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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1972-09-SILC-rpt.pdf SILO S; ENREGION INTERTOWN LIAISON COMMITTEE Formed by the towns Di BEDFORD BURLINGTON CARLISLE CONCORD LINCOLN SUDBURY WAYLAND WESTON WILMINGTON PROPOSAL NO 2 PROPOSAL for PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION in SILC DURING AND AFTER the BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION of 1975 and 1976 September 1972 John R Caswell Chairman Box 98 Lincoln, Massachusetts 1 0 I,NT'Rz CDEC_ION SILC, the Su _ezion Intertown Liaison Committee, is pleased to present herein its concept proposal for public transportation facilities within its area during the 1975-1976 Revolutionary War Bicentennial celebrations SILC has two main motivations First, the probable influx of automobiles during the period would totally swamp the available roads, service stations, and other automobile related facilities When combined with our normal day tp day traffic the mobility of the entire area would collapse, for our normal automobile population already taxes our facilities, especially at rush hours Here lies our second motivation to gain adequate public trasnportation within SILC We are pledged, as is the state, to the preserva- tion of all railroad rights of way but, unfortunately, we have a strong premonition that the next passenger rail service to be abandoned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Boston and Maine railroad will be on the line to Lexington from Boston This line could play a most significant role in 1975 It could possibly be re-extended over its old right of way to the Concord River and the Old North Bridge In conjunction with the Fitchburg line of the B and M it could be structured to handle many of the visitors expected in the Lexington and Concord area In addition SILC is attempting to establish "meander" transportation in a north-south direction in our area, and services to the Bicentennial visitors to enable them to see Thoreau's Walden and Longfellow's Wayside Inn could easily form the basic foundation for such service after 1975 2 0 BACKGROUND SILC is a coalition of nine town governments for planning purposes Our towns are dynamic, innovative, and range in character from the relatively rural aspects of Lincoln, Carlisle and Weston, to the busier communities of Wayland, Sudbury and Concord, to Bedford, Burlington, and Wilmington which host a goodly share of Route 128's industrial wealth SILC is rich in history and has received the greatest recognition of this through the establishment by the Dept of Interior of the Minuteman National Historic Park This National Park covers the Battle Road of April 19, 1775 through Lincoln from Lexington to Concord as well as the Old North Bridge itself, where was fired the "shot heard 'round the world " Other historic sites are of course the Lexington Battle Green and Concord Center with their Revolutionary houses, taverns, and inns A later period of history is also represented by the Alcott house and Nathaniel Hawthorne's house in Concord, by Thoreau's Walden now a state reservation, and by the Wayside Inn in Sudbury where Longfellow wrote his Tales of a Wayside Inn The land is also one of SILC' s biggest assets Farming here dates back to the Indians before 1600 SILC towns, together with the state and federal governments, preserved acre after acre as conservation tracts Wildlife refuges are all along the Sudbury and Concord Rivers and the latter has been termed one of the lovliest canoeing rivers in New England Today winter ski touring and summer bicycle touring attract many people to the SILC area - 1 - r There are, e e_ problems of today in SILC Many of our people work in Boston, man- __ =±ridge and many along Route 128 Our couuuuting patterns are largely eas=-.esu and northeast-southwest and are governed by Routes 3, 93, and 2, the __essachusetts turnpike and Route 128 We have Hanscom Field, a commercial and military airport, in our midst, and while it is currently used for private and corporate aircraft, the threat of its use by cargo and/or passenger airlines is always there We have three regional high schools in SILC and with no public transportation the young people cannot move adequately throughout their region. We are beginning to develop low and moderate income housing complexes, and here we must question our social thinking that subsidizes a family to move from the ghetto, but in so doing forces him to become the owner of at least one car Some of the housing will be for elderly persons who no longer wish to nor can afford to own a car Emerson Hospital and the Veterans Administra- tion hospital in Concord and Bedford are not now served by public transportation We do have two things to alleviate this black transportation picture our railroads and/or their rights of way, and a network of secondary roads which blends well with our green lands and which if carefully used can easily support the mass transportation we need 3 0 THE BICENTENNIAL In 