Milwaukee dreaming big in the last days of rail-based mass transit in that city. I can’t find many specifics about this plan, though I do know that the City was attempting to purchase the transit lines in Milwaukee from its private operators at the time, so this study may have something to do with that.

On this map, the thin black lines represent local services, probably a mix of diesel bus, “trackless trolley” and streetcar lines at this point in time. The thick black lines show the Speedrail lines to Waukesha and Hales Corner, the last remnants of a once-extensive electric interurban system. A series of horrific crashes on the Speedrail in 1949 and 1950 spelled the end of these interurban lines, and they closed permanently in 1951.

The green lines are noted as “express lines” in the legend, although the mode of transit to be employed is not noted here. Possibly trolleybuses or upgraded legacy streetcar lines?

Not shown is the North Shore Line that ran between Milwaukee and Chicago, probably because the City was not attempting to purchase that line.

Source: UWM Libraries