SE CT Transportation Infrastructure

[damus]

Day - Environmental Concerns Could Derail Route 11 Plan

In an e-mail to a top Federal Highway Administration official, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in New England, Michael Bartlett, states that he has seen no proposed designs for the Route 11 extension that would persuade him it should be built,

[HartfordTycoon]

The Rt. 11 completion is pretty important. Greater Hartford needs a more direct connection with Downtown New London so that people will feel like it's less of a hassle to get from here to there.

[damus]

The Rt. 11 completion is pretty important. Greater Hartford needs a more direct connection with Downtown New London so that people will feel like it's less of a hassle to get from here to there.

It would benefit the entire state to finish this road and redo the flawed 95/395 interchange. They should be completing routes 2 and 6, too, but when you see this 8 mile stretch getting so much EPA criticism over a bunch of rabbits, it doesn't look like the others will be built any time soon even though I feel the others are far more important...

[somad]

I took the 10 minutes to crudely illustrate what I think would be a good map for a NL county light rail system.

For the shoreline line (yellow) I included stops over by the Westerly beches (yeah i know it's at the airport), Stonington,Mystic Seaport/Aquarium, downtown Mystic, Groton Airport, Groton Center, then down to EB/Pfizer.... but that line was cut off on the bototm and I mostly just threw lines in there and tried to make it close.

Along the west bank of the Thames (brown) I started out in New London's train station, had a transfer to the green line, stopped at Coast Guard Academy, another stop along rt 32, a couple stops in Montville for growth potential such as the St Bernard's high school property, then off to Mohegan Sun/Transfer to blue line, then off to Norwich by Norwich Inn, then shipping st, then another transfer bridge to blue line, then trans. center

Along the East bank (green) it starts in Groton Center, then hits the transfer to the brown line, stops at a residential neighborhood, stops at the sub base, then follows the P&W line all the way past gales ferry over to the little commercial area where the school is, then stops at a blueline transfer/utopia stop, then stops at the other end of utopia, stops over by the thermos apartments on laurel hill, transfers to the brown line, stops at the old transportation center (downtown east), stops just north of downtown along N. main st, stops in greenville, stops at the other end of greenville, stops along a commercial corridor of rt 12 ripe for development, then stops in taftville (the map cut taftville off, too).

The blue line is made with the "leave me alone" type residents of Preston, Ledyard, and N. Stonington in mind. It starts at the Sun, crosses the river over to Utopia's southern station/green line transfer, stops in poquetonneck village in Preston, then Foxwoods, a potential commercial area in North Stonington, North Stonington Studios with a potential park & ride component, a junction with the northern terminus to rt 78, downtown Westerly, and a supposed transfer near the Westerly beaches (situated near the airport due to the map having cut off the shore)

My routes weren't well as well thought out as they would be if I was to present a serious plan, obviously, but I think a system with these general stops would succeed if given that Utopia is as big as it seems it will be and North Stonington Studios is built. These would all ideally be light rail lines. Some of the right of way would be where pre-existing rail lines including parts of the shoreline line, most of the thames river lines. Also, rail stations could always be added, the shoreline is dense enough to handle a few stations in the gaps, but again my map was crappy. Any thoughts?

on edit: i decided to throw some more norwich stations in there along the Shetucket river on the green line .... it would be the epicenter of this supposed Utopian metropolis, after all...

Edited August 13, 2006 by somad

[JimSawhill]

I took the 10 minutes to crudely illustrate what I think would be a good map for a NL county light rail system.

For the shoreline line (yellow) I included stops over by the Westerly beches (yeah i know it's at the airport), Stonington,Mystic Seaport/Aquarium, downtown Mystic, Groton Airport, Groton Center, then down to EB/Pfizer.... but that line was cut off on the bototm and I mostly just threw lines in there and tried to make it close.

Along the west bank of the Thames (brown) I started out in New London's train station, had a transfer to the green line, stopped at Coast Guard Academy, another stop along rt 32, a couple stops in Montville for growth potential such as the St Bernard's high school property, then off to Mohegan Sun/Transfer to blue line, then off to Norwich by Norwich Inn, then shipping st, then another transfer bridge to blue line, then trans. center

Along the East bank (green) it starts in Groton Center, then hits the transfer to the brown line, stops at a residential neighborhood, stops at the sub base, then follows the P&W line all the way past gales ferry over to the little commercial area where the school is, then stops at a blueline transfer/utopia stop, then stops at the other end of utopia, stops over by the thermos apartments on laurel hill, transfers to the brown line, stops at the old transportation center (downtown east), stops just north of downtown along N. main st, stops in greenville, stops at the other end of greenville, stops along a commercial corridor of rt 12 ripe for development, then stops in taftville (the map cut taftville off, too).

The blue line is made with the "leave me alone" type residents of Preston, Ledyard, and N. Stonington in mind. It starts at the Sun, crosses the river over to Utopia's southern station/green line transfer, stops in poquetonneck village in Preston, then Foxwoods, a potential commercial area in North Stonington, North Stonington Studios with a potential park & ride component, a junction with the northern terminus to rt 78, downtown Westerly, and a supposed transfer near the Westerly beaches (situated near the airport due to the map having cut off the shore)

My routes weren't well as well thought out as they would be if I was to present a serious plan, obviously, but I think a system with these general stops would succeed if given that Utopia is as big as it seems it will be and North Stonington Studios is built. These would all ideally be light rail lines. Some of the right of way would be where pre-existing rail lines including parts of the shoreline line, most of the thames river lines. Also, rail stations could always be added, the shoreline is dense enough to handle a few stations in the gaps, but again my map was crappy. Any thoughts?

on edit: i decided to throw some more norwich stations in there along the Shetucket river on the green line .... it would be the epicenter of this supposed Utopian metropolis, after all...

