April 24, 2008

Mass Pike Exit on to 56 to be Studied

Worcester paper today

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Worcester City Council voted to oppose any access road. I wonder if the FAA will pull funding for Worcester's master plan.


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FAA Pulls Funds For Hilton Head Airport Master Plan
Thu, 24 Apr '08

Local Officials May Proceed With Study Anyway
The FAA has announced it will not participate in funding a master plan at Hilton Head Island Airport in South Carolina.

The airport is owned by Beaufort County, but lies within the town of Hilton Head. The two jurisdictions have fought over airport expansion for years.

On March 10, the town council passed an ordinance prohibiting any expansion of the airport's 4,300-foot runway without council approval. The resulting impasse drew an angry response from the South Carolina Division of Aeronautics at the time.

Now, it's also cost the airport FAA funding for its growth plan.

"We're talking about home rule and the right of the town to set its own regulations," said County administrator Gary Kubic. "That should not necessarily interfere with the master plan, which is partly embraced by the town itself."

The county has hinted it may fund the study locally, at a cost of between $250,000 and $350,000. The Hilton Head Island Packet newspaper reports the town council has agreed to the study, and could reverse the zoning change given a suitable growth agenda.

For the moment, however, no one is entirely sure where that money would come from, if it doesn't come from the FAA.

"We'll take it one step at a time," David Ames, chairman of the Aviation Advisory Board, adding "we're all going to have to put our heads together and come up with [an alternate funding source]."

The FAA has also suggested that if the two governments can end the squabble and agree to move forward with airport improvements, reimbursement for the study later is not out of the question.

Anonymous said...

Worc Airport via Oxford and Leicester..... a.k.a. Worc Airport via the scenic route.......does anyone wonder why Worcester is disappearing off the map......Worc wants all the benefits of commercial jet service.........yet w/o anyone making any sacrifices (ACCESS ROAD)...KINDA REMINDS ME of a 2nd grader who doesnt get his way...so he takes his ball and goes home.......only to be left completely out the game as time wears on.......well maybe at least they'll make it a 95% automated toll collection system at any new interchange...to make it more cost effective.

Lets have a contest to name the new exit?

Spiders Gateway? Wally World Way??

Anonymous said...

The Hot Dog Annie's Highway !!!!!!

Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA

...I will take 3 BBQ w/ Mustard!

Bill Randell said...

Jahn:

You and I have discussed this many times. Let me tell you again that this exit would not be put in for the airport!!! Although it could potentially help the airport.

If you lived West of Worcester and you worked anywhere in Metrowest/Boston, it is an aboslute horror show. A route 56 to a MassPike exit would alleviate alot of traffic East-West connector.

Would an actually East-West Connector across Worcester be better--yeah, but it will never happen. Come on Jahn, Hope Ave/Cambridge Street/Highland Street--can you imagine how long or how difficult that would be to do??

Drive Route 56 and you will see how easy it would be.. Obviously you do not live West of worcester or on the West Side, since if you did you would know what I mean.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Worcesters traffic problems s/b solved by road growth/access that is in Worc...not in Oxford or Leicester......the Hope Ave access road was also supposed to be a solution to some of the citys traffic woes........

then their was the Mill St "Corridor" study group that surfaced about a year ago heaeded by Councillor Rushton......not sure what happened there??


For example, I just dont see the traffic problem that starts at Tatnuck Sq and goes down Pleasant St to Highland St to Park Ave to Lincoln Sq to I 290 being solved by a Rte 56 upgrade/interchange that is 10 miles away from the north & west sides of the city.

If we dont have the political cahonnes to solve our own road/traffic problems.....then the city will never grow and we will continue down the path of being a residential bedroom community

If we want business to thrive here...or an airport... it will not happen w/o the infrastructure to support it.

In years gone by.........we did have a fair amt of comm jet service........but that was a different time & place......back then regulations dictated that carriers had to serve Worcester...thats been de-regulated...additionally.....years ago there was no Bradely nor T F Greene nor Manchester the likes of which we know today....

Anonymous said...

What regulations dictated that a"air carriers had to serve Worcester"?
Could you be more specific.

Thanks

Bill Randell said...

Jahn:

Alot of the bottlenecks are not from people living in Worcester but by people trying to get across Worcester. In an ideal world it would be better to expand Hope, Cambridge or Mill Street to accomodate this traffic, but it will not happen. Just imagine trying to widen Cambridge Street.

On the other hand Route 56 is not as heavily concentrated and there is room to widen the road. At least much easier here then anywhger else.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Don't forget, the primary purpose for this is to draw business to these communities. Any assistance to the airport is just an added benefit not a primary reason. With Walmart in Leicester, and Home Depot, WalMart and more proposed businesses in Oxford, these towns are being eyed by companies. The Rt.56 interchange can only benefit them.

Guy S.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I was once told years ago that ICC regs (or others rules?) req'd airlines to serve certain smaller, less populated areas, less prifitable areas/markets if they wanted to be able to service the heavily populated, more lucrative markets like Boston or NYC or Washington, etc. Kinda like when telephone service fisrt came along.......phone co's were req'd to wire less populated, rural areas..........if they wanteds to do business in the biult up urban markets...........kinda like you have to take the good and bad if u wanted to be a phone co???

Then Reagan came along and deregulated (or reduced regulations) comm. air service. He also did this in the trucking industry.....esp. LTL carrieers.......and now you can drive along Rte 20 and see many old LTL freight terminals that no longer exist as LTL freight terminals.....I can prob think of 8 or 10 of them that have not only left Worc Area.....but gone out of business in the last 25 yrs or so ............similar to what has happened with air travel in general and and specifially with comm. air travel at Worc Airport

I cant say I have ever read teh rules....only going by what I have been told or possibly read in the past

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanx

Same

Anonymous said...

Let's dddicate next weeks Thursday Blog to Worc finances............as May 1st is next Thursday.......and I always am in need of Prozac for a few days on a q'terly basis here in Worc as I have to write my property tax check.

TY

Anonymous said...

Jahn:

What's a dddicate? Have you been hanging out at Centerfold's again?

:-)


Harry Tembenis
Worcester, Ma

Anonymous said...

Sorry......Dedicate.......not dddicate........

Harry ya think traveling men would have any problem finding Worc Airport if we had a Centerfolds up there?...

Wonder what the zoning allows up there on the mountaintop???...........if not allowed......then maybe a possible overlay district could be accomodated......

WTH.......at least the runways would get lotsa use............and Amity, the showgirl, could extract a good price for each touch and go........and each practice landing

On 2nd thought......runways are already an allowed use up there.......right??........so no zoning variance or special permit would even be needed