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Sick Transit
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Business New Haven
3/5/2001
By: BNH
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Business advocacy groups across Connecticut are trying to place a transportation agenda on the doorsteps of the Capitol.
The issues include the bottlenecked interstates I-95 and I-84, airport reorganization and expansion for Bradley International Airport and Tweed-New Haven. They also include improved rail transit including connecting New Haven, Meriden and Hartford with passenger service. Controversial and big ticket items all, but arguably precisely the sort of infrastructure issues that business needs government to solve.
In New Haven, at least, one charade has thankfully drawn to a close.
Tweed-New Haven Airport Authority Chairman Lawrence J. DeNardis officially "outed" his group's agenda in a February 20 position paper. The centerpiece of the document was lengthening the runway by about 2,000 feet to accommodate the regional jets that haul passengers to hubs between 800 and 1,000 miles from Tweed, such as Chicago and Atlanta.
The position paper acknowledges that lengthening the runway will require buying some residential properties, filling in wetlands and chopping down trees, all in the name of making it possible for regional jets to operate from the flyway with sufficient loads to make money on the service. The authority says it's not hoping to turn Tweed into a Bradley, but would like to see, say, 30 flights a day following expansion.
The fact that the specifics of Tweed expansion are now on the table is good, since its merits can now be debated openly and fairly. DeNardis understands politics and knows that if nothing firm is on the table nothing will be done. That's been the case as Tweed's advocates have been frustrated by their failure to motivate the likes of State Sens. William A. Aniskovich (R-12) and Martin M. Looney (D-11) and House Minority Leader Robert Ward (R-86), among others, to press their cause.
While proponents may wish to argue the case differently, at the state level the airport discussion really comes down to Bradley vs. Tweed. The Hartford-area business community - and, arguably, Hartford-area-based groups like the Connecticut Business & Industry Association - certainly don't seem to be thinking Tweed when they talk transportation. And if they are, they need to say so a whole lot louder and more clearly.
Sargent, Bayer, Yale, the biotech upstarts and others who claim to support Tweed expansion are going to have to communicate to and motivate their employees about the importance of Tweed to their companies if they hope to see Tweed flying strong again.
Failing that - our bet is that such failure will be taken as a sign that these companies don't care quite as much about Tweed as its boosters say they do - there will be no incentive for the region's politicians to support change in the face of some vocal opposition in some towns. (Don't any East Haveners work at Bayer or Yale? If so, why aren't they lobbying Mayor Joe Maturo to soften his stance on airport expansion?)
Another suddenly urgent topic is commuter rail service between New Haven and Hartford. Commuter rail is a problematic topic in Connecticut.
The Shore Line East service continues to require vast taxpayer subsidies. Also, complaints about Metro North service (old or dirty or overcrowded coaches) undercut Connecticut's commitment to mass transit.
While it's clear that Connecticut needs a 21st-century transportation system - and that sooner or later that will probably mean quality mass transit - we're not fans of huge rider subsidies at public expense.
Business leadership, the DOT and mass transit advocates have to do a far better job of improving services and generating ridership - now. There are a host of non-punitive measures that can be taken to improve mass transit use, but the effort needs to take on far more urgency if taxpayers are asked to fund even more money-losing services.
A quality transportation system is a key ingredient to sustainable economic growth. More important, potential income growth for urban residents is directly linked to their access to employment options in nearby communities. This dependency will only grow.
Just as important, however, is the principle that taxpayers shouldn't be asked by business-advocacy groups to fund a transportation system built on unproven claims without the full-throated support and real-world commitments of the region's businesses themselves.
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