and Green Bay areas and is getting ready to begin a badly needed rebuild of the Zoo interchange in Milwaukee and an equally badly needed upgrade of I-39/90 between Madison and the Illinois state line. When the US 41 projects are complete, the highway is expected to be 'promoted' to full interstate status.

Mike

[atrain5371]

Originally Posted by dean43

So did all the cities merge already? You can say goodbye to any big transportation projects with Scott walker in power.

The biggest myth is that Scott Walker cut government spending. His 2011-13 budget called for an increase of spending by 1.4%. He increased road spending by $400 million. And the expansion of I-90 he didn't wait till the federal government will help fund it but will instead spend mostly state money. I've never heard of an interstate project with so little federal funding.

[GarfieldPark]

Another perspective on the Chicago mega-region issue - particularly related to how it impacts Milwaukee, was recently written about in the Urbanophile blog. The article discusses and provides comparisons about how different major cities of different sizes are impacted by being "too close" or "too far" from another. Interesting discussion about whether it is a good thing or a not-so-good thing for Milwaukee to be 90 miles from Chicago. Here's a link to the page:

http://www.urbanophile.com/2012/10/2...-sun/#comments

[araman0]

Originally Posted by atrain5371

The biggest myth is that Scott Walker cut government spending. His 2011-13 budget called for an increase of spending by 1.4%. He increased road spending by $400 million. And the expansion of I-90 he didn't wait till the federal government will help fund it but will instead spend mostly state money. I've never heard of an interstate project with so little federal funding.

What's worse is that the project is not needed. I drive this stretch fairly frequently, and it is simply not needed. Other projects around the state, maybe. But I-90 simply does not need to be expanded to 6 lanes, much less at the complete expense of the state.

Also the stretch of 41 going through Green Bay is being expanded from 4 lanes to 12-14 lanes in some stretches. That's the type of freeway I would expect to see going through downtown Chicago, not suburban Green Bay.

[GenericUser]

WTF? They took 3000 jobs out of Chicago and put them in the middle of nowhere?? How is such a desolate area even able to support the infrastructure required for a 560k ft office building??

Edit: I'm referring to the HSBC HQ. I realize this is old news, but I just found out now. Why would they do that?? Is it not ironic that they're trying to be environmentally friendly and "Carbon Neutral" when they have just forced all of their workers to take cars to work??

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by GenericUser

WTF? They took 3000 jobs out of Chicago and put them in the middle of nowhere??

well, disregarding the fact that you're responding to a news article from over 4 years ago, HSBC didn't "take 3,000 jobs out of chicago". their previous HQ was in prospect heights, another chicago burb. and the move to mettawa was simply a way for them to consolidate all of their workers in chicagoland into a single HQ campus, instead of having them scattered at 6 various offices around the metro area.

i too agree that promoting the project as carbon-neutral is asinine given it's location in the auto-centric hellscape that is most of lake county, but it's still important to get the facts straight.

[St.PauliBoy]

Originally Posted by GarfieldPark

Another perspective on the Chicago mega-region issue - particularly related to how it impacts Milwaukee, was recently written about in the Urbanophile blog. The article discusses and provides comparisons about how different major cities of different sizes are impacted by being "too close" or "too far" from another. Interesting discussion about whether it is a good thing or a not-so-good thing for Milwaukee to be 90 miles from Chicago. Here's a link to the page:

http://www.urbanophile.com/2012/10/2...-sun/#comments

If I were a proud Milwaukeean, I would be very concerned that my city would be eaten by the giant that is Chicago. Rather than push for integration with Chicagoland, Milwaukee should do everything in its power to maintain its distinct separateness or it risks becoming like Fort Worth or St. Paul. The closer Milwaukee comes to Chicago, the less power it will have.

[Jesse276]

Originally Posted by St.PauliBoy

If I were a proud Milwaukeean, I would be very concerned that my city would be eaten by the giant that is Chicago. Rather than push for integration with Chicagoland, Milwaukee should do everything in its power to maintain its distinct separateness or it risks becoming like Fort Worth or St. Paul. The closer Milwaukee comes to Chicago, the less power it will have.

Most people in the Milwaukee area see the value in being so close to Chicago & realize we're a little too far away to lose our identity. However, we're not too far to forge stronger links to benefit both metros.

Has Philly been erased by NYC? or Baltimore by DC? San Jose by San Francisco? San Diego by LA?

[Jschmuck]

I was gonna say...Fort Worth and Saint Paul each have there own culture, and they are closer to there "twin". Milwaukee is 90 miles away and its own metropolis. Nothing to worry about, instead something to look forward to if they get closer.

[El Mariachi]

Milwaukee has a strong local culture that prevents it from ever becoming a giant suburb of Chicago. We are basically a smaller version of Philadelphia in that regard. Milwaukee and Madison remain distinct and unique from each other as well.

[skylinedude]

I am putting this idea out there and I think it would spark some interest. This would be an Interstate that would run from Rockford, IL from I-39 to near Portage, WI near the Lost Lake area at the I-39/90/94 interchange. This Interstate would go along US 20 around Rockford, then go north a few miles west of Harrison and Meridian Roads into Wisconsin, go near the County Highway H corridor and would continue north to US 14 a few miles west of Janesville. Then it would go along US 14, the Madison Beltline (US 12, US 14, US 18, US 151) and US 12 west of Madison to the Sauk City area. Then the highway would bypass north of Sauk City and Merrimac and go along WI 78 to the I-39/90/94 interchange. This would end up being a 3 digit Interstate probably relating to I-39. Would this Interstate idea help connect Rockford, Beloit, Janesville and Madison into one metro area?

[atrain5371]

I'm not sure if the demand for a highway is that great that far South. Madison and Dane County officials have talked about a north and/or south beltline. Some land aquisition and route pinning down has happened for the North Beltline. That is the most needed one as traffic is put down smaller capacity roads or has to go through town on the beltline or University Avenue.

Given all the work being done to Verona Road (US 18-151) I'm guessing the South Beltline is only a pipe dream. The South Beltline was thought of as an alternative to making Verona Road freeway all the way from Dubuque to Fon Du Lac. Verona Road has a lot of through traffic that could be kept away from city traffic although there's more and more commuters as Verona and Mt. Horeb continue to grow quickly. Phase 3 won't even be started before 2020 so any kind of major highway construction is a ways out there.

[skylinedude]

Originally Posted by atrain5371

I'm not sure if the demand for a highway is that great that far South. Madison and Dane County officials have talked about a north and/or south beltline. Some land aquisition and route pinning down has happened for the North Beltline. That is the most needed one as traffic is put down smaller capacity roads or has to go through town on the beltline or University Avenue.

Given all the work being done to Verona Road (US 18-151) I'm guessing the South Beltline is only a pipe dream. The South Beltline was thought of as an alternative to making Verona Road freeway all the way from Dubuque to Fon Du Lac. Verona Road has a lot of through traffic that could be kept away from city traffic although there's more and more commuters as Verona and Mt. Horeb continue to grow quickly. Phase 3 won't even be started before 2020 so any kind of major highway construction is a ways out there.

I do remember the talk of having WI 19 being a north beltline for the Madison metro area from US 12 to I-39/90/94 but I was thinking more of a western beltline for Rockford, Beloit and Janesville and then connect to the beltline on the south side of Madison at US 14/Park Street. If that ever happens then part of the beltline could get an even number 3 digit designation with I-39.

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