ADVOCACY
La Crosse
Regional Airport (LSE)
LADCO helped host a meeting with area businesses earlier this year to discuss air services at the La Crosse Regional Airport (LSE). Read below for additional resources.
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LSE Business Meeting Presentation. JD Roberts, Airport Business Manager at LSE, presented at the February 29th meeting on Delta's departure, its importance to the business community, and airline opportunities for the future. For the full presentation, click here.
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LSE Business Meeting Media Coverage. The La Crosse Tribune covered the February 29th meeting and reaffirmed the message to the public to "fly local." Roughly 50 people gathered at the La Crosse County Administrative Center to discuss strategies to keep passenger air service viable at the city-owned facility. For more information, read the full article here!
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LSE Survey Results. LADCO helped distribute a survey to leisure travelers, which had results from nearly 2,000 respondents. The purpose of this survey was to help LSE better understand consumer preferences. For a summary of the survey responses, click here.
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LSE Work Group. LADCO is part of a work group formed from public, private, and non-profit sectors to raise awareness of air services, airport economic development, and to raise local funding commitments toward supporting air services.
Northern Grain Belt Ports
La Crosse is the host city for the Northern Grain Belt Ports (NGBP) Annual Meeting. This conference helps build a common unified vision for the port cities of the Upper Mississippi. The NGBP is the newest of the four Corn Belt Port Regions. The ports are located in La Crosse, Prairie du Chien, Winona, Wabasha and Red Wing.
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The goal of these ports is recognition. According to Brennan Marine president Adam Binsfeld, the port is part of the top 100 ports in the country. It played a vital role during the recent summer droughts.
"The river, it's been shallow, but the engineers have done an outstanding job in dredging and staying ahead of issues. We learned a lot of things last year both above St Louis and below St Louis and this year I feel they're doing an outstanding job," Binsfeld says. Binsfeld is happy the port is recognized at the national level.
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For more information on the Northern Grain Belt Ports, click here. To learn more about promoting cooperation and coordination for the Corn Belt Ports, check out this PDF.
Borealis
Passenger Train
The Borealis, formerly known as the TCMC Passenger Train, is a new daily passenger train between St. Paul, Milwaukee and Chicago. This round-trip service began on May 21, 2024. Borealis uses a portion of the 411-mile rail corridor used by Amtrak’s long-distance Empire Builder, connecting rural and urban communities with another choice for safe, reliable transportation. The Borealis service is a partnership with the Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota Departments of Transportation, with funding assistance from the Federal Railroad Administration. Amtrak is providing the service.
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Project Highlights:
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Provides more choices for regional travelers with time-sensitive plans and schedules, making more trips viable by rail
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Uses existing infrastructure stations and equipment to keep project costs down
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Improves operations and expands capacity to provide more reliable service with better on-time performance for both passenger and freight trains
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Improves intercity connections throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota with added rail schedules that connect to intercity bus and shuttle services, air travel, and local transit.
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For more information on the Borealis Passenger Rail, click here.
Governor Tony Evers and Amtrak CEO, Stephen Gardner, along with other state legislators and dignitaries cutting the ribbon for the new Borealis train service from St. Paul to Chicago.