Where are you getting
6-9B per mile? Where are you getting these numbers from?
Cape Cod Rail, Bridges and Highways
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Charlie_mta
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I agree. Also, with the rise of remote working in the last several years, more working people in good paying jobs could be living on the Cape. And the winter climate is milder than most of New England, plus the beaches and the ocean give the area a lasting attractiveness.
HenryAlan
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Really, the only downside for an upper middle class remote worker living on the Cape is that it is somewhat lacking in year round amenities/services, but there is no reason to think that can't change as the paradigm shifts.
Since no one seems to care about data... lets look at student enrollment - it is trending down as a whole, but locally there are ups and downs...
"On a five-year time horizon... at Nauset High [in] 2018 there were 937 students at the high school, and the numbers have declined by an average of 39 students every year since then, for a total loss of about 17 percent of the 2018 student count.
The Truro and Wellfleet elementary schools have had both ups and downs over the last five years, for a net loss of only about 7 percent of enrollment since 2018.
Eastham Elementary has had ups and downs as well; it has six fewer students this year compared to last. Over five years, however, it has come out ahead, going from 171 students in 2018 to 186 this year.
The Provincetown Schools, which include prekindergarten through eighth grade, are the outlier, having gained students every year since 2018."
provincetownindependent.org
"On a five-year time horizon... at Nauset High [in] 2018 there were 937 students at the high school, and the numbers have declined by an average of 39 students every year since then, for a total loss of about 17 percent of the 2018 student count.
The Truro and Wellfleet elementary schools have had both ups and downs over the last five years, for a net loss of only about 7 percent of enrollment since 2018.
Eastham Elementary has had ups and downs as well; it has six fewer students this year compared to last. Over five years, however, it has come out ahead, going from 171 students in 2018 to 186 this year.
The Provincetown Schools, which include prekindergarten through eighth grade, are the outlier, having gained students every year since 2018."
Student Count Keeps Falling at Nauset High School - The Provincetown Independent
EASTHAM — Enrollment numbers for the Outer Cape’s public schools have finally arrived, and they show that existing trends here are getting worse. This year’s total enrollment in the Truro […]
provincetownindependent.org
bigeman312
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Since no one seems to care about data... lets look at student enrollment - it is trending down as a whole, but locally there are ups and downs...
"On a five-year time horizon... at Nauset High [in] 2018 there were 937 students at the high school, and the numbers have declined by an average of 39 students every year since then, for a total loss of about 17 percent of the 2018 student count.
The Truro and Wellfleet elementary schools have had both ups and downs over the last five years, for a net loss of only about 7 percent of enrollment since 2018.
Eastham Elementary has had ups and downs as well; it has six fewer students this year compared to last. Over five years, however, it has come out ahead, going from 171 students in 2018 to 186 this year.
The Provincetown Schools, which include prekindergarten through eighth grade, are the outlier, having gained students every year since 2018."
Student Count Keeps Falling at Nauset High School - The Provincetown Independent
EASTHAM — Enrollment numbers for the Outer Cape’s public schools have finally arrived, and they show that existing trends here are getting worse. This year’s total enrollment in the Truro […]
View attachment 49098
How does the Barnstable County public school enrollment decline compare to the State of Massachusetts as a whole, proportionally?
I know that Massachusetts has had fewer than 70,000 births each of the past six years for the first time in living memory, so I imagine public school Enrollment declines are a trend statewide.
HenryAlan
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I wonder whether general population tracks with school enrollment. It certainly does not in Boston. I suspect there are better data sets to inform the conversation, such as the American Community Survey and real estate sales.
I'd though in Internet infrastructure, too. The Cape is, last I checked, only Comcast and given the monopoly it's essentially hand me down Comcast as far as equipment. Download is probably fine, but upload speeds are probably terrible which can be a factor in WFH. Nothing like a good symmetrical fiber connection.
I'll agree with year round amenities, although from my experience it's significantly better now (at least towards the Sandwich/Falmouth end) than the part 10-20+ years when there was basically nothing but liquor stores and depression in the off season.
