BTW...to show how dizzyingly bad the Taunton crossing clusterfuck would've been, here's the locations in question.
Attleboro Alt. (DEIR studied/rejected) only (west to east, Middleboro Secondary)
- Harvey St. (minor....1.25 mi. from Woodward St., Norton / 3475 ft. to Crane Ave. S)
- Crane Ave. S (minor...3475 ft. from Harvey St. / 4800 ft. to Fremont St.)
Mansfield Alt. (spawn-of-Ari O.) only (northwest to southeast, restored ROW + Taunton Industrial Track)
Attleboro Alt. & Mansfield Alt. shared (west to east, Middleboro Secondary)
<<begin Downtown cluster>>
- Danforth St. (3200 ft. from W. Britannia / 2300 ft. to MA 140)
- ¹MA 140 (BAD angle!...2300 ft. from Danforth / 840 ft. to Oak St.)
- ¹Oak St. (840 ft. from MA 140 / 1250 ft. to Porter St.)
- ¹*Porter St. (1250 ft. from Oak St. / 305 ft. to Cohannet St.)
- *Cohannet St. (lousy angle...305 ft. from Porter St. / 275 ft. to US 44)
- ²*US 44/Winthrop St. ("Center of Universe #1" crossing...275 ft. from Cohannet St. / 725 ft. to Harrison Ave.)
- ²Harrison Ave. (725 ft. from US 44 / 860 ft. to MA 138)
- ²ªMA 138/Somerset Ave. ("Center of Universe #2" crossing...860 ft. from Harrison Ave. / 400 ft. to Weir St.)
- ªWeir St. (lousy angle @ intersection...400 ft. to MA 138 / 2415 ft. to Ingell St.)
<<end Downtown cluster>>
*6-car train physically blocks all crossings in group at once
¹gate timings block all streets in group at once
²gate timings block all streets in group at once
ª6-car train physically blocks all crossings in group at once
Stoughton Alt. (FEIR-endorsed) only (north to south, Dean St. Industrial Track a.k.a. Stoughton Line)
- E. Britannia St. (minor...1 mi. from King Phillip St., Raynham / 1575 ft. to Thrasher St.)
- Thrasher St. (minor...1575 ft. from E. Britannia St. / 2560 ft. to Winter St.)
- Winter St. (current Mass Coastal end-of-track...2560 ft. from Thrasher St. / 2575 ft. to US 44)
- US 44/Dean St. (Taunton Depot station stop w/DTMF queue dump...2575 ft. from Winter St. / 1.1 mi. to Ingell St.)
Attleboro Alt./Mansfield Alt. + Stoughton Alt. shared (west to east, Middleboro Secondary)
- Ingell St. (triple-crossing w/Mass Coastal yard...2730 ft. to Hart St.)
- Hart St. (2730 ft. from Ingell St. / 2.3 mi. to Cotley St., Berkley)
Middleboro Phase I shit sandwich only (east to west, Middleboro Secondary)
- Old Colony Ave. (2.7 mi. from N. Precinct St., Lakeville / 3725 ft. to Middleboro Ave.)
- Middleboro Ave. (3725 ft. from Old Colony Ave. / 4880 ft. to MA 140)
- MA 140/County St. (BAD, abuts MA 24 interchange...4880 ft. from Middleboro Ave. / 1.6 mi. to Cotley St., Berkley)
TOTALS in Taunton
- Mansfield Alt. -- 16 (!) Taunton crossings (bad ones: all 9 Downtown + 1 industrial park): driveway + Myles Standish + Prince Henry + Fremont + W. Britannia + Danforth + 140 + Oak + Porter + Cohannet + 44/Winthrop + Harrison + 138 + Weir + Ingell + Hart
- Attleboro Alt. -- 15 (!) Taunton crossings (bad ones: all 9 Downtown): Harvey + Crane S + Fremont + W. Britannia + Danforth + 140 + Oak + Porter + Cohannet + 44/Winthrop + Harrison + 138 + Weir + Ingell + Hart
- Stoughton Alt. -- 6 Taunton crossings (bad ones: none): E. Britannia + Thrasher + Winter + 44/Dean + Ingell + Hart
- Middleboro Alt. -- 3 Taunton crossings (bad ones: MA 140 @ MA 24): Old Colony + M'boro + 140@24
It's safe to say there has never anywhere in MA been a crossing traffic management quagmire anywhere close to the magnitude of the Attleboro/Mansfield Alts. in Downtown Taunton for crossings simultaneously blocked by passing trains. This is the sort of thing you may see on some LIRR branchlines running short/zippy EMU sets...but never on 6-car long-haul schedules. There were very substantive reasons why the west trajectory through Taunton got turfed so early on in the DEIR evaluations. The Norton NIMBY's got outsized publicity, but are a mere footnote to what kind of carpocalypse Taunton would have to encounter all day/every day running that route. This route is fine for the summer weekender Amtrak
Cape Codder revival or maybe some sparse RIDOT Providence-Newport commuter extras running express around the horn, but has completely/totally inappropriate traffic demerits for any form of regular service.
The single bad one on the Middleboro Alt. isn't outsized-bad because of its singularity and the fact that frequencies are and will forever be unusable shit via that trajectory. It's more emblematic of how un-serious the M'boro Alt. is in the first place that uselessly sparse service might leave behind a giant offramp backup a couple times a day as a local 'perk'. Overall the utilization isn't high enough to matter.
Stoughton Alt. clearly pegs it. The only heavy-traffic road, Dean St., is the station stop where DTMF signals will time-bomb the gates during station stops for expedited queue dumps making it a non-issue. Pretty much thru-and-thru from Stoughton this one has the most sanely balanced crossing roster of any. Even where they come in clusters, like Downtown Easton, it doesn't *really* cluster because it's mostly hitting quiet side streets on the grid.