A $25 million project to expand Branford’s popular commuter railroad station, where the parking is free and the lot is always full, will get underway in 2010 if the state obtains four nearby properties and receives required approvals and permits. It is scheduled to open in January of 2011.
The project, to be funded entirely by the State Department of Transportation, adds a new high- level orth side rail platform, a new pedestrian bridge that will connect the north and south rail platforms and an additional 316 new parking places. The second platform will permit northbound Shore Line East trains to have a separate track, allowing additional commuter trains on the route.
The new parking lot will be erected on an adjacent vacant lot, 5.38 acres in size, a parcel town officials suggested the state buy even before it created the new railroad station back in 2005. This property must now be purchased. The new lot, plus the current one, will bring the total number of parking spaces to 517. In addition, the former railroad station lot, across the way, will hold 52 spaces. It be renovated and used for overflow parking.
John Opie, who was the town’s First Selectman in 2005 and is currently the Republican Third Selectman, told the Eagle:“From shortly after the new station opened, it was apparent that more parking would be necessary and we immediately began lobbying the State to acquire the extra land to afford expansion. I’m pleased to see that effort coming to fruition
“I grew up in Stony Creek where, as a child, I remember there being a “local”
train that actually stopped at the Stony Creek Station and that residents
actually walked to and from the train in the morning and afternoon
respectively. Who could ask for more responsible service? While little
stops like Stony Creek aren’t practical these days, it’s good to see that 50
years later, some folks are trying hard to get back to what we had with the
modern environmental advantages.”
The formal decision to expand comes as motorists, faced with stiff gasoline prices, look for alternatives to the automobile. Shoreline East has also expanded its schedule, adding weekend trains to the daily schedule between Old Saybrook and New Haven and a late-night train that leaves Union Station in New Haven at 10:05. This means commuters from New York can catch the 8:07 from Manhattan and get to Branford two hours and ten minutes later.
The pedestrian bridge over the rail lines that will connect the north and south platforms will have an elevator for handicapped use. Public transportation systems are required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The DOT’s decision to expand the facility has been considered since the station opened in 2005, but has gained momentum under Governor Jodi Rell’s transportation initiative that includes full state funding. The expansion will allow for expanded Shoreline East service and eventually more reverse commuter trains.
Paul M.Stanton, a senior planner at Fitzgerald & Halliday in Hartford, the firm handling the DOT’s environmental and planning issues on this project, outlined the plans at a public hearing at the Blackstone Memorial Library earlier this month.
Stanton said he expects the new commuter expansion will require a tidal wetlands permit from the State Department of Environmental Protection and approval from the Army Corps of Engineers. The town’s Planning & Zoning and Wetlands Commissions will also weigh in.
Four properties must be acquired. One, an old house on Kirkham Street (left) that sits on the border of the railroad, is already boarded up.
First Selectman Unk DaRos said he iis pleased by the plan and eager to move forward quickly. “The sooner they get started, the better,” he said.
“The parking lot down there,” he added, “was at 100 percent capacity the day they opened it up [in 2005]. It is probably one of the most successful stations that they have.”
“People come from all around,” he went on, not just Branford. They come from North Branford and even farther, North Haven, he said. “It is cheaper for someone to come here from North Haven because they don’t have to pay the parking in New Haven. It is a full lot but it does keep people off the highway [I‑95], and that was one of its main objectives.” Neither East Haven nor North Haven has a rail stop.
“Anytime we can use mass transit, well, that is what we should be doing, particularly now. It takes high gas prices for people to wake up but we should have been waking up long before this,” he said.
RTM member Lonnie Reed, the Democratic nominee running unopposed for the 102nd General Assembly District seat, lives directly across from the Branford train station.
She told the group that her business often takes her to New York. “I’m a frequent passenger on Shoreline East. I have to say that I cannot remember riding a happier train. I often find my fellow commuters to be almost giddy in their appreciation of this service and in their support for plans to expand it to meet the growing demand. No wonder the current parking lot is at full capacity.”
Reed said the lot adjacent to the railroad station may contain dangerous contaminants dumped there in the past. ‘Construction will stir it up on a dangerous journey,” she predicted. She noted that the state’s engineering report described the “degraded conditions” of the parcel and the need to work on a solution. She said it was reassuring that steps will be taken to protect the neighborhood and the environment during construction.
The DOT hearing was not highly publicized beyond legal notices the agency placed in newspapers. Reed asked that town officials, citizens ( and hopefully the press) be kept “totally in the loop. As you have undoubtedly discovered, we have a lot of very knowledgeable and talented people in Branford who are eager to be of assistance in any way they can.” ###
While expansion of ShoreLine East service with millions spent on station improvements is great, the focus on train service while neglecting bus access is similar to the issues in a Los Angeles Bus Riders Union lawsuit back in the 1990's.
The L.A. plaintiffs argued that millions were spent to improve train commuting for upper middle class suburbanites while middle and working class bus service remained inadequate.
Similarly, while all these multi-million dollar improvements are spent on SLE rail stations accessible to economic development/employment centers only by car, Route 1 bus service right at employment centers' doorsteps via the DATTCO S bus between New Haven and Madison remains remains limited to weekdays-- stopping at 5:30 p.m--with service no more than every 45 minutes.