mikel

Front Street sucks. Just tear the stupid strip mall down. We need housing.. not more nonsense.

F the DOT for shoving this F'ing busway down our throats. Paving over a rail corridor, these people are total a's.

Hartford needs a arena. The XL Center is fine for now, but I hear the innards of the building are starting to really show their age. There will be a point where the building will need to be replaced, and yes government should invest in it.

Too bad they don't have a view of the Park River.

Sad how the Evergreen Walk, built on farmland off the highway can lure retail but a brownfield redevelopment in Hartford cannot. Every time our taxdollars go to another whacked out DOT highway expansion project, we are killing our cities. This angers me to no end. America is going down the toilet because of our oil and asphalt addiction.

Highway medians would be way too expensive.. we have railroad right-of-way's already, one of this region's best assets.. that is we will until this stupid busway gets paved.

What Hartford didn't need is the government building highways through it, to take the wealth out of the city. There are many of us that want Hartford to be the city it once was. I don't like all that has become Adriaen's Landing, but at this point, organically, the only thing that's going to happen is more sprawl and nothing will happen downtown. What we need is mass transportation and more state aid for the cities, spent more effectively. And I for one will never park a vehicle in that hideous garage out of principle. I do however look forward to spending money at Front St. instead of spending it in the suburbs.

Even business leaders want a rail. The public wants rail. The only people that want the busway are the DOT and the mayor of New Britain. Hopefully someone will take leadership and junk this terrible shortsighted proposal. Or else this will turn out to be as big as a failure as the HOV lanes.

Rumor going around that federal stimulus funds for the rail have been lost because Jodi Rell's office didn't order an environmental impact in time.

They've been cleaning up the site for over a decade! I think it has been decontaminated by now. I hope. If the buildings were three stories, there would be a basement. But it's one story now and doesn't need one. Somerset Square most likely doesn't have a basement either. On a positive note, it's amazing to see that big Front Street banner and see actual construction in front of it. I'm used to seeing banners and nothing happened (Renaissance Place). That's pretty bad...

Doesn't look like the buildings will even have basements, sheesh.

Development is a waste of time? Again I'm glad you're not a decision maker.

Next time ask him when it's going to be completed. Then run.

Yes it is possible, but the busway only allows for space for two rails between Newington and Hartford. So a third rail for freight or high speed rail would be impossible. Between Newington and New Britain it does not offer room for any rail so Waterbury service would be completely impossible. On the contrary, those rail trails actually do a great job preserving rail corridors from development.

I agree with that. The rail corridors in this state were always used for connecticut cities by heavy rail. Anything less is a poor use of these corridors, one of Connecticut's best assets. The first place light rail should go is Farmington Avenue between downtown and West Hartford Center. Either way, the busway is a poor choice.

Yeah, nice job getting back on topic.

I don't think for us having to change trains in New Haven is such a big deal to access a real high-speed line someday. Acela is really not much faster than the Vermonter that does route through Hartford to Washington DC. The problem with the line to Boston is that it was ripped up in the 1970's I believe, and would be a much bigger project. I do think it should happen. Hartford to Waterbury still has rails, but the DOT is trying to push the busway on part of that line instead sadly (despite practically everyone thinking its a bad idea).

The full-build scenario always included the re-addition of the second track (the Amtrak has continued to remove piece by piece to nearly this day) and electrification. This scenario was seen as the pie-in-the-sky scenario, but according to the article could be possible now. I think it should be built fully, if it's going to be done, do it right. Amtrak needs to get out of the picture though, they are being completely unreaonable sadly.

Who's going to pay for it to be torn down? And why would the hotel site be valuable to developers, when countless other lots downtown are remaining parking lots for an eternity? Broadcast House is certainly an anomaly in this city, if that ever goes through. If there's a fraction of a chance the hotel can be adapted to a future use, it should remain as it is. Otherwise it will be another embarrassing empty hole.

Agreed, I don't see the point of light rail in this region. With so many cities in close proximity, there should be a unified heavy gauge rail system. Just like there was. As far as light rail, maybe down Farmington Avenue to West Hartford Center, at some distant point. For now, the bus will have to suffice. But the commuter rail line should be a priority. As far as the Griffin Line, at some point it might be feasible. But I think it's more effective at this point to connect Windsor Locks with commuter rail and have a shuttle service to the airport.

I cannot believe that parking garage on Arch Street. That is just hideous! It dominates the whole project and ruins Arch Street. These people are out of control. Can nobody design anything nice for downtown Hartford anymore?

Newington Junction could clearly be a very important station in the future. It would be the place to transfer. (Hopefully from train to train, if the DOT stops their busway shenanagans).

I highly doubt ConnDOT and MassDOT are doing anything regarding that line. I've never heard that "rumor". They can barely get anything accomplished with the biggest line of all, New Haven to Springfield.

The busway is a project that was created by using no vision. It would be a huge mistake to build something so limited. The New Haven to Springfield rail should be done first, then branches should follow. Waterbury should get involved in derailing this project. I've yet to hear anyone support the busway. Paving over the rail bed would be an amazing mistake in this era of mass transit. Also, ctrapidtransit.com freezes my browser. Make your voice heard in person: December 3rd, 2008 - 6:30 to 8:30PM Public Information Meeting Faxon Branch Library 1073 New Britain Avenue, West Hartford December 4th, 2008 - 6:30 to 8:30PM Public Information Meeting Union Station One Union Place, Hartford December 8th, 2008 - 6:30 to 8:30PM Public Information Meeting Newington Town Hall, Helen Nelson Room 131 Cedar Street, Newington December 9th, 2008 - 6:30 to 8:30PM Public Information Meeting New Britain City Hall, Room 504 27 West Main Street, New Britain