www.mass.gov/southcoastrail
MassDOT
Seeks Federal
Stimulus Funds
for South Coast Rail
This fall, MassDOT submitted applications for
two federal stimulus grants for South Coast Rail.
One application would cover the cost of repairing four
railroad bridges and building a New Bedford station. A
second application for high speed rail funding would cover the
entire cost of the rail project if electrified. Both applications face tough
competition from across the country, but success on either grant will
provide a significant down payment on the project.
The Fast Track New Bedford application for $71.4 million was submitted to the
Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary
Grant program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funding would
enable the state to:
• Begin much-needed work on structurally-deficient railroad bridges and rebuild 1.5 miles of track. Four
railroad bridges in New Bedford, constructed in 1907, currently restrict both freight rail traffic crossing
those bridges and access on the streets crossing under those bridges to redevelopable sites east of the rail
bridges. The bridges are at Deane Street, Sawyer Street, Coggeshall Street and Route 18/Wamsutta Street.
• Create a new hub for transportation at the Whale’s Tooth station in New Bedford. The station will integrate local bus
services and shuttles, intercity buses, the Fast Ferry service to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard and regional passenger
rail. This multi-modal station will be modern, green and state-of-the art. The station building will house the New Bedford
Career Center — a one-stop center that provides workforce development services — as well as provide additional space
that will be programmed to meet community health, daycare, public safety or education needs.
• Build a signature pedestrian and bicycle bridge from the Clasky Common area of New Bedford across to the station,
reconnecting neighborhoods with the waterfront.
The public investment in the station area is anticipated to anchor significant new transit-oriented development and create
real places on parcels that are now brownfields. Half of the Whale’s Tooth Station-area development (about 1 million square
feet) is expected to be clustered within a quarter-mile of the station, an easy walking distance. Annual tax revenues from the
immediate station area development are projected at $3.3 million. These kinds of station areas, based on good planning
and adequate public investment, will be important long-term drivers of the South Coast’s future economy.
The Fast Track New Bedford project is needed in its own right, but it will also be the first
phase of construction of the South Coast Rail project. The full TIGER application is posted
on the project website, www.mass.gov/southcoastrail. n
South Coast Rail December 2009 | Page 1
MassDOT Announces Technical
Assistance Grants
What will the South Coast look like in 2030? Where will
the predicted 100,000 new residents be living? Will the
region lose its heritage of fields, forests, and farms to
sprawling development? The South Coast Rail Corridor
Plan lays out a vision for a more competitive and livable
South Coast region. This blueprint calls for clustering
jobs and homes in downtowns and close to new train
stations, while protecting the important natural lands that
contribute to the region’s high quality of life. To realize
this promise, the Commonwealth and the Cities and
Towns will need to adopt new zoning to protect land and
direct development to places where people are already
working and living.
year to help implement the recommendations of the
Corridor Plan. Three regional planning agencies will
be working with 20 communities to develop zoning
proposals and housing and economic development plans
that will prepare communities for the growth that is on
its way. In making selections for assistance, MassDOT
and the Executive Office of Housing and Economic
Development (EOHED) prioritized projects on three
criteria: (1) most closely related to the rail project; (2)
directly implementing the Corridor Map priority areas;
and (3) advancing the state’s Sustainable Development
Principles.
In this second round of technical assistance, MassDOT
emphasized four areas: station area planning, housing
and economic development and natural resource
protection. The regional planning agencies will work
with the communities that will host new train stations
The South Coast Rail Project is providing more than
to further refine the concept plans developed as part of
$300,000 in technical assistance to communities this
the Corridor Plan. This work will
include community goal-setting,
visualizations of the station area
Station Planning Area - Freetown.
designs and zoning proposals that
would allow the vision to actually
be built.
The Town of Stoughton is a good
example. Last year, South Coast
Rail consultants worked with the
Town to develop a station area
concept plan and conducted a
study identifying redevelopment
opportunities around the existing
station. This year, the Metropolitan
Area Planning Council — with
support from the Old Colony
Planning Council — will work
with Stoughton to develop a
downtown vision plan that builds
on that earlier work. This work
will help Stoughton visualize the
station area and develop detailed
recommendations for moving
forward.
In the fast-growing South Coast,
open space is being rapidly
converted into low density
residential areas. Rehoboth and
Berkley will be developing Open
Space Residential Development
bylaws that encourage homes
to be built on smaller lots while
large tracts of land are preserved
as permanent open space to
provide for recreation and habitat
South Coast Rail December 2009 | Page 2
protection. Five towns will be developing Housing
Plans to identify needs that are not currently being met,
as well as strategies for ensuring that new homes will fit
within their community’s character. Other communities
are working on economic development districts and
mixed-use neighborhood studies.
To see the full list of this year’s projects, please visit:
www.mass.gov/southcoastrail. As these projects are
kicked off, planning meetings and workshops will
be held to gather your input on these projects. Town
officials, local staff, and engaged citizens are working
hard to shape a stronger and more livable South Coast.
We hope you’ll join them in this important work. n
What’s New for South Coast Rail
Schedule: The project team has completed and
submitted over 5,000 pages of information to
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will be
preparing the project’s Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS). The Corps estimates that the
process of drafting and working with federal agencies
to finalize the DEIS will take about seven months.
(MassDOT anticipates adopting the DEIS as the Draft
Environmental Impact Report [DEIR] — the state’s
version of the environmental document.) Project
Manager Alan Anacheka-Nasemann addressed the
Commuter Rail Task Force in November and indicated
that June 2010 was the earliest the Corps anticipates
publishing the DEIS/DEIR.
