DOT’s train station plans bring out detractors

As published in the Record Journal Wednesday May 29, 2013

By Andrew Ragali
Record-Journal staff
aragali@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224
Twitter:@AndyRagz

WALLINGFORD — During a public information session Tuesday night, residents and town councilors showed displeasure with plans for a new train station proposed by the state Department of Transportation.

As part of Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, John Bernick, project manager for the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail, presented designs for the new station, which will be near the corner of Parker and North Colony streets, about a half mile away from its current location between Hall Avenue and Quinnipiac Street.

“I’m not really agreeable to the location,” Town Councilor John Sullivan said. “I like the design of the station.”

Six residents of North Cherry Street, adjacent to the proposed station, and some residents of the surrounding area told the eight state officials present Tuesday that oppose the location.

Those who spoke said they were concerned about traffic issues on North Cherry Street. Commuter buses will shuttle rail users to and from parking lots. Residents said they felt the buses would struggle to navigate the narrow street.

They also expressed concern over lighting from the station. Plans call for the widening of a portion of North Cherry Street, as well as the planting of mature trees to help mitigate lighting issues for residents. Plans also call for the purchase of several properties in the area, including one that currently houses a business. Residents were told that properties can be taken by eminent domain.

Bernick told concerned residents that he was willing to schedule personal meetings.

“I know they probably won’t sleep soundly tonight with all this new information, but at least it’s information they have,” Sullivan said.

Construction of the three-story station will begin early next year, Bernick said. The design calls for two parking lots with about 220 parking spots. Also, a 500-foot platform will be built, as well as a pedestrian walkway to cross the tracks.

Service will launch in late 2016, with 45 minute peak-hour and hourly midday service between New Haven and Springfield, Mass. The railway will provide 17 round trips daily, with the potential for 25 round trips in the near future, Bernick said. Estimates show, Bernick said, that 250 to 300 Wallingford residents will ride the commuter trains daily.

“This is the worst place for this,” Town Councilor John LeTourneau said. “This is a mistake for Wallingford that will affect us for the next 50 to 100 years. It’s a mistake.”

“I think the train concept is a boon to the town,” Town Councilor Jason Zandri said, adding that he, too, has concerns with the stations location. “I probably would have liked to see this farther down in Judd Square.”

A station at Judd Square was one of the alternate proposals brought before the town, Bernick said, adding that it had been a decision of the Town Council to build a station at the new location.

Councilor Craig Fishbein took offense to the statement by Bernick, arguing that “we were not presented with Judd Square” the last time town councilors met with DOT officials about the project.

Bernick disagreed, and said both site plans were presented. Fishbein said he would give Bernick the benefit of the doubt, but would look back at the video from the meeting.

Security issues at the new station were also discussed. Phones that dial 911 directly are to be installed in parking lots and at the station, according to the plans. Cameras will also be installed, but Bernick said it’s impossible to stop all crime.

“Crime could happen, yes, correct,” Bernick said in response to questions from Town Council Chairman Bob Parisi. “I want to portray this as realistically as possible.”

“There should be more money put into safety,” Parisi said.

“It’s a done deal no matter what? It’s a done deal?” LeTourneau asked Bernick on the location of the station.

“Yes,” Bernick responded.

Parker-N. Cherry OK’d for train station

As published in the Record Journal Thursday August 23, 2012

By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Twitter:@RussellBlairRJ

WALLINGFORD - The state Department of Transportation has received federal approval to move forward with designing and planning a new train station near the intersection of Parker and North Cherry streets, part of a $647 million project to revamp rail lines from New Haven to Springfield, Mass.

John Bernick, project manager, said the Federal Railroad Administration recently approved the site. The Town Council backed the location in June, 5-2, over Ward Street near Judd Square.

To build the new station, the state will need to acquire land from Cerrito’s Auto Sales, at 180 N. Colony St. Bernick said the state was already in discussions with the property owner. “It’s a lengthy process, so we’re starting it now,” he said. “We have to purchase the property and the business owner has to look at relocation options.”

Final designs are expected to be completed in August 2013, with construction beginning as soon as October. Bernick said the DOT would be back before the public in Wallingford once design plans were near completion to seek input.

But some in town still have concerns, including Republican Town Councilor John Le-Tourneau, who cast one of the two votes against the site.

“It’s not going to work,” Le-Tourneau said. “I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.”

LeTourneau said he’s concerned about handicapped access to the site, as well as that there’s no room for expansion. “I think there was some long-term planning that wasn’t done,” he said.

