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At the Crossroads
Once greater New Haven's ace in the hole, can the transportation
infrastructure once again yield true economic benefits?
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Business New Haven
7/13/1998
By: Susan Banfield
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It has often been said that one of the New Haven region's economic trump cards is the fact that it is a major transportation center.
The city of New Haven itself sits at the intersection of Interstates 91 and 95. Bridgeport sits at the junction of Route 8 and I-95. New Haven is a major rail terminal: the eastern terminal of the nation's busiest commuter railroad, an important stopover along Amtrak's Washington-Boston route, and the western terminal of the new Shoreline East. Bridgeport and New Haven are both deep water ports - two of just three in the state. The region also has two of the state's mere handful of commercial airports.
But what from a cursory glance may look like a real economic ace in the hole on closer inspection appears as more of a Black Mariah. Traffic jams at the interstate intersections in both Bridgeport and New Haven are notorious - with years of more bottle-necking construction threatened. The Shoreline East is characterized by many as more of a financial drain than a regional asset. Tweed-New Haven Airport, and to a lesser extent Stratford's Sikorsky, are engulfed in bitter controversy.
Just how far along are the region's transportation officials toward turning the queen of spades into a jack of hearts? There is more progress than many realize. On the other hand, the full fruits of many transportation projects currently in the works remain years into the future.
The area's highways are typical. For years now residents have heard talk of somehow fixing the Quinnipiac River Bridge, but nothing ever seems to come of it. In fact, a number of concrete steps have been taken.
After a public hearing last summer, the state's Department of Transportation (DOT) published an environmental impact statement which included several alternate approaches to the bridge traffic problems. These included the lowering of I-95 in the Long Wharf area and widening I-95 from the Q Bridge out to Cedar Street in Branford. Currently the DOT is preparing a feasibility study on the lowering of I-95 which will be available in a few weeks.
The feasibility study, however, is just the beginning of a long and complex series of steps needed to arrive at a proposal ready to be sent out to design. Approval of the Federal Highway Authority would be required, which would require traffic studies and other kinds of documentation. Consensus would also have to reached among various other federal and state agencies involved: the South Central Regional Council of Governments, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the city of New Haven.
Then, according to Carmen Trotta, DOT supervising planner, the design phase (also the permitting phase) would take three to six years, depending on the scope of the project, and construction would take an additional three to ten years beyond that.
Some of the design and construction might be able to be done in phases, reducing somewhat the wait to the beginning of construction. Still, the Q Bridge project will be a long and patience-testing one.
Meanwhile, any driver who would like to know, before hitting one of those orange-and-black computerized highway signs, what he or she will encounter on the road can call 777-INFO for an up-to-date status report on ongoing construction projects. (An “ongoing” project is anything that lasts more than a few days.)
Large-scale projects are also underway on the region's rail lines, with most focused on New Haven.
Amtrak plans to phase in its new high-speed rail service between Boston and New York between October 1999 and October 2000. But before that can happen, a number of projects must be completed at New Haven terminal and along the rail line east of the city.
For decades, trains headed from New York to Boston have had to stop in New Haven to switch from an electric to a diesel locomotive, as the track east of the city is not electrified. Other changes are also needed at New Haven terminal, which has not had switches and other equipment replaced for 80 years.
According to David Carol, vice president of High Speed Rail, once these changes are completed, existing trains will be able to cut their current New York-to-New Haven trip time of one and a half to two hours significantly, and the new high-speed trains will be able to complete the trip in 65 minutes. Amtrak also plans to increase the number of trains running between Washington and Boston from 18 to 34 daily.
For the last five years commuter trains have been running into New Haven from points east as well as points west. Shoreline East began service in 1993 in an effort to reduce the automobile traffic into the city via the Q Bridge.
Despite countless thousands of dollars spent promotional campaigns, ridership along the New London-New Haven route remains largely unchanged at a scant 1,200 passengers a day.
We're all a little surprised,” says DOT assistant rail administrator Jack Reidy. However, Reidy is not totally disappointed. “When we started this,” he says, “we were told we couldn't expect more than 400 rides a day.”
A key element to Shoreline East's popularity, or lack thereof, is the ease with which commuters can get from Union Station to downtown New Haven. When Rideworks, a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce congestion on area roads, has surveyed Shoreline East riders and potential riders, the biggest complaint that comes up about the service is that it is hard to get from the station to most places of employment.
Rideworks currently provides bus service from various points downtown to Union Station. The organization also works to hook up potential riders with other existing shuttle services to the train (for information call 1-800-ALLRIDE).
Jean Stimolo, executive director of Rideworks, says extra vans and later buses are currently being put on. Stimolo is also excited about a new federal law that allows employees to use part of their salary before taxes to pay for transit passes. She says Yale University (New Haven's largest employer) is looking into this, and hopes it will help boost Shoreline East's ridership.
Yet another solution that has been bandied about to the Union Station-downtown gap is construction of an additional station - underground - at the corner of State and Chapel streets. A feasibility study was done a year ago, and the project received the blessing of the state transportation commissioner. However, a preliminary design was never done and the project is now stalled.
Perhaps the weakest link in the transportation picture is that of air travel.
After Tweed-New Haven Airport lost the service of two major carriers, and saw service slip from 135,000 passengers a year to just 50,000, the Regional Growth Partnership proposed to New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. that operation of the airport be transferred from the city to a separate airport authority.
The takeover has been bitterly opposed by many, mostly East Haven residents who fear the effects of any expansion plans the new authority might have. Although it had long been assumed the new airport authority would need the approval of both New Haven and East Haven for the transfer of power scheduled to take place July 1, this was based on the assumption that both towns owned part of the land the airport is on and thus had leverage as lessors. However, when lawyers for the authority discovered that all airport buildings and land were owned by New Haven, which had approved the new lease, the authority claimed it no longer needed East Haven's approval to proceed. Refusal by the East Haven Town Council to approve a document called an “acknowledgment of lease” sent the matter to court.
