Frank Smith Says NB: Could Amtrak be leaving? TheDay.com

Friday, October 1, 2010

Could Amtrak be leaving? TheDay.com

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: The New Haven Register (nhregister.com), Serving New Haven, CT

Opinion
EDITORIAL: Busway too costly, would serve too few

Friday, October 1, 2010

Whatever its merits when it was first proposed in the 1990s, the plan to build a highway just for buses between New Britain and Hartford has turned into a costly, unnecessary government boondoggle.

When conceived, the 9.4-mile road for buses was estimated to cost $82 million. Its estimated cost now is $572 million.

Despite the high cost, the project is still alive because of the hope it will qualify for $275 million in federal aid.

It would not be money well spent.

That point is now being made by the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce. It is urging that the project be stopped, or at least halted until a new governor takes office next year and can reconsider it.

The project’s huge cost would siphon money from needed repair and maintenance of the state’s bridges and roads. The busway will cost more, but serve fewer people, than double tracking the rail line between Springfield and New Haven to restore regular commuter and freight service.

The busway would be built on an abandoned rail line. The chambers of commerce are objecting that taking the railroad right-of-way for a bus lane will prevent its restoration for regular rail service. That service would connect Hartford to Waterbury, through New Britain and Bristol, and then on to Bridgeport and New York.

Restoring this rail connection would serve the same end of taking cars off a clogged Interstate 84 by providing a mass transit alternative. But, it would serve an entire region, not just a 9.4-mile route at a cost that has become impossible to justify.

URL: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/10/01/opinion/doc4ca51866752a4253903624.prt

© 2010 nhregister.com, a Journal Register Property; October 1, 2010 at 9:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Instead of using stimulus money to study monkeys on cocaine maybe they could have used it here?

http://www.redstate.com/brian_d/2010/08/03/obama-stimulus-money-to-study-monkey-cocaine-use/

AZ; October 1, 2010 at 7:46 PM
Anonymous said...: More stimulus that could have helped

http://coburn.senate.gov/public//index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=a7e82141-1a9e-4eec-b160-6a8e62427efb

AZ; October 1, 2010 at 7:48 PM

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