The Parker Street station would be a split site with two parking lots, one on each side of the tracks, totaling 210 spaces. One of the lots would be at the intersection of Parker and North Cherry Streets on the south side of Parker and the west side of the tracks, with entrances on North Cherry. The second lot would be placed on North Colony Street, on the site of Cerrito’s used car lot.

Town Engineer John Thompson said the Ward Street site posed public safety risks because trains stopping there would tie up Ward Street, a main east-west artery through town, preventing emergency vehicles from getting to their destination.

“The Parker site afforded us a greater degree of assurance that the fire trucks would have the opportunity to get across the tracks,” Thompson said. “That was the compelling factor.”

A parking garage had also been proposed for the Ward Street location, a plan that town staff and some councilors opposed.

With all the parking on one side of the tracks at the Ward Street site, congestion would have been worse, Thompson said.

Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein, who supported the Parker site, said it “seemed to make a lot more sense.”

“I preferred the surface parking to the parking garage,” he said. “And I had concerns about the roadway in the area.”

LeTourneau said he is worried about buses having difficulty exiting on Route 5 from the Parker Street site and that he wishes councilors had been included in discussions between Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio, Fire Chief Peter Struble and Thompson that preceded the council vote.

“The process we went through, in my opinion, was a terrible process,” he said. “I think some councilors were not informed.”

The Federal Railroad Administration approval of the Wallingford site was part of a larger “Finding of No Significant Impact” report, which freed $121 million in federal funds for the New Haven-to-Springfield rail project.

“That was a big step,” Bernick said. “We hope to have that grant obligated shortly and gain access to the money.” Construction of the entire rail project, which also includes a new station in Meriden, is targeted for completion in 2016.

A new location for the Wallingford Train Station

As published in the Record Journal, Monday June 11, 2012

By Laurie Rich Salerno

Record-Journal staff

WALLINGFORD — On Tuesday night, town councilors are expected to vote on where Wallingford’s next train depot should go — a decision that could affect downtown traffic and development for decades of years to come.

There are two sites being suggested by the state Department of Transportation: one at the intersection of the railroad tracks and Ward Street, called Judd Square, or Plan 1; and another near the intersection of North Cherry and Parker streets, referred to as Parker/Cerrito, or Plan 2. Town staff are primarily backing the Parker Street site, citing safety issues due to traffic interruption and a parking garage at the Judd Square location.

“Of all the sites discussed … it’s the optimal one at this point,” Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said of the Parker Street site, citing the concerns of emergency personnel.

The council’s decision is not binding, but according to John Bernick, the rail project’s supervising engineer, it will be heavily considered when the DOT gives recommendations to the Federal Rail Administration, which is funding the project. The DOT is soliciting public comments until June 22 on its environmental impact survey, available on its website.

Town Engineer John Thompson sought to have the council vote Tuesday night so the town could have a voice on the location.

“We didn’t want somebody outside of Wallingford deciding where the station should be,” said Thompson, who has been working with both the DOT and the town on the project.

The new passenger platform would serve the state’s proposed New Haven-to-Springfield high-speed rail service, which officials say could eventually bring 25 round-trip commuter trains — 50 trips — through town each day. It is scheduled to be completed in 2016 and begin with about 17 round-trip trains a day.

Neither depot would include an actual train station; rather, they would consist of parking lots or parking structures, platforms on each side of the track and a vaulted pedestrian walkway to connect the two. Riders would buy tickets on the train, as do now, or use automated systems on the platforms, engineers say.

The historic train station at Hall, Quinnipiac and Center streets will remain, but not as a train station. It won’t be used for the high-speed rail, according to engineers, because trains stopping there cut off access to not only those streets, but can clog Route 5 and close nearby Ward and Parker streets.

“It would literally tie up downtown,” Thompson said.

Judd Square

The Judd Square site was proposed as an alternative to both an initial Parker Street plan and a separate plan that would have placed a station across the tracks from Holy Trinity Church.

The depot there would feature one 200-space parking garage on the north side of Ward Street and the west side of the railroad tracks, along with 500-foot platforms on each side of the tracks and 200-foot shelters directly across from one another and joined by a raised pedestrian overpass, according to DOT schematics. Entrances to the lots would be both on Ward and South Cherry streets, and the parking structure would abut a parking lot belonging to the Judd Square condominium complex.

Having a more-than-300unit condominium right next door seemed like it would be a natural feeder for the service, Thompson said.

“When the Judd Square site was floated — that jumped out as being an absolute home run in terms of ridership potential,” he said.

