Milwaukee Business Journal: Milwaukee did not win $20M federal grant to extend streetcar to Bucks arena

MILWAUKEE -- The City of Milwaukee did not win a $20 million federal grant to extend the downtown Milwaukee streetcar system on Fourth Street to the future site of the new Milwaukee Bucks arena -- the Milwaukee Business Journal is reporting.

According to the Business Journal, city officials in April applied for the grant to pay for the estimated $40 million project.

The extension would add streetcar track along Fourth and Fifth Streets between the Intermodal Station on W. St. Paul Avenue to the future Bucks arena on W. Highland Avenue, according to the Business Journal.

Milwaukee was competing for the $20 million grant through the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant program. The U.S. Department of Transportation on July 29 announced $500 million in awards through the TIGER grant program, and Milwaukee’s project was not among the winners, according to the Business Journal.

The Business Journal reports the city has approved up to $20 million in tax incremental financing to pay for the local share of the extension. The Fourth Street extension was envisioned to start service in 2020.

The initial phase of the downtown streetcar project is set to start construction this year, with an opening planned in 2018.

It would be followed by an extension to the lakefront that would start service in 2019.