How transportation projects get done quickly and with reasonable costs.

The links below are to the Pioneer Vally Planning Commission and the announcement of their Knowledge Corridor Project where they are replacing and reactivating 45+ miles of rail in central Massachusetts for $75 million. The project was conceived, studied and funded in about 18 months. If only we could do that here!

http://www.pvpc.org/corridor/

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3pressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3&b=pressrelease&f=012810_knowledge_corridor&csid=Agov3

Latest Busway Battles

The link to latest salvos in the battle of the Busway is below. Most of which is just name calling on the part of the Busway proponents. In the end the card that they continue play is the "bird in the hand" federal funding which is all smoke. An open honest discussion of what was really studied, the actual costs and the minimal to non-existent return on investment that this project will provide is a discussion they need to avoid at all costs.

http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2010/04/27/business/doc4bd79fa64d6dd780542393.txt

Some Busway Fun Facts

The New Britain/Hartford Busway is estimated to cost $573 million.

At that price the cost is $61.6 million per mile or $143,250.00 per new estimated rider.

The daily ridership number of 15,000 presented by ConnDOT is a red herring in that it counts the current 11,000 daily riders from the existing CT Transit routes.

The estimated 4,000 new ridership numbers even if accurate do not translate into a one for one reduction in cars from I-84. In fact, many of the targeted riders do not have cars so the "congestion mitigation" promoted by ConnDOT is inaccurate.

Congestion mitigation is minimal in that the Busway does not remove one single truck from I-84 and may in fact cause long-term interference with the movement of freight rail through the center corridor of the state potentially adding more truck traffic if not corrected.