But a town working group formed to analyze the sites after a public hearing last August found the site to be less than ideal in terms of traffic and public safety, according to Thompson.

Ward Street is a busy artery for east-west traffic, extending from North Elm Street on the east and joining with Quinnipiac Street on the west side, which feeds into Route 15. Trains stopping at Judd Square 50 times a day would close Ward, Hall and Quinnipiac — which engineers say are the town’s busiest streets — all at once. Trains stopping at Judd Square would make Parker, a short street that runs between North Colony and Washington, the nearest open road downtown. And that, Thompson said, could hamper the ability of emergency vehicles to quickly get to different sides of town.

Thompson said that one Sunday he saw this in action while sitting in his car at a crossing behind an ambulance as a train went by. “I’m watching an emergency vehicle with its lights flashing,” he said. “We just can’t let this happen 50 times a day.”

The working group also opposed the construction of a parking garage, citing public safety and aesthetic concerns.

“Most people find them difficult to navigate when getting off the train. The darkness of those places and the manner in which they’re designed is usually pretty intimidating,” said Police Chief Douglas Dortenzio, who attended some of the working group meetings. The chief said he’s not a fan of high-rise parking garages from a public safety standpoint — particularly those that do not have attendants — but he said he thinks there are subtle advantages and disadvantages to each site, and he isn’t a strong believer in either one.

Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein said he is leaning toward the Parker Street site because of Judd Square’s proposed parking garage.

“I don’t want to see the Wallingford landscape include a multilevel parking lot. I think it would turn the town of Wallingford into the city of Wallingford,” Fishbein said, though he is opposed to the high-speed rail project on the whole.

For the site to work as it has been designed, the state would need to acquire the Knights of Columbus building, a vacant industrial site and a private home.

Parker Street

The Parker Street depot would be a split site with two parking lots, one on each side of the tracks, totaling 210 spaces. One of the lots would be at the intersection of Parker and North Cherry streets on the south side of Parker and the west side of the tracks,with entrances on North Cherry. The land that would become the North Cherry lot is owned by the state. The second lot would be placed on North Colony Street, at the site of Cerrito’s used car lot.

The state would have to acquire property from only one owner to complete the Parker Street site, and though Cerrito’s owners did not return calls Friday, DOT officials said the town had discussed the proposed plans with them. Bernick said the state would pay for the property and relocation costs. “It’s a pretty fair shake,” he said of the process.

The two 500-foot platforms and 200-foot shelters would not be directly across from each other, but the ends would overlap in the middle, where there would be an overhead pedestrian walkway.

The distance between platforms is one of the reasons Republican Town Councilor John LeTourneau is a proponent of the Judd Square location, saying it could be difficult for handicapped, aged and other travelers if they need to get from one parking lot to the other side of the tracks.

“Judd Square … I like because it can be a nice, neat, clean up-and-over to get from one platform to the other,” Le-Tourneau said. He said the public safety argument for Parker Street is thin — the increased frequency of trains could cause public safety issues no matter where the new station is. He believes auxiliary police and fire stations may eventually be necessary.

The town’s working group favors the Parker Street site, as there would be no parking garage and trains stopping there would close Parker, Hall and Quinnipiac, but leave the busier Ward Street open.

Having parking lots on both sides of the tracks would also minimize bottlenecks to one lot or side of the tracks, according to Thompson.

“It gives (riders) the ability to park on the side closer to them,” Thompson said, which “lessens traffic impact on the local roadway network.”

Democratic Town Councilor John Sullivan said he would wait until Tuesday’s meeting, which will include a presentation from town engineers, to decide which site to support.

Residents

There were few residents out near either location late Friday morning, but some weighed in on the possibility of having a train depot nearby. Leon Bernstein, who has lived in the Judd Square condominiums for about 15 years, said he did not want a train stop next door.

“I don’t really like the idea. I wish they would put it someplace else,” Bernstein said.

At the other location, residents of Parker Place condominiums, which would be directly across the street from one of the parking lots, were more enthusiastic about having a station so near.

“The convenience of having the station here — that would be great,” Carole Evon said. “I have a car, but I might use it.”

As for increased noise, Diann Burrill, who has lived in a unit facing the tracks for three years, said it likely wouldn’t make that much difference to her and her husband.

“We have gotten used to it,“ Burrill said of the train whistle and other noises. The location would be convenient for others in her building, she said, including her son, who lives in a separate apartment in the same complex.

“He and his girl might use it once in a while … go see the Red Sox and Yankees. I think people would use it,” Burrill said.

