Timothy Brennan is Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, based in West Springfield. In part one of this interview, Brennan spoke of his agency’s efforts to "build a cross-border partnership" between Massachusetts and Connecticut. In part two, Brennan broke down the needs for north-south commuter rail. Here, he addresses how topography impacts east-west commuter rail, as well as ways his agency is reaching out to the public. Incidentally, just this week, the PVPC released a briefing, "The Economic Impact of the Proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail Line" (PDF).
HB: The commuter rail connection to Hartford, Connecticut is a priority. But there’s potential to connect to Boston as well?
TB: The commuter service [we’re advocating] is New Haven-Hartford-Springfield. New Haven is a hub to try to reconnect with Amtrak services that run not just to New York, but to Philly, Washington, etc. So it’s part of that whole northeastern corridor, where we’re trying to rely more on trains than on cars or airplanes. Also, this region is on a north-south axis, not an east-west. It always has been, always will be, because the region got settled by virtue of the Connecticut River being our premier natural resource. In the ’60s and ’70s, we replicated the river with asphalt and concrete, and created I-91. I’ve said this many times, that is our spinal column. That’s what connects us.
I’d argue that we are more connected to New York than we are to Boston. In terms of speed, affordability, travel patterns, our biggest priority ought to be connecting north-south. Now does that mean forever we don’t want to be bothered about connecting east-west? No. We actually have stuff on the drawing boards for that as well. But the degree of difficulty and cost on east-west are way over the top.
Because of the nature of the towns that the trains go through?
It’s a melange of things. First of all, this east-west line is a major freight line for CSX, so you have conflicts between freight trains and passenger trains—a big problem particularly as you move into metro Boston. Topography: there a lot of issues with grade and banking, which drive up your cost. You’re trying to get speed out of a train. You don’t need as much speed out of a freight train; you need speed out of a commuter train. Otherwise, why don’t I get in a car to drive to Boston? The only way a train is going to beat me is if I get caught in a traffic jam. It might be possible, but I might be lucky today.
Our first and foremost priority is to get this north-south connection: get it stable, get it reliable, and gradually look to connect on an east-west corridor basis as well, but we’d be better off taking small bites, and at a more leisurely pace. Worcester is already asking for more service, so it’s an easier shot to think about Worcester to Springfield than it is Boston. But there’s some big issues, particularly in the metro Boston area, about these issues between freight and commuter trains.
If you’re trying to encourage freight rail, it makes sense to let that take priority. There’s something to be said, too, for encouraging people to drive as far as Worcester for recreation or for work.
Right. We don’t want to get these flipped in their order. There’s a real chance we could lose the one that’s most almost touchable. Because it’s not going to be a piece of cake to get a buy-in. You look at the price tags for some of these other proposals, such as the connection down to New Bedford–Fall River. We look very modest in terms of our outlay, and that’s because, really, at least as far as getting to Springfield is concerned, ConnDOT is picking up the tab in large measure. We’re riding on their coattails. But we will have to pay our fair share.
When you look at some of the other proposals out there, [the difference] is night and day. Hundreds of millions as opposed to tens of millions. This is one we definitely see as all hands on deck to try to make it happen, but also try to respect, and respond to, the concerns that are being raised. We don’t want to say that the concerns don’t merit attention. We’re trying to look at what happened in Portland, Brockton, Worcester. What does the literature and research say about this sort of thing? Hopefully we can bring some decent responses. For the next ten years, this has to be one of the biggest and most important opportunities for the region, and for Springfield in particular.
Are there any obstacles yet to be overcome in terms of making it move down the tracks, so to speak?
Yes. The Connecticut folks have now, I believe, just entered step two, which is called preliminary engineering and design. They’ve hired the same consultant firm that did the first phase of work, which is Wilbur Smith Associates. That work will go on for about 18 to 24 months. When that work is done, that gives you the project to implement. But you can’t wait until month 24 to know that you’re bought into this on the Massachusetts side. It’s really probably going to be in the first term of the new governor, and the next session of the legislature, that we have to get the buy-in for this, monetarily.
Which is why you put together the white paper (PDF)?
Well, that was more broad. This is getting very specific to one project, and one part of the state. The white paper was much more sweeping. But it does talk about the need for making extraordinarily prudent public investments and transportation infrastructure to get the kind of economic benefits that you can derive.
A conserative think tank in Boston, the Pioneer Institute, just came out with a paper (PDF) talking about the leaked news about the state Transportation Finance Commission contemplating a gas tax increase because the needs far outstrip the revenues available to do it. That is all true. We want to make the best possible investments we can make that generate the best benefits. Those benefits can be [better] mobility, but they can also be economic development benefits, and that’s what we see. It’s certainly one of the top projects for the region.