When the draft documents are complete, the Corps
will announce a public review process for the DEIS/
DEIR documents. The Corps will choose the Least
Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative, or
LEDPA, after public review of the draft document. The
LEDPA is the only alternative that can receive a permit
under the federal Clean Water Act.
The team will then prepare the Final Environmental
Impact Statement and Final Environmental Impact
Report (FEIS/FEIR). These documents will focus on the
LEDPA, or recommended alternative, bringing it to a
higher level of design. Final design and permitting will
take place between 2010 and 2012, with construction to
begin in 2012. Service will begin in 2016.
Technical Reports: MassDOT has posted draft Affected
Environment Technical Reports and Environmental
Consequences Reports on the project website. Topics
include water resources; wetlands; biodiversity;
Environmental Justice; historic and cultural resources;
land use; open space; threatened and endangered
species; visual environment; noise; farmlands; air
Continued on page 4, What’s New
Administration Reaches Agreement
with CSX to Purchase South Coast
Rail Lines
In September, Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray
announced that the Commonwealth reached a
comprehensive multi-year rail transportation agreement
with CSX Transportation, the national freight carrier
serving Massachusetts. Many of the agreement’s
major elements were resolved last year; however, the
long-standing debate concerning liability remained
unresolved until this fall. Purchasing the rail lines that
extend from Taunton to Fall River and Taunton to New
Bedford from CSX is one element of the comprehensive
agreement. This purchase is a precondition to the
construction of the South Coast Rail project and
represents a major step forward for the project.
The state has already made a $10 million down payment
on the overall $100 million deal and anticipates another
payment will be made in May 2010 that will transfer
ownership of the South Coast rail lines to the state.
In late November, the agreement was submitted for
federal review to the Federal Surface Transportation
Board. Filing with the Surface Transportation Board
represents another milestone towards the first closing
of the historic agreement expected in May 2010.
In addition, CSX has reached initial agreement with the
Massachusetts Coastal Railroad to take over freight rail
activities on the South Coast Lines being purchased by
the Commonwealth. The agreement with Mass Coastal
will transfer the freight easement currently owned by
CSX to Mass Coastal when MassDOT’s purchase of the
South Coast Lines is finalized. An operating agreement
between Mass Coastal and the MBTA will govern use of
the lines for freight and passenger rail. n
South Coast Rail December 2009 | Page 3
What’s New, continued from page 3.
quality; and social and economic environment. There
is also an Analysis of SCR Alternatives: Phase 2 Report.
Ridership modeling methodologies and assumptions
are in a technical memo called Draft Methodology
and Assumptions of Central Transportation Planning
Staff Regional Travel Demand Modeling; and there is a
simulation showing how well different rail alternatives
would work: Draft Network Simulation Analysis of Proposed
2030 MBTA/Amtrak Operations Technical Memorandum
(SYSTRA) - August 2009. Figures are posted separately
on the site (some of the figures and documents are large
and can take several minutes to download). You can
visit www.mass.gov/southcoastrail to read these draft
technical reports. n
If wishes were trains…
Do you wish you could ride a train from the South Coast
to the Boston area? Hopes and Wishes is the theme of
an exhibit at ArtWorks! in New Bedford. The community
gallery invited the MassDOT team to share an exhibit
for the holiday season. The South Coast Rail exhibit
showcases the proposed design for the Whale’s Tooth
Station and the transit-oriented design ideas for the
King’s Highway Station. The exhibit includes a corner
for kids and encourages them to design their own South
Coast Rail trains.
South Coast Rail Corridor Plan
Recognized by American Planning
Association
Just in: The Massachusetts Chapter of the American
Planning Association has announced that the 2009
President’s Award for Outstanding Planning goes
to South Coast Rail’s Economic Development
and Land Use Corridor Plan. APA-MA’s awards
recognize innovation, quality, transferability
and comprehensiveness and this year, stressed
implementation as an important factor. This ground
breaking plan was developed
with unprecedented public input
and through the contributions
of many individuals and
organizations including Goody
Clancy, as the lead consultant,
and SRPEDD. n
Meet MassDOT
Effective November 1, all of the transportation
departments in Massachusetts are operating under
a new agency, the Massachusetts Department of
Transportation, or MassDOT. The new agency has
four divisions: Highway, Mass Transit, Aeronautics
and Motor Vehicles. The MBTA and MassPort also
report to the new MassDOT Board of Directors.
Planning for the South Coast Rail Project has been
coordinated to date by the Executive Office of
Transportation (EOT) and the MBTA. From this point
on, you will be seeing MassDOT and the MBTA as the
project planners and builders.
For more information on the new agency, please visit
the website: www.mass.gov/massdot. You can sign up
for MassDOT’s weekly newsletter on this site. n
Contact Information
If you would like a South Coast Rail exhibit in your
community, please contact Kristina Egan, Director of
South Coast Rail, at kristina.egan@state.ma.us. The
ArtWorks! exhibit runs until January 3, 2010. For more
information on ArtWorks!, visit the website: www.
artworksforyou.org. n
If you would like more information about the project or
to be added to the project distribution list for email and
U.S. Mail notifications of meetings and other updates,
please contact Kristina Egan, Director of South Coast
Rail by email at Kristina.Egan@state.ma.us or phone at
617-973-7314. Project information and updates, including
a schedule of upcoming meetings, are posted on the
project website at www.mass.gov/southcoastrail.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Ten Park Plaza, Room 4150
Boston, MA 02116
South Coast Rail December 2009 | Page 4