Above: A vacant parcel next at Parker and North Cherry streets is a proposed site for a new Wallingford train station.Below: A lot across the tracks behind Dairy Queen on Ward Street is a possible location for a parking structure to be part of a train station.

Photos by Christopher Zajac / Courtesy of the Record-Journal

FROM WALLINGFORD - Contrasting approaches to government

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday September 18, 2011

If I were a civics teacher, a viewing of last Tuesday’s Wallingford Town Council meeting would be a class requirement, and it would serve as a textbook example of why the functions of government should be carried out at the lowest level possible or, described another way, the level closest to the people.

On the one hand were the votes to repeal Town Council decisions to lease a piece of private property for 30 years and to spend public money on its improvement or face a referendum on the issue. On the other hand, was the report on the placement of the railroad station by the project engineer for the $647 million commuter rail project where the only impact that the citizenry of Wallingford might possibly have is on its location.

When you put these two projects side by side as was done the other night, it becomes clear why so many of us advocate for leaving as much authority and responsibility at the local level of government, or at least the lowest possible level that makes sense. Our ability to enforce accountability and transparency on those that run our various governments dissipates exponentially as decisions are made by higher and most distant entities. Here are three aspects of what I mean by that:

1. The citizen’s impact on government: the Town Council made two decisions regarding the parking lot. Those decisions have been challenged by some voters. First, they were able to argue for a repeal of those decisions in an open meeting directly with the people that made them. Not having achieved that goal, they were able to secure sufficient signatures to allow every voter in Wallingford to weigh in on the issue in a referendum. The railroad project?

Well, maybe, just maybe, if, in their judgment, they deem our comments worthy, we may, just possibly, perhaps be able to get the State of Connecticut and the Federal Railroad Administration to … listen to us regarding where to locate the station. That is the sum total of citizen impact on this $647 million project. As for any other citizen comments the other night: it was “this deal is done; sit down and be quiet” time, according to one councilor’s comments.

2. How these projects are paid for: The Town Council of Wallingford is paying for the parking lot improvements immediately from a capital and non-recurring fund financed by current contributions from our Electric Division. How is the commuter railroad being paid for? Well, the State of Connecticut is borrowing its hundreds of millions from us and our children. The feds are paying their hundreds of millions of dollars with … Happy Bucks borrowed from our great grandchildren. In other words, local government finances its wishes with real money; the state with sort of real money to be paid back years from now, and the feds with … money borrowed from … well, we really don’t know, do we?

3. Direct results: Wallingford Town Council spends $500 thousand. Result: parking lot improvements that everyone who owns a car in Wallingford can use. State and feds spend one thousand times that amount and we get: a startup commuter service that will be utilized by 6,000 residents statewide. But to justify this staggering amount of money spent on benefiting so few, they trot out the old impossible-to-quantify, years-and-years down the road “economic development” chestnut.

I am not for a second suggesting that the decisions to be made in building railroads or other similarly complex undertakings be the province of local authorities. That is clearly unworkable. However, the point I am making is that, in America today, we citizens are ceding more and more authority to higher and higher levels of government.

That Town Council meeting contained two starkly contrasting approaches to government. Unless we are wise, we will lose the one and be crushed by the other.

New train station location proposed

As published in the Record Journal, Wednesday September 14, 2011

By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
rcyr@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2224

WALLINGFORD — After much concern and public input from a meeting last month, a state transportation official returned Tuesday to present another possible location for a train station that will be part of a multi-million- dollar railway upgrade, connecting New Haven and Springfield, Mass.

Town councilors worried about increased automobile traffic and problems involving development around proposed train station sites at Judd Square and a newly proposed Parker Street location.

“I think this could be a real winner, for not only the state of Connecticut but for points up north as well,” said Councilor John Sullivan. “But my real concern is that we don’t have a long-term plan for the downtown.”

Plans call for upgrading signals along the track, which is slated to start as early as next spring. The first proposed station at Judd Square has raised concerns over an elevated platform and parking for 200 cars. The proposed Parker Street station, farther from downtown and higher-density population areas, was drafted on public input, said DOT Project Manager John Bernick.

Wallingford has the most crossings of track over road of any municipality along the corridor — 10, eight with signals and two gates without signals. The most heavily trafficked areas are Parker, Hall, Ward and Quinnipiac streets. The town now has five or six trains passing through every day. The rail project calls for 25 cars running every half-hour during peak morning and evening commutes and once an hour in between, Bernick said.