In the space of the next two years, the preliminary engineering work would be consummated, and that’s going to be in the window of the next administration, and the next legislature too. There are also the inner-city bus carriers, Peter Pan, that fear that this will harm them and their company. We don’t think so, but that’s certainly something that they’re going to be worried about—if this gets implemented, do we get harmed as another private, profit-making company. They already have been in this debate, and they would rather it not go forward. We’re trying to say to them, you know, wait a minute, we think there are actually opportunities for your company as well. You’re going to need a connection, rubber-tired, between the commuter rail station and Bradley [International Airport]. Why don’t you bid on that? If you’re a superb transportation company, maybe you even want to bid on running the service itself. But even after all that, you own a lot of property in downtown Springfield. You’ve got a lot—
There’s a stake.
Yeah. Anyway, I think they’re doing what any conscientious, smart, sophisticated company’s gonna do, they’re gonna look out for their interests. And so we’ve gotta try to respond to the kinds of queries they’re making, and hope that when all is said and done, people make the most lawful case. Therefore the elected leadership follows what the public at large wants.
Do you have outreach geared toward the public’s understanding on some of these issues?
Yes, we do. I’m constantly out talking to groups, big and small. Every year there’s a small business roundtable [discussion] attached to the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. I’m going to talk to them tomorrow, and this will be one of the things I bring up. We work with others; the [Western Massachsetts] Economic Development Council, for example, has a very active infrastructure committee. I’m an ex-officio person at those meetings, not a member per se, but I’m a resource. I’ve been before them making the argument that this is an important infrastructure investment, and why they as a business community need to get behind it. In the spirit of fairness, [Peter Pan owner Peter] Picknelly and their folks have been there to say you know, this is a problem for us; we don’t think you should go there. Look at the ridership numbers, look at what it’s going to cost, why shouldn’t we get this money. Some of it’s formal; some of it’s informal, but we’re certainly out there trying to talk about projects and plans that we’re involved in, all the time.
How about in the media?
Well, we put out press releases on a frequent basis. Any opportunity I get, that’s offered, I take.
I saw you on "Watercooler."
"Watercooler" is an example. We’ve talked to them about other issues that they should think about [addressing], even if it’s not us, getting into the hopper. But we put out regular press releases. I talked on the radio last week about some of the congestion issues that folks were asking about on one of those morning shows.
On WHYN?
Yeah. It was sort of this anecdotal [topic], "Is it our imagination, or is there a lot more traffic and congestion happening in greater Springfield?" And it’s true, there is, and we’re sort of, as a medium-sized metropolitan area, now following the big ones.
Rush-minute is turning into rush-five-minute?
Rush day. I’ll talk to the media about whatever they’re interested in, and we can add something to it. We’re trying something new, too: we only have done this once. This has a transportation bent to it: small focus groups with other organizations. We just did one a week and a half ago with Massachusetts Career Development Institute. Rather than talking at these very formal meetings and committees, we’re going out and sitting around, having a sandwich with six or eight MCDI staff or students. We’re going to go in and talk to students about some of the special issues that they might have, so that we get down to that really grassroots level, maybe pick up some things that we might otherwise miss, or never hear.
Cross-pollinate, kind of?
Yeah. We’re thinking maybe this is a little bit going above the call of duty, but we might pick up some things. We have to come up with a new regional transportation plan in the new year. This is a way to pick up on some things that might not otherwise get called out, or that the data sets wouldn’t show you.
Interesting. Why MCDI?
We’ve had a good working relationship with [outgoing Director] James [Morton]. We have an annual event—we created a summer internship for Springfield high school students in the name of [the late Springfield planning department director] Linda Petrella. [Morton] has become our unofficial searcher for students who are good candidates, maybe headed in their college career toward a government sector job. He goes out and helps us find these young folks. This past summer, two young black women [from Springfield] worked here [at PVPC], and then went off to colleges. Our hope is that we’re helping to get some of these young folks off to college, but also giving them a reason or two to come back after they’ve got their degree and credentials in hand.
We’ve been doing a lot of tag-teaming with [Morton] on some things. But we’ve asked others, like Nueva Esperanza in Holyoke, if they would tag-team with us. We look like bureaucrats, and if we go into a setting that’s more comfortable, and people are more comfortable, they’re more inclined to talk, and give us insights that we might not otherwise ever hear, because they’d be intimidated, or might not know to show up at a meeting. So trying to go out to them is part of the philosophy.
I thought the same thing about the ULI process for the interviews. Perhaps some people didn’t show because they’re more comfortable just sitting down at their own kitchen table.
Talking in public is an intimidating exercise, so we should know that better than anybody else. We were happy with the first MCDI visit, and James [Morton] and his colleagues there agreed to help us arrange a way to get students [to attend in addition to] staff. If we can keep this going, that will be a useful thing. We’re trying to arrange another two or three. But we found some additional organizations that are willing to partner with us.
