Meanwhile the Bike Trail replacement of the Falmouth Branch saga continues with breathtaking ignorance (especially the follow-up op-ed)!
The Bourne Enterprise
Sen Moran Wins Senate Approval To Fund New Rail Spur To Military Base
PROJECT WOULD PROVIDE RAIL-TO-TRAIL SOLUTION
- By NOELLE ANNONEN
- Jul 18, 2024
ENTERPRISE FILE PHOTOGRAPH/GILDA GEISTSusan MoranState Senator Susan Moran
Last week, an amendment aimed at kickstarting a bike path in place of the Falmouth Secondary (F2) rail line was withdrawn by its petitioner, State Senator Susan L. Moran. But the senator already had another plan in motion for how the plan, known as the Rail-To-Trail project, might go forward, and its funding was approved by the Senate.
The second amendment Sen. Moran filed set aside $8.75 million for a new railroad track connecting the Hyannis Main Line to Joint Base Cape Cod. This might free up the F2 tracks for another purpose, such as a bike path. Sen. Moran said the bike path would provide an economic advantage to communities situated near it by promoting tourism and offering people another opportunity for recreation and even commuting.
Upper Cape towns have been trying to solve a problem that has halted the Cape Cod Commission’s “Vision 88” efforts. This plan aims to connect Woods Hole to Provincetown with one single bike path. But a 6.5-mile stretch across protected wetlands and waterways between the end of the Shining Sea Bikeway in North Falmouth and the Cape Cod Canal Bikeway in Buzzards Bay has proven to be a sticking point.
Committees in Bourne hoped to solve this problem with the rail-to-trail plan, calling for the F2 tracks to be torn up and replaced with a bike path, just as the Shining Sea Bikeway was constructed. This plan is cheaper and easier to construct than its alternatives so far, since it would follow an existing railbed over marshes and creeks. But select boards in Falmouth and Mashpee voted to support the alternative in December: rail-with-trail. Even though exactly how a path running alongside the tracks might be permitted and paid for is unclear, this plan prioritizes keeping the tracks operational.
Sen. Moran, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and other lawmakers have been working on how best to support Upper Cape communities in their endeavor for several months. Tearing up the F2 line for the path was an ideal plan, Sen. Moran said, since the whole project would have cost the Commonwealth nothing. All $20 million of the funds set aside by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority came from the federal government, according to administrator Thomas S. Cahir. But then the Army National Guard made its stance on the topic known.
Senator Moran and other lawmakers working on the project learned that the guard does technically support Upper Cape efforts to have the bike path built, but only conditionally.
“I feel it is important to clarify that the [Army National Guard] supports the community’s bikeway initiative so long as the project does not impact the Army’s strategic rail capability and that a rail corridor provides accessibility to Camp Edwards,” Major General Gary W. Keefe wrote in a letter dated December, 2023.
The letter further clarifies that rail access is important for national defense, whether that line is the F2 track or some other alternative. In light of this, Senator Moran filed a second amendment last week: amendment 331.
Amendment 331 sets aside $8.75 million for a new rail spur connected to the Hyannis Main Line. This line runs along the northern portion of the Cape, cutting through Barnstable, Sandwich and Bourne on its way to the rail bridge. A spur, or a new track connecting to Joint Base Cape Cod, could ensure continued rail access to the base while freeing up the F2 line for other purposes, Sen. Moran said.
Cavossa Disposal currently operates a disposal service at the Upper Cape Regional Transfer station, using the F2 tracks to haul construction materials and other debris off of Cape Cod. Carl F. Cavossa Jr., who owns the company, expressed concern at plans for the bike path being laid on the F2 rail bed at government meetings throughout the last year. The rail is essential for hauling, he said.
Additionally, the line offers critical redundancy for municipal waste. Falmouth authorities have noted that the Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility in Bourne, where Falmouth’s curbside trash is taken to be placed in a landfill, will eventually run out of capacity. At that point, where and how Falmouth’s trash will be taken will become an important question in need of an answer. The rail line might offer that alternative.
The new rail spur funded by Sen. Moran’s amendment could be constructed so that it connects the Upper Cape Regional Transfer station to the Cape Cod railroad, offering an alternative to the F2 tracks.
“We’re still in preliminary conversations,” Sen. Moran said.
Ultimately, Sen. Moran said she filed both amendments to draw attention to the conversations that still need to be had. While funding is in place, exactly how and when a rail spur might be constructed still has yet to be decided. And even though funds are already in place for the rail-to-trail plans, there still needs to be an alternative railroad providing service to the base. In light of the need for that railroad access, she withdrew her first amendment and with it, the directive to the Department of Transportation to support the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority in building the rail-to-trail.
“I filed the amendments so that the conversation could be fully had,” Sen. Moran said. “It is my job to support these communities.”
The amendment was made on an economic development package bill, which is now going to a conference committee for deliberation. Members of the state House and Senate will together craft a final report and if Sen. Moran’s amendment is included in that report, it will go back to both the House and Senate for a final vote.
Op-ed - Please Note This Article Contains Lies / Misinformation* :
*Facebook commentary!
The Bourne Enterprise, July 19, 2024
Bourne Musings: Another Setback For The Rail Trail
By Wesley J. Ewell
" Senator Susan Moran has been a strong supporter of extending the Shining Sea trail through Bourne from North Falmouth to the canal service road. When she tried to introduce legislation to move that plan forward, however, she ran into a political roadblock and had to back off. That is unfortunate, because federal money is currently available to build the trail and its construction has broad public support. It appears that two politically powerful men who benefit financially from keeping the rails in place may have built that roadblock.
Carl F. Cavossa owns Cavossa Disposal and P. Christopher Podgurski is president, CEO and COO of Massachusetts Coastal Railroad. Both of these companies receive substantial indirect subsidies from the state each year through their lease and use of the state-owned rails between the canal and the waste transfer station located south of Joint Base Cape Cod in Falmouth.
The rails continue onto the base but have seen negligible use by the military over the last 75 years.
Extension of the Shining Sea trail is a key element of the Cape Cod Commission’s plan to build a pedestrian network connecting every town on the Cape. Such a network of trails would contribute tens of millions of dollars to the local economy every year. It would also offer enormous benefits in road safety, public health and public access to the shore. Keeping the rails in place for the sole benefit of two private companies blocks those potential benefits, reduces the value of abutting properties and
costs taxpayers several million dollars a year in track maintenance and repair.
I would like to suggest that proponents of the rail trail work to change the public perception of their plans. That perception may have been negatively affected by the advertising blitz made by the railroad last year. First, stop referring to the proposal as a bike trail. It is a recreational trail that may actually be used by more people walking than biking. The arrogance of cyclists on public roads, and too often on the trails, has turned many people against them, and frequently appears in comments on social media by rail trail opponents.
Second, stop pretending that the F2 rail line through Bourne is an active railroad. It is not. It has not carried scheduled passenger or freight service, even during the summer, in more than 60 years. Most importantly, the railroad does not have to give up the trash hauling or the dinner train by ceding use of the rails through Bourne to North Falmouth. The transfer station can be relocated without increasing the number of trash trucks crossing the canal or using local roads. The dinner train can continue to run between Wareham and Hyannis. And the military base can be served by a new spur off the main line. That spur would be so seldom used that crossing Sandwich Road would not be an issue. Finally, I encourage Sen. Moran, Representative David Vieira, the Cape Cod Commission and other local officials to keep up the fight and get this essential public asset built.
Wesley Ewell is retired from a career in community planning, real estate development and construction project management. He lives in Bourne. "