Springfield will become a central connector, with service to Boston, Vermont and finally to Montreal. The $647 million project consists of double-tracking 62 miles of track, upgrading the signals, building new stations in North Haven, Newington and Enfield, relocating Wallingford’s station and building new elevated platforms, walkways and parking garages in each town.

“This service promotes transit-related development, and allows the downtown to grow without creating traffic congestion that normally goes with it,” Bernick said. “We’re here to make sure that no matter what site comes out in the end, it’s buildable and the impacts aren’t any more than what we anticipated.”

An environmental impact study, with a public comment period, is expected to be completed and ready for presentation in November. Once the studies are done, the project will be eligible for $121 million in federal funding, he said. Full service could begin by 2016.

Public officials have said they are concerned that more trains, which can go as fast as 110 mph, would pose a safety threat to residents and disrupt nearby businesses. A traffic study previously conducted by Wilbur Smith & Associates gave several crossings poor ratings for the proposed project without altering streets and traffic flow.

Some residents, however, disagreed with the DOT’s philosophy and cost benefit studies that say the upgraded railway would create economic growth along the commuter corridor. Public Utilities Commissioner David Gessert told Bernick that the transit system would benefit few and be a financial burden to many.

“I think it’s a beautiful fairy tale, but I don’t think all of these things are relay going to happen,” he said. “It’s hard to see in my mind how this high speed train is going to be of any tremendous value.”

‘Citizen Mike’ talks Simpson Court at 9PM

WALLINGFORD — Former City Councilor Mike Brodinsky discusses the Simpson Court parking plan on the latest edition of his public access show “Citizen Mike.” In studio guests include Town Councilors Nick Economopoulos and Craig Fishbein.

The show airs on cable Channel 18 at 9 p.m. every night, except Sunday. It can also be viewed on demand at wpaa.tv. Comments or suggestions can be sent to citizenmiketv@gmail.com. Record-Journal Executive Editor Ralph Tomaselli is regular contributor to the show.

If you can’t catch the show on TV you can catch it online on their Video On Demand page.

Tracking the rail project in Wallingford

As published in the Record Journal, Monday August 8, 2011

By Mary Ellen Godin
Record-Journal staff
mgodin@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2255

WALLINGFORD — Travel speeds, downtown traffic, land acquisition and changes in the Judd Square area are some of the concerns being raised by the public over plans for commuter rail service from New Haven to Springfield, Mass.

Plans call for upgrading signals along the 62-mile stretch, which could begin as early as next spring. But locally, the public voiced concerns at a meeting last week over a proposal to move the train stop to Judd Square, with an elevated platform and parking for 200 cars.

The state Department of Transportation held the first of many informational sessions last Thursday with residents and town officials over where and how to lay out the new station. The rail line will increase commuter and inter-city service while also providing high-speed Acela transit along the corridor.

Springfield will become a central connector with service to Boston, Vermont and finally to Montreal. The project consists of double tracking 62 miles of track, upgrading the signals, building new stations in North Haven, Newington and Enfield, relocating Wallingford’s station and building new elevated platforms, walkways and parking garages in each town.

“Nothing has been set in stone,” said DOT Project Manager John Bernick.
He asked town officials to create a panel to act as an advisory board throughout the project.

Wallingford has the most crossings of any municipality along the corridor — 10, eight with signals and two unsignaled gates. The most heavily trafficked areas are Parker, Hall, Ward and Quinnipiac streets. The town now has five or six trains passing through per day. The rail project calls for 25.

Public officials have said they are concerned that more trains, which can go as fast as 110 mph, would pose a safety threat to residents and disrupt nearby businesses.

City Councilor Jerry Farrell opposed Amtrak’s taking any land from Most Holy Trinity Church. Bernick assured him that wouldn’t happen.

Farrell also he had concerns about 25 trains roaring through a very densely populated section of town every day. The crossings are at grade. He was assured that just because the trains had the potential to reach 110 mph didn’t mean they would travel that fast through Wallingford or other high density areas. “No matter where you place it or combine it, grade crossings are going to be a problem,” Bernick said.

A traffic study conducted by Wilbur Smith & Associates reviewed the traffic signals at Parker, Hall, Ward and Quinnipiac streets and gave several of them failing grades should the anticipated commuter and intercity service start with no changes in existing traffic routes. Solutions include some road widening in certain areas, signal changes and right-turn-only lanes.

Residents of Judd Square and the nearby area expressed concerns that their parking, already in short supply, would be impacted. Bernick said no parking would be taken away and Amtrak plans to use land now housing a warehouse for that purpose.

