ConnDOT

Seen in the Courant:

Gov. Rell today announced she intends to disband the state DOT by 2010, splitting the agency into two separate departments: a Department of Highways, and a Department of Public Transportation, Aviation, and Ports.[...]

Genuario said “The old DOT has become too bureaucratic, too inefficient and too single-minded in its approach to problem solving.”

“Bold reforms are necessary if citizens are to obtain a level of transportation services to which they are entitled and if the state is to realize intended results of initiatives adopted over the past three years,” Genuario said.

Also included in the transportation section of the Governor’s State of the State address was a proposal to make Bradley an independent operation.

Now, a dumb question: If part of the problem with ConnDOT is that it’s too bureaucratic, how does replacing one bureaucracy with two improve the situation?

According to The New York Times, the plan to run a commuter rail line from New Haven to Springfield isn’t dead yet:

The proposal calls for service every 30 minutes during peak hours at 11 stations each way. Amtrak trains now run more than an hour apart. Proponents say the project would ease traffic congestion, expand the state’s business corridor and help revitalize several long-struggling cities in the center of the state hurt by continuing declines in manufacturing jobs, even as the state as a whole has the nation’s highest per capita income. But the project would be a big money-loser, even by the standards of subsidized rail, where deficits are taken for granted.

How big a loser could depend on which of several versions of the idea, ranging in cost from $162 million to $600 million, is selected. The so-called fare-box recovery ” the percentage of operating costs paid by fares ” would be only 11 percent under a $291 million plan advocated by the state’s Transportation Strategy Board. The State Department of Transportation expects a total of 2,428 people to ride the 62-mile line each day by the year 2025, though some estimates say ridership could reach 5,000.

I had forgotten that the rail line was re-energized in the State of the State speech, and I’m glad to see that it might still have legs, even if it’s going to be annoyingly expensive.

However, I would like to point out (on the off chance that a ConnDOT person is Googling by) that you could boost ridership levels a little bit if they could convince MBTA to extend their commuter rail service out to Springfield.

As someone who spends time working in both Boston and New York, and who lives just a few miles from the mighty-mighty Windsor Locks pan-galactic train station, I would love to have a bit more flexibility in getting to either office.

As seen on Connecticut Local Politics, it appears that Governor Rell is re-floating the idea of a central Connecticut rail line again:

Rell proposed commuter rail service with eight trains daily each way between New Haven, Hartford and Springfield to supply what she called a “natural job development corridor.” Amtrak provides service from New Haven to Springfield, but it is not a commuter line.[...]

Rell also called for bus service from the Windsor Locks train station to Bradley International Airport and completing a 91/2-mile ‘busway’ between Hartford and New Britain.

It’d be nice if they’d finally get moving on these ideas. They’ve been talked about for quite a while. And, while I prefer Amtrak to Metro North, I’d love to have a better ability to commute into New York on those days when I need to work in the City. Heck, back when I was working in downtown Hartford, the train would have been a nicer option than the overcrowded “express” bus I rode.

While I’m wishing…it’d also be nice if we could get a viable passenger rail link to Boston. This new Metro North service would go along nicely with an extention of MBTA rail service to Springfield, for example….

I do disagree a little with CLP’s assertion that public transportation in central Connecticut sucks. It actually works reasonably well, provided that your transportation needs fit within a few narrowly defined goals. Specifically, CT Transit does a pretty good job of getting people in and out of downtown Hartford…even in spite of being hampered by an underpowered surface street system and gridlock on I-84. It’s also a viable option for doing reverse commutes, or for getting to Westfarms or Buckland Hills malls.

However, if you want to commute cross-town, or from suburb to suburb…or if you want intercity transportation within CT…yeah, it sucks.

It would be nice if that situation could be reversed. However, given how (comparatively) spread out and (relatively) small the population is outside the urban cores….I’m not sure that that problem can be economically resolved.