Meanwhile, the airport authority plans to proceed with its takeover of operations. At first, according to the authority executive director Edwin V. Selden, “There will be no changes in the airport.” Passengers can expect to notice “enhanced service” within a year. However, the major changes so many local residents fear - longer runways, larger, noisier jets - will not come for years, if at all, Selden says.
Currently U.S. Air Express planes from Tweed connect to hubs in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. “The goal,” says Selden, “ is within four to five years to have two to three lines flying to destinations south and west of here - to hubs in Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Chicago.”
There are no plans, however, to try to compete with Bradley International in Windsor Locks. “Ours is a very different mission,” Selden says. “We're a regional feeder airport.”
Selden points out that the industry is placing increased emphasis on feeder airports such as Tweed. One reason it is able to do so is the development of new, small commuter jets carrying 40 to 60 passengers. The new jets make short runs more appealing to the average airline passenger, who prefers a jet to a slower prop plane. Selden also points out, for those who fear increased noise, that the new small jets are “extremely quiet.”
In order to attract lines flying the new commuter jets, Tweed might have to lengthen its runway. Selden stresses, however, that while these planes currently do require a longer runway than is available at Tweed (“We've got one of the shortest runways in the country,” he acknowledges), this may not be the case in a few years. “Some manufacturers are considering putting more thrust on the engine,” he notes.
These new developments in the equipment used may well have occurred by the time decisions about altering the airport have to be made. The planning process will take years, and will not even begin until the end of this year. The end result may well be that no substantial changes will be required. Certainly the authority would prefer this, if at all possible. “We're after making an airport to fit the current footprint,” says Selden. He also stresses that the authority wants East Haven's involvement in the planning process.
“It may take longer than planned, but I'm very upbeat,” says Andre Libert, director of marketing for the DOT's Bureau of Aviation. “I think Tweed has a fairly good opportunity ahead of [it]. Regional service is a must, and service to Tweed-New Haven is a must. It's essential to the economy. Tweed deserves to be a major regional airport.”
Stratford's Sikorsky has faced PR problems similar to Tweed's. Kurt Sendlein, Sikorsky's director of operations, lives in East Haven and attends town meetings in both East Haven and Stratford on airport issues. “Everybody [in Stratford] says, 'Close this airport and send it to Tweed.' At East Haven meetings it's the same thing. Just substitute 'Tweed' for 'Sikorsky.'”
Stratford residents, however, have less to fear about any possible plans to lengthen runways. “We both serve different market niches. We each have a distinctive role in air services in southern Connecticut,” says Sendlein. “Tweed is basically a passenger airport. We are primarily a corporate general aviation airport which happens to have passenger service.”
While Sikorsky currently does compete with Tweed on commuter service - both fly US Air Express to Philadelphia and Baltimore/Washington - “we have so much general aviation [200 small private planes and 30 corporate aircraft] we would barely miss it if we lost US Air,” says Sendlein. “Tweed with their plans have a much grander proposed future role. We see our role staying as it is. There are no plans to lengthen runways or attract jets.”
While the region's airports have recently been a source of contention and exasperation, the area's ports have been a source of steady and welcome revenue.
Altogether 12 business operate in New Haven Harbor. The two major firms are Gateway, which handles bulk cargo such as road salt, scrap metal, pumice, sand and stone; and Logistec of Connecticut, which handles bulk metals. The other ten all handle gasoline, diesel and other liquid products. Logistec is also the principal stevedoring firm in Bridgeport, where its main cargo is bananas.
Marty Tristine, president of Logistec, estimates that several billion dollars in goods pass through New Haven Harbor each year. In Bridgeport, Logistec is also doing well; it has made Bridgeport the fourth-largest banana import port in the nation.
Currently, the company is undertaking $3.5 million in improvements to its Bridgeport berth, rebuilding the dock and expanding the warehouse.
Another promising activity taking place at the region's harbors is that of ferry boats. “The [Bridgeport-]Port Jefferson ferry continues to do well. Business is very brisk,” says Joe Riccio, executive director of the Bridgeport Port Authority. Currently the ferry carries approximately 800,000 passengers a year.
While at present the Port Jeff line is the only ferry line operating in the region, this may well change soon. Karen Gilvarg, New Haven's executive director of city planning, recently returned from an area conference on ferry service. New Haven, she says, will be considering two types of new ferry service. The first would be a line much like the Port Jeff line, carrying both passengers and commercial traffic between Connecticut and Long Island. The second is high-speed, passenger-only ferry service between southwestern Connecticut and New York City.
Plans for high-speed ferry service are already well underway. This service will be offered by a private carrier, SeaConn, LLC, whose offices are on Orange Street. According to President Doren Voeth, SeaConn will begin building boats in about three months, and will have the first of these in operation by the fall of 1999.
“They're the fastest ferries in the world,” Voeth says, “much faster than the Pequots'.” SeaConn plans to run the boats along a route that goes from Bridgeport to Stamford to New York's LaGuardia Airport, to East 34th Street in Manhattan, to Pier 11, and finally to Battery Park. A New Haven stop will be added later.
Voeth says he will begin going to planning meetings soon to start negotiating with the private sector and with the city to find a good location for a New Haven dock. The New Haven-to-Wall Street run will take just 89 minutes, he says.a
So, although right now you may be sweltering in Q Bridge commuter traffic or waiting in frustration for a train that has somehow managed to run late coming from New Haven to Milford, ten years down the line you may be cruising to Manhattan by ferry or high-speed rail in record time and relaxed comfort. Transportation may yet turn out to be the region's trump card, after all.
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