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Milwaukee Streetcar line on track for late 2018 opening

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The Milwaukee Streetcar construction manager says the tracks for the streetcar are 90% completed and the project is on track to open in late 2018.

Carolynn Gellings says the section of track on Ogden Avenue near Humbolt Avenue “is a good image of the final look of the streetcar line.”

The tracks are in the ground and the power cables—which provide the streetcar life—are hung above. 

“In addition to the tracks and the concrete that you can see here we’ve got everything underneath that done," Gellings said.

Work will continue down the line with the support poles being added, followed by the wiring. Then in the spring the roadways around the track in the remaining areas can be smoothed out and lines painted. 

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, The Brookline Corporation is building the new streetcar vehicles. Managers here expect the train cars to be delivered sometime next month. They will be stored and used for testing starting in the summer. 

The Milwaukee Streetcar, known after sponsorship by Potawatomi Hotel and Casino as “The Hop" is expected to be operational with passengers in the fall of 2018.

Simultaneously this spring, construction will begin on the “Lakefront Extension” line which will eventually take riders to the new Couture tower to be built on Milwaukee’s lakefront.