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Also, the Port Properties proposal clearly stated (more than once) that almost all of these new developments would be over current surface parking lots for the foreseeable future.

What?

The section of Forest between the Hood / USM block and Park Avenue/ Park Street is a pedestrian disaster area — Could certainly benefit for from a "community design thinking" workshop. The blocks between USM / Hood and Woodford's Corner could be better utilized for housing and is a potential...

For those of us without a subscription, what are the latest details, please?

A Freeport Campus makes sense for an Outdoor Lifestyle brand, but I agree about the buses. A light rail line from Commercial Street, over to the Roux campus, through Falmouth to connect with the ROW of the mainline RR could shuttle passengers directly to Freeport Village Station. And be electric.

… and if that streetcar line could then turn from Franklin onto Commercial, which is already wide enough for a center-running streetcar (if delivery trucks weren’t ‘parking’ there all day) then the line could turn north again along St John Street and pass the “New Union Station” and then begin...

I believe the mid-last-century routes between Portland (and points northeast) and New York City (and points South, to Washington) did not stop in / near Boston. The route can be explored here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Harbor_Express

The current station is not on the mainline tracks between points north and south of Portland, so it’s requiring a route deviation to reach the PTC, then the train has to back up onto the mainline in order to proceed. It’s a waste of time, fuel, everything.

THAT is a good Park-n-Ride example— Logan Express busses to the airport from North Shore, South Shore, New Hampshire are others. The gross amount of parking at centrally located transit facilities is not a good example of P-n-R, since the idea is to park cars in less-dense areas so the transit...

I hear that. Respect for all users – including those in a car. And if someday there is a great Park-n-Ride service to the new station from places including Westbrook, South Portland, etc. that is well-timed with expanded train schedules, all the better!

For inbound and outbound riders, the most centrally located station will best support taxis/app-based ride services/bus/bike shares or walking by the highest number of potential riders, which reinforces the case for a lower parking maximum.

Agree 100% — they are designing primarily for automobiles and where to park them, not transit users. The State and City need a true transit-planning team to consult and design a worthy solution. The alternatives to date are funneling too much budget into parking solutions.

It’s great to read the designers are considering the needs of all modes, not just motor vehicles. But my favorite quote in here is from a planning board member concerned about traffic congestion who then describes his own habit of adding congestion in-town Portland. “When we go into Portland, I...

Passenger- or human-focused rail-transit solution vs. myopic car-centric rail-transit solution:

There are like six Metro bus lines that stop at/near Union Station Plaza already, a 1200-car garage and it’s no farther from I-95 than Thompson’s Point, and its siting on the mainline offers huge efficiencies. I hope MDOT can see past their highway > arterial > parking lot vision of the world...

The stated goal of NNEPRA is rail-focused Downeaster. From their 2019 Strategic Initiatives: “NNEPRA is exploring mainline station alternatives which will improve Downeaster connectivity to and within the greater Portland region by reducing overall travel time and decreasing bottlenecks.”...

There’s no reason MMC couldn’t redevelop Union Station Plaza as a mixed-use site with leased space to NNPRA / Amtrak for a new station on site alongside medical offices/hotel/lab/residential/parking. It’s a fairly large site. ideally, the railroad would be elevated before crossing Congress...

Are there renderings or sketches accessible somewhere? What were they reacting to?

Thank you. I’m hoping it’s a work zone because the slow down starts in Longmeadow or Enfield — more than a mile below the wye or the acute curve into the station. The rest of the line into New Haven has noticeably improved over the last three years.

Trains coming into Springfield Union Station from the south slow down dramatically when entering the city of Springfield — it can be a frustrating crawl, adding about 15 minutes to the trip. Is that temporary due to construction or is that a requirement due to grade crossings? As other...