Transit 2020

[frymasterspeck]

@danielhaggerty may be twittering from the press conference.

[quente]

entering and leaving the state on 95, 295, and 195. if you live in CT, NY, NJ and want to get to the cape, there's no other way but through RI, unless you want to drive around RI across the mass pike to 495, but you still gotta pay a toll.

i'd also consider putting one between exits 9 and 10 on 95N and 95S.

[frymasterspeck]

Tolls on the interstate makes sense for a number of reasons: I think we already subsidize car travel heavily to the detriment of other modes of transportation. And we'd just be taking a page out of Delaware's book which charges a $4.00 toll in both directions whenever you travel through the state along 95 (which takes about 3 minutes!).

[quente]

@ fry and theank - Thought you'd be interested in this 2002 interview with Colin Campbell about the future of oil and it's effect on the world. Very sobering - left me in a funk for several days.

Here's the link: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/...2_campbell.html

[runawayjim]

Downsides: congested surface streets, bad air.

We already are on the smog list. EPA may not allow it. Delaware tolls the bridges, right? And their in more-or-less rural areas.

[frymasterspeck]

downsides to tolls?

[runawayjim]

Madness on 152 in Attle and Newport Ave and Broadway in Pawt when you put an inbound booth at Mass/RI line. Westerly more feasible per rural nature/only true interstate traffic.

RE: Delaware, I wrote "their," not "they're." Where's my editor!

[Cotuit]

I say explosive, because I wonder how the US citizen is going to react to the things that governments will have to do to address transit. New toll booths? When's the last time a new toll was created in the US? Doesn't sound to daft now. Gasoline taxes that go to public transit. Plus, governments can do nothing about the cost of the commodity itself, so I anticipate a good deal of angst in the transition.

My question is: do Americans accept the inevitable cutback in lifestyle that comes with parking the car and taking the bus? OR do we go full-on imperial and fight the Chinese for the Saudi's oil? Or the Russians for their oil? Venezuela? Come on, it's like, right there an hour past Miami by air.

[brick]

I don't think you'll get tolls in Attleboro/Bucket. Take a look at I-95 on google satellite view and tell me where they can find a place to make the highway two or three times as wide.

I like New Jersey's plan. All bridges are free to get in, but you have to pay to get out!

[frymasterspeck]

If I were a betting man, I'd wager on air strikes against Caracas before we see 'mericans give up their SUVs or *gasp* climb on a bus.

[TheAnk]

@ fry and theank - Thought you'd be interested in this 2002 interview with Colin Campbell about the future of oil and it's effect on the world. Very sobering - left me in a funk for several days.

Here's the link: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/...2_campbell.html

[Dan]

New toll booths? When's the last time a new toll was created in the US?

[frymasterspeck]

[Cotuit]

There are actually la number of tollways being built, in the south especially. States are contracting private highways which are controlled by EZPass type transponders. Of course that is for new highways, I can't recall an existing highway becoming toll in recent memory off the top of my head. Massachusetts toyed with the idea of making Route 3 toward NH a toll road when they started work to expand it, but I think the public threatened to throw everyone at MassHighway into the harbor, so they backed off.

[TheAnk]

What the hell is going on @ Amtrak

Dog & woman hit

2 Injured and 1 Killed

Its like the Acela is the Amtrak Valdez right now.. I bet theres more to come on this story..

[Cotuit]

Amtrak police tell The Day of New London that 69-year-old Rosemary Riley was walking her yellow Labrador in Mystic when she heard a whistle and crossed the tracks, thinking she would avoid the train.

[The Voice of Reason]

I read the article in the courent. this is darwinism. unless she was blind deaf or both she should look and be sure the train is in the other track rather than assume it. I feel bad for the dog that died because of its masters stupidity.

its not like a train can swerve off the road and hit you on the sidewalk. they are on tracks.

[Cotuit]

Holy Camolly!

Second train death in two days on Amtrak [The Boston Globe]

An Amtrak train struck and killed a person in Claremont, N.H., this evening, the second fatality caused by an Amtrak train in New England in two days.

The accident occurred around 7:08 p.m. as Train 56 was approaching the station in Claremont near the Vermont border. The Claremont police have begun an investigation. No further information was available about the victim.

[TheAnk]

Holy Camolly!

Second train death in two days on Amtrak [The Boston Globe]

[coleslaw]

Amtrak train derails in Connecticut

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn.

[Pseudo_Work]

RIPTA looking at cutting service.

So much for streetcars.

[Cotuit]

The governor didn’t offer much hope of financial support in a statement Thursday. While he supports RIPTA’s “core mission,” Carcieri said, “RIPTA needs to see fully the challenges of doing more or even the same with less.”

[Pseudo_Work]

Mumbles would love nothing more than to see a bus-less state. Strand all the poor people and immigrants in Providence so the lucky sperm club can enjoy the rest of the state in peace as god intended.

2010 literally cannot come soon enough, literally, I can't fathom how this state will make it that long. Can the Feds revoke our statehood? It seems to be getting close to that point.

[Garris]

2010 literally cannot come soon enough, literally, I can't fathom how this state will make it that long. Can the Feds revoke our statehood? It seems to be getting close to that point.

[Cotuit]

Where are the adults here?