The long-term federal blueprint released last month for nation's busiest rail corridor calls for expanded high-speed rail through, and stopping in Providence, forgoing an option to build a brand new line bypassing the state on its way from Washington to Boston. It would also add an Amtrak stop at T.F. Green Airport that the state's congressional delegation has long advocated for.
But excitement about the plan in Providence was quickly eclipsed by alarm from the southwestern corner of the state, where the Federal Railroad Administration's vision includes building a new set of tracks through parts of Westerly and Charlestown.
The set of new tracks in Washington County is part of a proposed 50-mile bypass of the current Northeast Corridor, from the west bank of the Connecticut River in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, to just east of Shannock Village in Rhode Island, where it reconnects with the existing tracks. Much of the bypass would follow the path of Route 95, but moves east of the highway just before the Rhode Island border.
"I am concerned about the citizens who will be losing their homes," said Republican state Sen. Elaine Morgan, whose district includes part of the area where the new tracks would run. "There are farms in that path and a lot of homes. And I am concerned about our ecosystem."
Rep. Blake Filippi, R-Block Island, who also represents communities along the bypass, has also voiced concerns about the project.
The goal behind the bypass is a faster, straighter alternative to the existing route that twists and winds its way through New London, Mystic and Stonington along the Connecticut coast before entering Westerly.
(The new plan also notes that the current waterfront route is vulnerable to sea level rise and major storms.)
The entire plan, which includes doubling the number of tracks along most of the Northeast Corridor, repairing old bridges, digging new tunnels and adding more trains, is estimated to cut the average travel time between New York City and Boston by 45 minutes.
Federal Railroad Administration officials on Friday could not provide a cost estimate for the Old Saybrook-Kenyon Bypass (The Connecticut Mirror reported it is $10 billion) or say how much time it alone is expected to save travelers.
If all parts of the plan are achieved, the average travel time between New Haven and Providence is estimated to decrease by 25 minutes, but that includes more than just the bypass. The trip between New London and Providence would drop by 5 minutes, even though it would still use the old shoreline route.
Connecticut officials, some of whom had hoped that the FRA would route a new Northeast Corridor "second spine" through Hartford, had opposed an Old Saybrook-Kenyon Bypass for much of 2016. Their opposition, which continues, convinced the FRA to include an expensive tunnel under Old Lyme in the bypass plan.
But in Rhode Island, almost all of the focus on the future of the Northeast Corridor was on whether new high-speed rail track would connect Hartford to Providence or skip Providence and head to Boston via Worcester.
In a letter to the FRA last February, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo wrote that she was "highly supportive" of Northeast Corridor alignments that speed travel between Providence and Boston.
It was only after the FRA released its preferred alternative recently that leaders in Charlestown, which is not specifically mentioned in the new report, became concerned.
"We didn't know this was going on," said Virginia Lee, president of the Charlestown Town Council. "The process did not include municipalities and [the Environmental Impact Statement] is flawed in that it does not know there are additional environmental impacts."
Aside from concerns about property takings, local officials are worried that the bypass will cut through open space, including land preserves managed by The Nature Conservancy, Charlestown Land Trust, Narragansett Tribe and R.I. Department of Environmental Management.
Although the preferred alternative gives a general idea of where the bypass tracks would be located, it leaves the precise route to later, more detailed studies.
Charlestown has scheduled a meeting Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Charlestown elementary school to discuss the bypass plan and gather public comment.
The Westerly Town Council wrote a letter opposing the plan for potential negative effects on property owners and for potentially diverting traffic from downtown Westerly and its station.
Defending the new plan in Rhode Island has mostly fallen to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee that funds transportation and a longtime champion of expanding Amtrak service in the state.
"Overall it accomplished what everyone in the [congressional] delegation and government wanted, which was that Rhode Island would not be excluded from the Northeast Corridor," Reed said in an interview Thursday.
On the concerns in Charlestown, Reed noted that the FRA expects detailed engineering and environmental study on the various pieces of the new plan will take many years if not decades, plenty of time to find a potential compromise.
"I think what you have is a concept, and it is a good concept," Reed said. "The actual projects will take time, time for planning, public input. State involvement will be present."
Reed said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx had assured him that existing stations not on the bypass, such as Westerly, would at least retain the same number of trains as stop there now.
He said he had not spoken to his Senate colleagues from Connecticut who oppose the plan and had no idea how President-elect Donald Trump's new administration would approach rail funding.
Reed said he expects Northeast Corridor improvements will be made piece by piece as they gather local support and states prioritize them.
Where does that leave Rhode Island, where the state is working on a public-private development at Providence Station that will include a new bus hub?
Lizbeth Pettengill, spokeswoman for the R.I. Department of Transportation said Friday that Northeast Corridor expansion has no impact on the bus hub project and the state is not looking into any of the projects in the new FRA plan.
©2017 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