There were only rough schematics of the site, parking garage and walk-up from Route 5 because project leaders hope to gather more public input on the location of the new train platform and design specifications. Judd Square is not a definitive site — moving the stop several blocks to the north has also been discussed — but is the best for the project, Bernick said.

Councilor Craig Fishbein questioned the cost of the project and the amount Amtrak receives annually in subsidies to support its operation. He said that without an obvious demand by people working in other towns, he didn’t see how the operation could sustain itself. The cost of the project is set at $647 million, and a $110 million shortfall is expected for the Hartford-to-Springfield leg, which planners expect will come from the federal government.

“You would be better off giving the money to the people,” Fishbein said.

Bernick replied that demand has already been proven and the project will offer significant economic development opportunities to communities with train stations. He also said increased usage of Metro-North has made it the most profitable service in the U.S.

Other benefits are that the ability to travel to Boston and New York in one to two hours could make office space in Meriden or Wallingford more attractive. Shuttle buses to and from industrial parks are also a possibility and the station will connect with the public service bus lines.

The public meetings in the cities and towns along the rail line will become part of the environmental impact study expected this fall. Upgrades to the signals could begin as early as next spring, Bernick said.

Gail DeLucia, president of the Judd Square Homeowners Association, got on board with the project after she learned the residents would not lose any parking. She was careful to say she was speaking as an individual and not for the group. But the sluggish economy and job market offer more reasons to invite commerce and create jobs.

“We have to look to the future,” DeLucia said, “or we don’t get any solution.”

FROM WALLINGFORD - Truth overtakes rail project

This week’s FROM WALLINGFORD was written by Stephen Knight

As published in the Record Journal, Sunday August 7, 2011

I have been a student of the railroad industry for my entire adult life; as a student in graduate school, as a keenly interested observer, and as a professional transportation consultant. So I write this column with considerable angst, because it is my conclusion that the proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project that will run through Wallingford is a boondoggle of fantastic proportions. My inherent predisposition to support this project is overwhelmed when confronted with the 1) downright mythical speed and service projections, 2) wildly optimistic ridership projections and 3) blindly underestimated capital and operating expenses.

Speed and service projections: In a May 9 press release, Gov. Malloy stated that these trains would reach “speeds up to 110 miles per hour.” I say: only if you catapult the trains from every station like they do jet fighters off an aircraft carrier. Why? First of all, there will eventually be 11 stops in the 62 miles between New Haven and Springfield. That’s an average of less than six miles between stops. So where exactly will these trains do 110 mph? And — are you ready for this? — the service will commence with hand-me-down equipment from Shoreline East. According to their latest schedule, those trains, making all the stops, move between New Haven and New London averaging less than 50 mph, and do so on the most advanced, best maintained railroad track in America. Secondly, this speed in a corridor with thirty-eight grade crossings? Really? So calling the NHHS project high speed rail is utterly fictitious.

Ridership projections built on the sentiment “Build it and they will come”: in calculating potential ridership, the numbers presented assume a) many more daily Amtrak trains running on the line; b) enormous numbers of passengers feeding the line from the so-called “Knowledge Corridor” line in central Massachusetts which has yet to be rebuilt; and c) thousands upon thousands of people willing to live in this corridor and work 2 ½ hours away in New York City. In other words, the number of commuters between New Haven and Springfield that is supposedly the driving force behind this project could never, ever justify the price tag, so numbers assuming a complete northeastern United States rail system build out are used to puff up the stats.

Capital and operating expenses: The price tag for rail line and station construction alone is $647 million, and the project is counting on huge support from the feds. Here is the latest fed response: State of Connecticut request — $227 million. Fed grant: $30 million. Result: the project has already contracted to providing trains only during peak commuter times. And how much money is allocated to purchase rolling stock — the stuff you ride on? Zero. As mentioned above, the plan is to use the existing Shore Line East equipment until, well, who knows?

As for operating expenses, somehow the project is making revenue estimates, but they haven’t even set the fare schedule. How do you do that? But even assuming (do you see that word a lot here?) their revenue and ridership projections are accurate, there is an inherent, unavoidable, inevitable huge annual cash subsidy. This is not unusual. This is the norm, but could someone in Hartford admit that?

So here’s the rub. Even more than I love railroads, I love the truth. The unvarnished, straight up, tell-it-like-it-is, we can take it truth. And we aren’t getting it. We are being fed pretty pictures, fantastic blue-sky fuzzy numbers and gauzy descriptions of an idyllic life in a future northeastern U.S. economy that seems farther from reality every single day.