1875 Concord and Lexington telegraphed Boston to please stop sending trains because there was no place to put all the people Food ran out, and all in all it was not a pleasant situation for either visitor or resident The contempla- tion of four million or so people and their cars in 1975 is awesome to say the least SILC is convinced that bringing visitors- into the area in an orderly fashion can best be accomplished by train We have three applicable lines running radially from Boston the Central Massachusetts Division which tenninates in South Sudbury and on which passenger service was abandoned in 1971; the Fitchburg line from Boston to Lincoln, Concord, Acton and Route 495, and the Boston to Arlington, Lexington and Bedford line which has now only one train per day on it Of these three the Fitchburg line is key, for its tracks if not its passenger service do cross Route 495 At this writing some 90% of available Boston hotel space is already booked by business meetings, conventions, etc , during the 18 months of the- Bicentennial and consequently the bed spaces of Lowell and Lawrence, of Worcester, Marlborough, Framingham, of Fitchburg and Leominster will all have to be used In addition, liaison with the U S Almy at Ft Devens is underway and it is not inconceivable that some of their facilities might also be brought into play to house visitors All of which indicates the need for a large parking terminal at Route 495 and the Fitchburg line so that Visitors may travel for the day to the various historic sites not only in SILC but in Boston and Cambridge as well One need only review the New York World's Fairs to appreciate the role of the subway in their success, and the proposition is certainly in the same vein (— In In SILO itself -`_sitors would be offered a multiple of choices From Route 495 tTe- Could disembark at Concord, or a special stop at Walden Pond Fro= Pcston, they could do the same, or take a different train and get off at Lexington or Bedford, or if the tracks were relaid, near the Old North Bridge in Concord A third alternative would be to disembark in Sudbury and take a bus to the Wayside Inn The bus from the railhead in Sudbury to the Wayside Inn would be one of several Bicentennial Buses in the area There would be one from the Battle Green in Lexington through the National Park to the Old North Bridge in Concord and back This particular route should be free and patterned after the historic Williamsburg, Va bus system No cars would be allowed in the park at all From Concord common, a visitor could catch a shuttle bus for a small price (10 cents per adult) to Walden Pond or to the Concord railroad station From Walden one could also catch a train to either 495 or Boston A visitor could also elect to take a bus (50 cents fare) to the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, and from there ride the bus-train back to Boston Obviously, all these routes could be traveled in reverse The ride from Concord to Sudbury could follow the path of the Sudbury Minuteman as they marched to Concord in 1775 and in the Fall the foliage can be quite breathtaking in the area and along that route The above is not meant to be all encompassing Similar shuttles can be run into Bedford or out to the Isaac Davis Trail in Acton, but the principle of use of radial railroad facilities and circumferential shuttle buses to provide circular visitor motion - enter the area one way and leave by another - is clear Unless such motion is achieved, certainly bottlenecks will occur, and the total of the attractions and facilities will not be brought into play 3 0 RAILROADS (FIGURE ONE) Of the three lines suggested for use during the Bicentennial, only the Fitchburg line is essentially double tracked The other two lines are single tracked and lack adequate signaling All roadbeds are in poor shape The tracks beyond Bedford to the Concord River have been removed Passenger service now stops at Acton and Bedford Rolling stock consists of Budd cars The railroad involved is the Boston and Maine which is in bankruptcy and is most desirous of selling its assets The three rights of way should be purchased by the Commonwealth The roadbeds should be rejuvenated and doubled where necessary to allow appropriate passing of inbound and outbound trains New tracks should be laid beyond Bedford if the right of way still belongs to the B and M. Computer control of all three lines should be instituted so that travel is at the 50 - 60 mph level This also will mean that some of the several grade crossings will have to be eliminated, but a thorough study will have to be made to determine which ones are affected - 3 - I ?)1c � u , t ‘a. s - :L T X41. , hcor �: N FIG urte 1.I'D C'�TG1i L3VRCr <7:. � s k\ NH' Saia, Ma- o0.Pac�,:rC rA43pNc�ri= J ,/ x RF.. Rd,LJ CA Lt:> L \L 2 • y y'"'� \� _ J`r V � ��L .o 2 : \ ` ; T ,1� sir 0,,c7 TC � -, _ C.i-:L NO" k fn��\( i=\4�p .-iy N. �I N 3 ' X, S - To Bc'TrF. / V.F. l ._ ! /. Com.. �. � ,_ .� f Cc, 0 ; ,0kiet I, [[[, \ `!•3 \�,�;� ` ' 1.1 f Fl ;ra F r `". .