The consensus of transportation officials and commuters who were quoted by media outlets last week was that the “carmageddon” that was feared in the aftermath of the May 17 Metro-North crash did not materialize.
Commuters were surely grateful for the restoration of full rail service, and we applaud the officials, inspectors and, most importantly, the workers who made the quick turnaround possible.
But we are compelled to ask: If this so-called carmageddon had occurred, would anyone have been able to tell the difference? To be sure, the rail interruption could have very well added 15 or 30 or 60 minutes to some commutes. Ultimately, though, the effect would have been to merely elongate what is already a much longer-than-average commute for most of those people who live and/or work in southwest Connecticut.
Everyone who has encountered Interstate 95 or the Merritt Parkway during the morning or evening rush knows that neither could ever be confused with the autobahn.
Transportation officials acknowledge as much, reflected in efforts to speed up highway and bridge work by the Connecticut General Assembly and the state Department of Transportation.
Earlier this spring, the General Assembly passed a bill that allows the DOT to use alternative and accelerated construction methods for projects like bridge upgrades, which a DOT spokesman told the Business Journal could help ease traffic congestion.
“Traffic congestion goes hand in hand with the American way of life,” Kevin Nursick, a DOT spokesman, said in late April.
Nursick said it”™s not a reality to think the use of accelerated delivery methods will completely alleviate the traffic problem, but said there are ways to make road work more efficient.
“Quite frankly,” he said, “every place with a flourishing economy has a traffic problem: the economy is moving and you”™re drawing people in.”
While that may be true, Frank Fish, an urban planner with BFJ Consulting, said in an interview with the Business Journal editorial staff that economic growth in Fairfield County is being held back by the lack of a stronger transportation network.
Transit has two components: the rails and the roads, Fish told the Business Journal. While the communities on Metro-North”™s New Haven line benefit substantially from its presence, Fish says the county”™s roadways have been overlooked.
“If Stamford, for instance, is going to consolidate its position, it needs to maintain good regional access and one of the problems now for Stamford is that people can”™t get here. Not from New York, ironically, but from inland Connecticut, where an awful lot of people who have jobs here live,” said Fish, whose firm is leading the revision of Stamford”™s master plan.
The region dodged a bullet with last week”™s quick rail recovery. But the larger issue that was exposed by the crash and that is in severe need of attention is that our roads are simply not up to snuff.