If these words seem harsh, they spring from disappointment.

Disappointment that this project is not a practical, financially sensible fit for the market in which it is to operate, and disappointed that you and I are, yet again, being treated like proverbial mushrooms: kept in the dark and covered with . . . well, you know what I’m saying.

FROM WALLINGFORD - Downtown deadlock

This week’s FROM WALLINGFORD is written by my counterpart on the column - Stephen Knight

As Published in the Record Journal Sunday December 26, 2010

Well, for now, the Incentive Housing Zone for downtown Wallingford is off the table. Monday night, the Town Council deadlocked on the issue and the Planning and Zoning Commission postponed a vote on the plan. While support for the plan seemed to be building a year ago, it was clear that that support dissipated in the intervening months. While most of the opposition seemed to center around the need for more information, I think that there are three other factors that also figured into the resultant, lukewarm support.

First of all, major changes to existing regulations have to be driven by either 1) an actual proposal put forth by an entity with means to make the project actually happen, or, 2) a consensus among those most affected that the changes are in their best interest. Neither of those conditions was in evidence. The idea appears to have come to life because some of the social engineers in Hartford passed legislation offering financial incentives to consider development of this sort. Then financial incentives that got the town to the table in the first place were drastically reduced. That left little or no impetus for changes to be made, and what little momentum that did exist died.

Secondly, there are many in Wallingford skeptical of accepting state funds for an entirely local project, and I certainly share such skepticism. When the State of Connecticut offers money to local communities, it does so in order to induce compliance with whatever grand scheme it is that they are promoting. The proverbial “strings attached” to that funding has two results: 1) the town loses control over whatever the project is and 2) the completion of the project slows to a crawl. In this case, the money that the state is offering no doubt came with an enormous set of conditions, restrictions and impediments.

As illustration, I offer you the Christian Street bridge debacle of recent years. Do you recall how long that bridge took to replace? The Town had originally sought to work through the state’s local bridge program, but the project got so bogged down in red tape that the town administration finally threw up its hands, completed its own design and installed the bridge without any state assistance for hundreds of thousands less. In the present Incentive Housing Zone case, the question had to be asked: if we take the money, how much control over the area are we ceding to the bureaucracy in Hartford? Is it really worth it?

Lastly, the linchpin of this whole redevelopment idea is the commuter rail service that is supposed to be built over the next few years. Maybe no one brought this up in Monday’s meeting, but I am beginning to doubt if this operation will ever be built. The state is facing years of multibillion dollar deficits. And, to make the problem far worse, the federal government recently turned down Connecticut’s request for additional hundreds of millions of dollars to finance the project, leaving it for the state to bear the lion’s share of funding. In other words, no one in Hartford will say it, but I think this project is stalled. If that is indeed the case, a huge incentive for creating this special zone is gone.

I take a backseat to nobody in my support for downtown Wallingford and the creation of ways to keep it healthy and attractive. Perhaps sometime in the future, this Incentive Housing Zone will be revisited and the good effort of Town Planner Linda Bush will bring a different result. At present, however, the irony seems to be that the town’s best action was to take no action.

FROM WALLINGFORD - Time for a new game-changer

This week’s FROM WALLINGFORD is written by my counterpart on the column – Stephen Knight

Transportation Game-Changers: The Appian Way of ancient Rome, the Erie Canal of the 1820s, the 19th century Clipper ship, the transcontinental railroad completed in 1869, the New York City subway system of the early 20th century, the Interstate Highway System begun in 1956, the Boeing 707 developed in the late ‘50s, and the Sea-Land containership. These are but a few of the transportation projects that have not only transformed how we move about but eventually transformed either national or worldwide society.

With that as a backdrop, I have read with great interest the debate in the Record-Journal about the commuter railroad that the State of Connecticut is committed to building. The letters in the Record-Journal in response to the hyperbole- laden, this-is-the-answer-to-our prayers rhetoric from Speaker Donovan (I ask you: do they teach courses at the capital to write like that?) have been thoughtful and articulate. I especially enjoyed Bud Sielaff of Wallingford’s analysis of the supposed benefits of the project.

I would like to weigh in with these two observations: 1) proponents of this project – and I include myself in their ranks – really should level with the people as to the actual costs, and 2) the benefits of this project will take years if not decades to be realized.