-..yes-. ) ;i ..a l hl �T`A t ! �` Al Tot - 1 ( ��'- - CEA) yy 1:� ` _ I E i y, ) ( 1 � 11 I'_ - 4 - ---_- C (— While While t.:o veers _s a short time, it still would be possible to develop and build a series of mini-cars for the Bicentennial These should carry 20 - 40 :eco_e They should have unbreakable windows and be air conditioned They shou_d 5e self propelled Idealy, this would be by electric power, but here the :_.e element probably will not allow it Their hydro-carbon fueled engines however should be easily replaceable by electric motors at some later date These cars ought to be gaily colored, and manned by personable, young drivers in colonial regalia They could supplement the Budd cars which themselves need to be thoroughly overhauled and refurbished These need emission control devices as will as new windows, paint, etc Again the colonial motif should prevail, and multi-lingual stewardesses in costume could prepare riders for what they will see or answer questions as to what they have seen While some of these frills may seem superfluous, I am reminded of how pleasant the young guides and drivers of Disneyland and Disneyworld make a visitor' s time there Inasmuch as the proposed public transportation will be the visitors intro- duction and farewell to the Bicentennial in our area, it seems most important that good impressions be made both times Trains should run on easy timetables such as "out on the hour, in on the half hour " They should run at least once an hour during daylight hours and must certainly cover special events, such as reenactments of Paul Revere's capture and the battle at Lexington, concerts at the Old North Bridge, the March down the Isaac Davis trail, etc Each train during the summer and weekends probably should carry 300 or more people During the off-season the single Budd car or the mini-car would suffice The key is flexibility, for undoubtedly people will tend to arrive in the morning and return at night, thus several sections of trains ought to be available during those times Again, this is an area in which a thorough study should be made, and a variety of Budd car and mini-car combinations considered Computer controlled dispatching is a necessity, especially when the problem of interspersing visitor traffic and the -resident commuter is considered Computer monitoring and control of rail lines must also be installed in order to insure safety and optimum train progress, especially on the single track lines On board computers may also be used to optimize acceleration, deceleration, loading and unloading times, and siding-for-passing time 4 0 BUSES (FIGURE TWO) As with the railroads, two years, though short, is still time enough to procure shuttle buses These should present a mixture of 60-40-20 passenger units with emphasis on the smaller capacity ones They should also provide for multilingual stewardesses and sight seeing type of audio systems so that areas of interest may be pointed out Buses must all be radio controlled and dispatched with the aid of a central computer An important variation should be studied carefully and quickly in order to provide maximum flexibility these buses and the railroad mini-cars could be combined in a rail-bus version These vehicles exist in demonstration form today and essentially carry two sets of wheels enabling them to run on rails or asphalt Such cars/buses would allow maximum rail line utilization - S - ,Y' N. r3 CePi 0, N . k �� Steici' rIT �,�G 1ZOP �S ,�� ;tip , n �% �1:41 S�oW a \-. 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Ys 1' G;. �l 'dam �` t 1 / :"..)::::71-a... r,0 rid' c, l I, ;: ttl 1 _ _. 0 t r'' r Pe'i” 1 (— at at peak hours and then perform shuttle service in the interim They would also e_==_e any transfer of passengers, for instance in the Sudbury-Ways?ie Ira case Ideally, if these vehicles were used exclusively, transfers of a___ ;_ads would be eliminated However, the sheer numbers of anticipated v:s__crs probably makes makes mandatory the use of Budd car trains as well The major problems existing today with rail/bus vehicles are that they are not heavy enough to activate conventional railroad signal/control devices, and because they are neither fish nor fowl, the question of labor union jurisdiction is a real problem. However, a computer controlled railroad system ought to solve the weight problem, and one can hope the union question can also be settled The advantages of such rail/bus vehicles is obvious also from the point of view of total control of the entire system by a central bank of computers Such a computer control room ought to be in the Concord region where it would be central to Boston, 495, Sudbury, Lexington, Lincoln and Bedford 5 0 FACILITIES While many facilities will have to be renovated, etc , the new ones at 495, at Walden, and at Sudbury deserve special attention Route 495 must play a key role in any Bicentennial plans for SILC Rte 128 can handle only a little more traffic, and our visitors must be channelled to the outlying railroad