Reliable train service would also be a big sell, even if it was just a couple of AM and PM trains Tuesday - Thursday for the go into the office there in and there crowd. If the trip time was decent, it's a one stop ride to South Station.
bigeman312
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Since no one seems to care about data... lets look at student enrollment - it is trending down as a whole, but locally there are ups and downs...
"On a five-year time horizon... at Nauset High [in] 2018 there were 937 students at the high school, and the numbers have declined by an average of 39 students every year since then, for a total loss of about 17 percent of the 2018 student count.
The Truro and Wellfleet elementary schools have had both ups and downs over the last five years, for a net loss of only about 7 percent of enrollment since 2018.
Eastham Elementary has had ups and downs as well; it has six fewer students this year compared to last. Over five years, however, it has come out ahead, going from 171 students in 2018 to 186 this year.
The Provincetown Schools, which include prekindergarten through eighth grade, are the outlier, having gained students every year since 2018."
Student Count Keeps Falling at Nauset High School - The Provincetown Independent
EASTHAM — Enrollment numbers for the Outer Cape’s public schools have finally arrived, and they show that existing trends here are getting worse. This year’s total enrollment in the Truro […]
View attachment 49098
I decided to go ahead and do some research. This doesn’t appear too different than Massachusetts as a whole.
2019-‘22 saw a 3.7% decline in enrollment in Massachusetts public schools.
That drop was most acute among 5th-7th graders. This is entirely unsurprising as from 2008 to 2010 the number of births in Massachusetts dropped by 5.4% and never recovered.
For perspective, as of 2023 data, births in Massachusetts are down about 11% over the past 15 years and 15% over 20 years. It’s absolutely expected that school districts are shrinking and says less about Cape Cod than about our society at large.
DominusNovus
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No populated place in the United States is any longer an internet monopoly. Cape Cod residents can easily get Starlink.
TheRatmeister
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yeah for around 4x the price
Healey administration reaches new agreement with federal officials on Cape Cod bridge project - The Boston Globe
The memorandum of understanding announced Thursday between the Healey administration and Army Corps of Engineers effectively replaces one the state signed in 2020 when it embarked on replacing the 89-year-old Bourne and Sagamore bridges.www.bostonglobe.com
It seems super backwards that the Cape FLYer isn't getting any funding from this new bill. With even half of that money there could be substantial double tracking and expansion to 1tph for a lot of the year.
The funding is only for the Sagamore, and not the Bourne. Which jives with the "Karen from Wellesley" bit. Karen's not going to use the Cape Flyer.
DominusNovus
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You sure about that number?
Aprehensive_Words
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Although, without a big upgrade to the Cape RTA service, all that's going to do is feed the Hyannis ice cream shops and the Nantucket and Oak Bluffs ferries.
Again though, big upgrades to Cape RTA are pennies on the dollar compared the bridge replacement.
Not that the bridges don’t need replacing, mind you, but one has to wonder if bridge replacement combined with robust public transit expansion wouldn’t be more cost effective than bridge expansion for cars.
Charlie_mta
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The existing bridges could still function for a long time into the future. On the Sagamore, one lane each direction would have to be closed to keep the bridge usable, but the vacated lanes could be used for protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. Instead of spending several $ billions to replace the Sagamore and Bourne bridges, I would rather see the money go into providing full-time daily rail service to the Cape, plus a corresponding beefing up of the Cape Cod RTA bus routes and schedule.
I don't know how much of a pinch-point the existing rail bridge is across the Cape Cod Canal, but if the openings of the bridge would significantly impact rail service, then I would like to see a high-level rail bridge built across the canal, using some of the funds that would otherwise go into new highway bridges.
That doesn't help Karen though.
Really, they should be spending the money elsewhere. But it is what it is.
TallIsGood
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This isn’t realistic for most people who live on the cape, spend summer weekends or just go for a week with the family.
I rather have to agree. Short of filling the canal in, the bridges are pretty important and a direct problem caused by the state when they created the canal. I'm the first to ask the question of how many NSRLs this would buy - but also acknowledge, that, like the NSRL, these are needed infrastructure to replace. I think a really interesting thing would be how much money the Cape (including tourism) generates the state to put the cost of replacement into perspective.