First of all, let’s talk costs: the $800 million price tag is just to build the system. If this system is built, there will have to be an annual subsidy of millions of dollars to operate it. There is not a commuter rail system on the planet that is self-sufficient. I ride Metro North into New York on a fairly regular basis, and the trains are invariably packed, yet the State of Connecticut supplements their operating budget by many millions every year. And the State is buying 300 new railcars to the tune of $760 million to replace the 30 to 40-year old rolling stock now in use. Bottom line: these rail systems are big bucks to build and to operate.

Now that that’s on the table, we had better talk about benefits. And I’m not talking about 4,000 jobs, billions of gallons of gas saved and all the other supposed benefits Speaker Donovan listed that letter writer Sielaff so deftly refuted. I am speaking of the long-term benefits of an attractive, efficient alternative to the motor vehicle, long-term being defined as a period of at least fifty years. Yes, intelligent transportation planning needs to look to that far of a horizon.

Connecticut is one of the most densely populated states in the country, and despite the unattractive economic climate here presently, it probably will remain so for the next century. We have been told that miles driven in Connecticut are up by 30 percent over the past twenty-five years. That rate of increase is unsustainable for the future, given that land for additional lanes of interstate is almost impossible to purchase given current land values — even if the land were available, which it is not. We are built out. And can you imagine the disruption of constructing a fourth lane of I-91 in each direction? We’d all be at each other’s throats by the time we got to work each day. A veritable ten-year road rage epidemic.

So the ultimate benefit this commuter rail line will have is to protect the quality of life we enjoy here — in Wallingford and in Connecticut. It will be expensive. It will take decades for its impact to be realized. It is politically risky for our state leaders to ask Connecticut voters to assume this financial obligation at this precarious time.

All that said, we just have to find a way to avoid the slow, inexorable strangulation we are facing because of our total dependence on the automobile. Our transportation arteries are clogging. We need a bypass. Commuter rail from New Haven to Springfield is one of those “procedures” that will keep our state economy alive.

FROM WALLINGFORD - Ready for that commuter train

As published in the Record Journal – Sunday June 20, 2010

Last week I needed to travel to Florida for business and I was flying out of JFK. I tend to take flights from New York because I can get the direct flights I need without needing to stop for layovers and connecting flights and so forth.

Generally this means that I have to burn up about eight gallons of gas round trip, pay the tolls on the way and then there’s the cost of long term parking that just went up 20 percent (per day).

The travelling costs for a trip like this (gas, tolls, parking for seven days) is generally about $165.

So for this last trip I decided to try something different.

I got a ride to Union Station in New Haven and I took Metro North to Grand Central in Manhattan. From there I walked a few blocks to the subway and I took it to Jamaica Station. At Jamaica Station I grabbed the AirTrain directly to JFK.

I did the exact opposite for my trip home as well.

The cost for the train ticket to Grand Central was $38.50 round trip and the cost of the subway round trip was $15.00. My total savings was $110.00. If you want to cut $10 for my father’s fuel to Union Station in New Haven you’re still talking about a savings of $100.00.

Now this trip did take me an extra two hours of time each way to allow for train and subway schedules and travel time but the time was my own.

I wasn’t driving my car; I was free to read the paper or work on my laptop or even nap a bit (and I did all three).

Actually on the way down my original departing flight was cancelled so from the train I rebooked my flight. I could have done that from the car while driving but it would have been difficult to do safely. From a passenger seat of the train it went about as simply as possible.

Now if I was travelling with my wife and the kids or with a lot of bags this would obviously not make sense to do and it would actually cost more.

When you consider all of the single commuters out there you can see where the savings are. Not just in personal dollars but in costs from the consumption of fossil fuel and other costs of a single commuter on already overcrowded roads.

The only missing piece to this puzzle is getting from Wallingford to New Haven.

Amtrak only has six to eight trains (depending on the day) that travel the line — half before noon and the other half after. They are long travel passenger trains that generally are not well suited to be used for commuting.

The plan to bring a New Haven to Springfield commuter line is way overdue. There are New Canaan and Waterbury lines that serve the western side of the state in a north/south fashion and then there’s the Shoreline East that serves from the Old Saybrook area westward into New Haven.

There’s a big gap in the coverage of commuters along the I-91 corridor. Something that the New Haven to Springfield commuter line will resolve.

I am going to be headed to a Yankees/ Mets game on Saturday and I am going to take Metro North but I’ll have to park in the Union Station garage. This is a far better solution than driving into the city and try to park but it would be so nice to hop a train in Wallingford and change for the Yankee Clipper in New Haven.

This solution might be a few years away yet but I am one commuter that is looking forward to the arrival.