facility It should be large, with restaurant and hospitality facilities Parking should be available for several hundred cars, and depending upon design, electric shuttle trains a la the N Y World's Fair could be used to get people to and from their cars Reluctantly, the short term nature of the use of this facility dictates large acreage parking ad opposed to high rise parking However, the environmental impact of covering a lot of land with blacktop must be carefully assessed Future use of such a tract must also be carefully studied and planned The Walden and Sudbury facilities would include sidings for debarkation and embarkation as well as bus access, turn arounds and waiting area If rail/buses are used, rail-climb-on facilities would also be necessary While both these areas would require new passenger buildings, similar rail-climb-on and bus areas would be needed in Lexington, Concord and Bedford at renovated station areas If tracks can be extended to the Concord River a new station would also be needed there 6 0 AFTER THE BICENTENNIAL - WHAT THEN? This addresses the second of SILC' s motivation After 1976 the transportation system proposed here would exist It would have rail/bus cars or mini-cars and shuttle buses which would be available to replace the aging Budd cars in the area The rights of way would belong to the Commonwealth as would the computer control facilities, the stations and the rolling stock In fact, there would - 7 - C c probable be a tublic authority or non-profit corporation in the transpo_tec__= business in SILC, for there is no reason to entertain any not=o: zf the bankrupt Boston and Maine handling this Bicentennial task S_1 the MBTA is deficit ridden and in severe trouble of its own It must apply its funds to the benefit of the most of its taxpayers, and that of course means the inner city What SILC has proposed is therefore a ready made, new transit administration in its area The groundwork of the Bicentennial, and the state and federal investment, should be taken and applied over a wider area In SILC the rail/buses would be spread up into the Wilmington- area to connect with the Reading line of the B and M That line could be bought by the state and given to the new transit administration too Thus the area from Rte I-93 to Rte 9 and from Rte 128 to Rte 495, not an inconsiderable major suburban area, could be covered The Concord central computer facility could handle the area. The buses could meander through it on an on-demand basis This Dial-A-Bus or variable routing bus system is already being tried experimentally by the Department of Transportation, and is a very real, economically feasible solution to public transportation in low density, suburban area Maximum flexibility of land use in the area would be achieved, for the transporta- tion would come to the user wherever he was The rail lines will have been rejuvenated thus avoiding pressures to build more highways into Boston, which could not handle the added cars anyway These lines can be served by buses following subscription routes to deliver commuters to and from stations, much like school bus routes today In special cases a rail/bus could merely climb on the rails and deliver its entire clientele to a single destination, such as Arthur D Little, Prudential Center, The Bear Hill Industrial Park, etc During the day, Dial-A-Bus would allow shopping at Shoppers World, Concord Center, Burlington Mall, etc Much less frequent schedules on weekends and in the evenings would still enable high school students in Lincoln and Sudbury, Concord and Carlisle, and from the Minuteman Vocational Regional Technical High School to see each other Similarly medical centers would be served What would be the fare? How many vehicles' would be needed where? When? All these elements make a comprehensive study that must be made It must be done now, and then updated by the experience gained in the Bicentennial 7 0 CONCLUSIONS SILC has outlined here a transportation system that would solve the Bicentennial traffic problem and would give visitors to our area a pleasanter time as well There is involved a considerable sum of money for right of way acquisitions, for improvements, for rolling stock, for computerized controls, for new facilities After the Bicentennial, the area would benefit lastingly by using the system for area transportation and would in fact be able to refine it into a model for major metropolitan suburbs Time is very short but it can be achieved _ R _ A word reg= anscom Field To use it as a gigantic parking lot as has been suggested is to beg the question The ability to get the cars to Hanscom `ts= _s not there Similarly, the improvements to Route 2 between Rte 125 amd Acton are sorely needed for the residents alone, much less to zr el cars to where they cannot be accozmuodated Thus what we propose, to keep as many cars as possible out while letting as many people as possible in and in convenient comfort, is really the only answer to 1975, 1976 and to the years that follow - 9 -