South Coast Rail promises, AKA Charlie Baker's Brain Fart
MassDOT conducted a public hearing AFTER making their flawed decision and excluding the effected towns, Middleboro and Lakeville.
MassDOT would move the parking lot from Lakeville to Middleboro....where they don't own the access; would reduce the number of parking spaces; has no traffic projections; ignored that a housing complex was constructed in Lakeville because of the proximity to COMMUTER RAIL; has created gridlock on 105 because of their flawed traffic design; never spoke with town officials about development plans....and much else.
Dumb and Expensive idea!
The Legislature approved funding for the Middleboro Rotary that effects 47,000 cars and trucks each day.....Charlie ignored that gridlock.
Day Late Charlie FINALLY establishes a TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION and can't keep the MBTA running? excludes South Coast residents?
Let's make it Charlie One & Done!
Ah, South Coast Rail promises, must be an election year
“And after more than three decades of lip service, we’re going to make commuter rail from Fall River and New Bedford to Boston a reality,” Baker proclaimed roughly a third of the way into his speech.
Sure Massachusetts isn’t the biggest state but when the governor mentions your town in a State of the State address it’s worth taking notice.
This year Gov. Charlie Baker’s annual address included a brief mention of Fall River and with it came a promise.
“And after more than three decades of lip service, we’re going to make commuter rail from Fall River and New Bedford to Boston a reality,” Baker proclaimed roughly a third of the way into his speech.
It’s a great line. It’s gotten some people in the city excited and believing that rail is on the way.
And certainly it comes with some evidence to back up the claim. Baker’s administration has worked to move the rail project forward by at least temporarily ditching the Stoughton route to connect the rail through Middleboro. The idea being that such a plan can get trains running much sooner than the more direct Stoughton plan and at much less of a cost.
Sounds good, right?
Of course we’ve heard South Coast Rail project promises in the past.
Bill Weld said we could sue him if the link wasn’t built. No trains and no lawsuit.
Deval Patrick made a big presentation within the first 100 days of his administration, offered a timeline and said the trains would be running by 2016 and placed a $1.4 billion price tag on the project. Sure some work was done but I haven’t heard any train whistles and now the price of the Stoughton route has jumped to $3.4 billion and rising.
Baker’s new plan does come with some optimism and permitted work has begun, but there are concerns. The Middleboro route is longer than the Stoughton route and does require some upgrades.
And of course Baker’s proclamation comes in an election year. Baker intially offered skepticism about South Coast Rail during his first run for governor when Patrick was looking for a second term in office. It was a position that lost him support in the SouthCoast in what was a close race.
Fast forward four years and Baker’s position had changed. This time he won a close race.
Four years later and Baker’s again promising rail will get done, but maybe another action speaks louder than comments in a speech.
On the same day that Baker made his State of the State address he announced the creation of the Commission on the Future of Transportation in the Commonwealth.
From the release issued about the announcement the group is expected “to advise the Baker-Polito Administration on future transportation needs and challenges.” The commission is expected to develop a range of scenarios anticipated between 2020 and 2040 and a report on the analysis of members and recommendations by December 1, 2018.
It’s great that Baker wants to look ahead as transportation issues from traffic congestion around Boston and problems with the MBTA persist, but for a region clamoring for rail for “three decades” and a proposal that includes looking at the Stoughton line down the road, maybe it would have been nice to have one person on the 18-member commission include someone from the South Coast. (In fact a delegation of state officials from the western part of Massachusetts sent Baker a letter asking why no one from that part of the region was included.)
As we’ve seen with South Coast Rail words mean nothing. Action matters.
If South Coast Rail is in the state’s future, prove it with actions.
http://www.heraldnews.com/news/20180127/ah-south-coast-rail-promises-must-be-election-year
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