OT: High Speed Rail Through Storrs?

[Chin Diesel]

A highway would certainly help the commuters but at what cost? Wouldn't that change the rural nature of the NW corner and why people moved there in the first place? I never lived in that region so I never had to get there fast but I have always enjoyed driving west on 44 and beyond.

I know of people in places like Riverside CA that get up at 4 to get to work on time. Not for me. I read once that you should never travel more than 30 minutes to get to work. I traveled from Coventry CT to Providence for a job since that was all I could get in 2010 after a few months out of work and telecommuting was not an option. That was about an hour and 15 minutes in good weather. Fortunately, I was able to get another job for more pay 6 weeks later and I was able to stop that madness.

You can make 44 or 6 a better, more direct link to Providence without killing most of the small town charm and scenery. You get more than a mile away from that road in any direction and you won't notice any difference. You'd probably have one or two towns that end up with an extra gas station and fast food joint and that's about it.

Unfortunately in CT and RI this is enough to derail a project that would be of great benefit to the overall region.

 

[MexicoHusky]

A highway would certainly help the commuters but at what cost? Wouldn't that change the rural nature of the NW corner and why people moved there in the first place? I never lived in that region so I never had to get there fast but I have always enjoyed driving west on 44 and beyond.

I know of people in places like Riverside CA that get up at 4 to get to work on time. Not for me. I read once that you should never travel more than 30 minutes to get to work. I traveled from Coventry CT to Providence for a job since that was all I could get in 2010 after a few months out of work and telecommuting was not an option. That was about an hour and 15 minutes in good weather. Fortunately, I was able to get another job for more pay 6 weeks later and I was able to stop that madness.

Sensible post. All true.

NW Connecticut isn't as high a priority as Hartford to Providence and probably Hartford to New London. All are major cities and there isn't a great travel option. NW Connecticut is just a smaller example of the same issue. Failure to build infrastructure for political reasons. Maybe legitimate political reasons.

Edit: as a young kid I had a part time job where I worked with a retiree. He was just trying to stay busy so he picked up some part time work as well. Good dude. He worked for Channel 3 for decades. He lived in Winchester and traveled 44 all the way into Hartford everyday. He knew exactly how many stop lights there were. I forget what the number was. 50ish I think. Ugg... not information I ever want to be able to rattle off by memory.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

and speaking of expensive and dopey planner wet dream modeled ideas, how they doin?
CTfastrak Ridership
turrible, and not coming back anytime soon. buy hey, those few 1000s who benefit can thank the rest of us stuck with paying the many 100s of million dollars tab. on the udder hand, the lawyers, bankers, supergenius planners, and mebbe some elected blowhards involved, made out quite nicely.
eminent domain? what was once a valuable and necessary tool for our government, has morphed into, well, kelo.
it's a front. stop frontin' y'all, it's costing us taxpayers a pantload for these put on's.


now, aboot that tolls nonsense here in Connecticut...
now, aboot that kali high speed train to nowhere...
now, aboot that worst ever grand plan called 'the model cities program' ...

 

[HCCForever]

Sensible post. All true.

NW Connecticut isn't as high a priority as Hartford to Providence and probably Hartford to New London. All are major cities and there isn't a great travel option. NW Connecticut is just a smaller example of the same issue. Failure to build infrastructure for political reasons. Maybe legitimate political reasons.

Edit: as a young kid I had a part time job where I worked with a retiree. He was just trying to stay busy so he picked up some part time work as well. Good dude. He worked for Channel 3 for decades. He lived in Winchester and traveled 44 all the way into Hartford everyday. He knew exactly how many stop lights there were. I forget what the number was. 50ish I think. Ugg... not information I ever want to be able to rattle off by memory.

Not something that I would want to remember either. Speaking of long commutes, I worked part time at Cabela's in East Hartford when it first opened for some extra scratch. I was paid $9 an hour with good discounts back when box stores were still relevant. There was a dude there who lived in Bethlehem and also worked part time and had a big truck. He probably spent most of his money on gas but he got discounts on ammo .

 

[HuskyHawk]

You can make 44 or 6 a better, more direct link to Providence without killing most of the small town charm and scenery. You get more than a mile away from that road in any direction and you won't notice any difference. You'd probably have one or two towns that end up with an extra gas station and fast food joint and that's about it.