Somad:

Great plans...However I'd add to your plans. Commuter rail (IE: More SLE trains) from Old Saybrook with 2 more stops - OLD LYME and Niantic (maybe a summer stop at Rocky Neck). Also, a commuter train -- yes, the HELL with a greenway (rail-trail) from Hartford to New London (with stops in East Hartford, Burnside (where School St. crosses the tracks), BUCKLAND (refurbish the train station), Vernon, Andover, Columbia, Willimantic, and Norwich. Just think of what could happen -- besides passengers, P&W RR could bring frieght to Hartford and NEC and CSO could interchange frieght at Willimantic, instead of using CSX.)

Yes, it could work. the Casinos wanted to buy the Midland ROW (ex NH Hartford Willimantic railline) for passenger trains from Bradley to the casinos. With Utopia, it would be a NO-BRAINER! We could create a few 'name' passenger trains -- the Nathan Hale could even go from New London to Willimantic to Hartford to Waterbury.

Any comments?

[runawayjim]

the map looks good, but i'm not sure on the need for 2 lines running along the river... i think one side would suffice. i also think that the yellow line should go to waterford and then they can transfer from waterford in new london to go north.

don't more people live on the eastern side anyways (i'm thinking the sub base).

also, you could have that green line cross the river at the station on 12 (the one right over the "12") and then go north through mohegan sun and into norwich. i would then have it go from norwich up to willimantic and then maybe to hartford.

[somad]

the map looks good, but i'm not sure on the need for 2 lines running along the river... i think one side would suffice. i also think that the yellow line should go to waterford and then they can transfer from waterford in new london to go north.

don't more people live on the eastern side anyways (i'm thinking the sub base).

also, you could have that green line cross the river at the station on 12 (the one right over the "12") and then go north through mohegan sun and into norwich. i would then have it go from norwich up to willimantic and then maybe to hartford.

Well... I think both sides of the river are pretty similar, with more probably being on the west side. The west has New London (30K), a good portion of Waterford's 20k right along the water, montville (19k), and most of Norwich's 38k. Groton is 40K and a lot of that would be served by the shoreline line anyways, just not the sub base. Plus, the land area for that town is pretty big by CT standards so it's not really densely populated. Ledyard is only 15. If anything I would cut out the east one... A way to look for density would be to look at the coloring of the map that mapquest puts on there. The yellow tint is for the more "urban" areas and the entire western side of the river is covered with them on this map.

I was thinking about rehashing an old idea, though, for my fantasy transit network. In addition to the removal of the eastern thames river line, a streetcar system in Norwich. It would have a loop going both ways from Utopia to downtown/transit center, mohegan sun, back across the river. It would also have potential spurs for future expansion, with the most obvious ones being towards greenville, rt 82, and the East side. The area also will probably need route 2 to be finished as originally intended all the way to Westerly after all Utopia's stuff is built.

[PCGrad02]

I would extend that Brown line up into Norwichtown, you could create park and ride stations @ Route 2 & Otrobando Ave And @ I-395 & West Town St (with a bus loop to the Business Park/Stadium) with Future expansion up towards Willimantic Area/UConn. The Green Line Should Run Up thru Taftville to the Occum Section of Norwich, that area should explode with development, it's the last untouched area of the city. You could also plan for a Green line spur to the Jewett City area, the busline is heavily travelled in between Downtown Norwich and Downtown Jewett City. All of the dense development in SE Conn is located along old Trolley line routes, the tracks are still buried under the streets in many locations.

[somad]

Day - Group Begins To Gather Land For 'Greenway' Along Future Rt. 11 Corridor

Peter Sielman, chairman of the GAC, said Wednesday that the state Department of Transportation, acting as agent for the GAC, has purchased the first parcel

[somad]

Day - Union Station Owner Threatens To Evict Tenants Amtrak, Greyhound

O'Donnell made his comments during an afternoon forum held at the historic station by the third-party political group, One New London. O'Donnell told the 35 people in attendance that if nothing changes he will give his two tenants, Amtrak and Greyhound, a 90-day notice on Labor Day that they are being evicted. The tenants are operating on a month-to-month arrangement, he said.

....

The facility has about 27,000 square feet of space, but his tenants utilize only about 4,700 of it, he said. Just maintaining the rest rooms alone has cost $40,000 a year. The co-owners shut them down two weeks ago because of continuing vandalism.

...

Once the trains and buses are gone, the building could make a

[The Voice of Reason]

Yesterday the HBJ had this article about shoreline east

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news9709.html?Type=search

apparently improved service is a definate!

Long-awaited expanded service to New London on the Shore Line East rail line in Southeastern Connecticut will be implemented year end, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said.

Eventually, the lone evening New London roundtrip Shore Line run will add two or three additional New London trains each weekday morning and three additional trains each weekday evening by later this year, Rell said. Additional weekend service is also anticipated.

[HartfordTycoon]

Yesterday the HBJ had this article about shoreline east

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news9709.html?Type=search

apparently improved service is a definate!

Long-awaited expanded service to New London on the Shore Line East rail line in Southeastern Connecticut will be implemented year end, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said.

Eventually, the lone evening New London roundtrip Shore Line run will add two or three additional New London trains each weekday morning and three additional trains each weekday evening by later this year, Rell said. Additional weekend service is also anticipated.