Unfortunately in CT and RI this is enough to derail a project that would be of great benefit to the overall region.

And 395 already runs through NW Connecticut to New London. It hasn't suddenly become a metropolis.

Anybody who has been on highways in the west knows that they don't transform rural places into destinations. They do make it easier for rural folks to get to places like airports and hospitals.

 

[JohnFSilver]

The gridlock this country is through to improve infrastructure options is insane. If this is pulled off, a 100% wonderful idea.

Incredible idea. There are people who will never take it who hate it. No idea why.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And 395 already runs through NW Connecticut to New London. It hasn't suddenly become a metropolis.

Anybody who has been on highways in the west knows that they don't transform rural places into destinations. They do make it easier for rural folks to get to places like airports and hospitals.

Point of order, isn't anything above New London on the 395 corridor considered NE CT??

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Point of order, isn't anything above New London on the 395 corridor considered NE CT??

4 Corners N to NE > The Quiet Corner? Separate topic: Wasn't CT's I-395 some governor's pet project?

 

[Waquoit]

And 395 already runs through NW Connecticut to New London. It hasn't suddenly become a metropolis.

I knew a guy talking up New London 20 years ago. I still see potential. My out of the box idea is to finish RT-11 and pay for it by making the new stretch a toll road.

 

[Hoophound]

We took the 44 Rt from Storrs to visit a friend who was at Bryant. It was the longest drive of my life.

It’s an easy drive. The first time seems lengthy, after that it’s nothing. I went to Bryant for undergrad and headed to UConn often to visit friends. I also had season tickets. Easy trip at 60-65mph. Never got a speeding ticket.

However, one day I left Bryant to visit a friend in Newport for the day, got a ticket just outside the entrance to the Bryant campus. That night I left Newport and got a ticket on the Newport Bridge. Rough day.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I knew a guy talking up New London 20 years ago. I still see potential. My out of the box idea is to finish RT-11 and pay for it by making the new stretch a toll road.

Good one. I think I read about that guy.

 

[Waquoit]

Good one. I think I read about that guy.

Different guy. This one was pouring beers.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Good luck with that....many of you were not here when I-84 was proposed and designed to go from Hartford, thru Manchester and Willimantic to Providence in the mid-70s. I worked on the route thru Willimantic as the contractor's project engineer. The route was stopped cold in its tracks going east of Willimantic due to opposition from the farming communities to the east and because of "environmental" concerns. That was then when the environmental standards were less severe than they are today and I suspect that there would be similar opposition from the communities to the east as there was then. Getting thru the Environmental Impact Study phase will take years at a snail's pace.

Note that I support such an endeavor, but the obstacles will be monumental and so would the cost.

I get it. But end of day that area of eastern CT and Rhode Island is left behind economically. The lack of infrastructure is a big part of it.

I have had enough with the lack of infrastructure in our state and region. There are no more farms, and, we can easily build highways and train tracks that are better on the environment. The 1970 was a half century ago. I think we can try again and do the right thing. The lack of rail access in this country is awful. And, it causes massive trucking to come to the northeast.

Edit: I think now we have a chance. Rural places are being left behind incredibly, and it is because of the lack of infrastructure.

 

[businesslawyer]

The Fairfield train station opened in the 1890s. At that time, the time it took to get from Fairfield to Grand Central was about ten minutes LESS than it is 130 years later.

My point — I’ll believe you can get from New York to Boston by train in two hours when I see it. And I’m not going to lose sleep waiting for it.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

There are no more farms,

farming in Connecticut is on an explosive growth curve in the past few years.
here, have a brand new 'harvest' industry, just getting started:
The Day - CT Sea Grant awarded major federal grant to help fledgling domestic kelp industry - News from southeastern Connecticut

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

You can make 44 or 6 a better, more direct link to Providence without killing most of the small town charm and scenery. You get more than a mile away from that road in any direction and you won't notice any difference. You'd probably have one or two towns that end up with an extra gas station and fast food joint and that's about it.

Unfortunately in CT and RI this is enough to derail a project that would be of great benefit to the overall region.

Hell, 384 ends just 9 miles from UConn's campus currently. They could build the 9 miles and a massive parking garage at the depot campus and be done with the project in 6 months.

The locals would fight to the death over that 9 miles like it was sacred ground.

 

[SubbaBub]

Zero chance. This is the Patriots are coming to Hartford all over again.

Question, is there an existing rail line on this supposed route? No?

Do you think they will be able to acquire a virtual straight line right of way to build this? No?

Do you think that this eye of a needle golden path is free of obstructions that will happily step aside or be thrilled at the idea of being right next to a high speed train? No?

Do you think this path is essentially flat or that the number of bridges and tunnels will be less than 100? No?

High speed rail in the Northeast if it happens at all will start with GCT to NH, then it would continue along the coast to PVD and BOS. The Casinos might...might, get a spur line if they pay for most of it.

You are barely getting a frontier level rail link between NH, HFD, and SPG. You actually think a virgin ground bullet train is going to be pushed through cow country with nary a stop where people actually live?

This is a joke and a poor one.

Edit: I just remembered why the abbreviation for Hartford gets changed to Voldemort.

Talk about the need for an infrastructure upgrade. Lol.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Hell, 384 ends just 9 miles from UConn's campus currently. They could build the 9 miles and a massive parking garage at the depot campus and be done with the project in 6 months.

The locals would fight to the death over that 9 miles like it was sacred ground.

Yeah, that's low lying fruit but good luck with the Bolton and Coventry residents along that route.

 

[BigTenFan]

Lots of interesting ideas. In a perfect world we would have high speed service from Boston -Hartford-NYC with spurs off that. Europe and Asia have done this for decades. Unfortunately, we can't seem to execute well. Taxpayers paid millions for busway from NB to Hartford and ridership is very low....even before Pandemic
I would love to see better transportation between Hartford and surrounding cities. It would bring more life to our region

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Yeah, that's low lying fruit but good luck with the Bolton and Coventry residents along that route.

Could just turn the trails at Bolton Notch back into a railway

 

[HuskyHawk]

It’s an easy drive. The first time seems lengthy, after that it’s nothing. I went to Bryant for undergrad and headed to UConn often to visit friends. I also had season tickets. Easy trip at 60-65mph. Never got a speeding ticket.

However, one day I left Bryant to visit a friend in Newport for the day, got a ticket just outside the entrance to the Bryant campus. That night I left Newport and got a ticket on the Newport Bridge. Rough day.

RI police are maniacal about tickets (revenue). Unfortunately for me, the road that runs by my street connects Woonsocket to 495, so is about 1/3 RI cars. They all go 2 MPH (or worse) under the speed limit. It's annoying as hell. Almost nobody drives the speed limit in MA.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

They love to post up right outside the borders in Putnam and killingly and act like it’s illegal to have a CT license plate. Similar in MA

 

[HuskyHawk]

There is already Acela. Anything they do would mirror that route. Seems they are upgrading the trains. I haven't taken it but the time from Boston to DC is roughly the same as driving, and slower than flying. Its not nearly as fast as it should be.

The brand new Amtrak Acela fleet is coming; Here's a first look inside the new trains (thepointsguy.com)

 

[8893]

There is already Acela. Anything they do would mirror that route. Seems they are upgrading the trains. I haven't taken it but the time from Boston to DC is roughly the same as driving, and slower than flying. Its not nearly as fast as it should be.

The brand new Amtrak Acela fleet is coming; Here's a first look inside the new trains (thepointsguy.com)

The problem with the Acela is probably going to be the same problem with any other high-speed train passing through that corridor: there are too many densely-populated areas along the route, during which the train cannot travel at or near its top speed. That means you save little time but pay twice as much. I have only taken it once, when a client was paying.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The problem with the Acela is probably going to be the same problem with any other high-speed train passing through that corridor: there are too many densely-populated areas along the route, during which the train cannot travel at or near its top speed. That means you save little time but pay twice as much. I have only taken it once, when a client was paying.

Yeah, the article I linked said it was how old the rails were plus the sharing of those lines with freight and slower passenger trains. But I'm sure density is an issue too.

I'm not sure it's a wise investment really, as the current trend with WFH seems to be spreading people out. Commuting from NY to DC or Boston to NY for a meeting is likely to remain a Zoom event for many.