Making Bradley Airport attractive to Fairfield County residents is not a top priority
of several initiatives planned for the Windsor Locks air strip, but their
implementation may very well increase traffic from the southwest part of the
state.
Advocates of a plan to create direct rail access to Bradley were in Hartford on Tuesday to
help fast-track the plan. Versions of the plan differ, but the main goals are
to add a second rail line between New Haven and Hartford and create a
stop just outside the airport.
The plan is part of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail Line
proposed commuter rail line running from New Haven
to Hartford and Springfield, Mass.
The line currently operates eight Amtrak trains a day in each direction on its
New Haven-Springfield Line, with two of those roundtrips continuing on to New
York Penn Station and Washington,
D.C.
In 2005, the most ambitious version of the plan was estimated to cost $300
million and was originally scheduled to break ground in the spring of 2009.
State officials recently said it was more realistic to look at 2015 as a start
date for the plan.
Advocates, including ConnPIRG, would like the rail line improvement to occur in
the next two years and are eyeing some of President-elect Barack Obama's
"shovel ready project" economic stimulus money to get the plan
rolling.
"We need to get these trains up and running and get these services
going," said Ilicia Balaban, with ConnPIRG, shortly after a press
conference in the Legislative Office Building
in Hartford. "It
could be a direct benefit to Fairfield
County users."
Jim Cameron, of the Connecticut Commuter council, said he is unsure how many
Norwalk-area residents would use the rail service to head to Bradley, but they
may use it to get to Hartford
jobs.
"I would call this shovel ready," he said. "What they want to do
is start thinking of getting people out of their cars."
State Rep. Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-142, minority leader, said he would love
to stop driving 33,000 miles a year to the Statehouse for work if train service
was a viable option.
"I detest driving and I would love the fact that there would be a train
service to take me to Hartford,"
said Cafero, adding that current service is not adequate to take workers to and
back from the capital. "That being said we are also in the biggest
financial crisis the state has ever seen and if we spend a dollar we need to
get a dollar plus back."
Also on Tuesday, Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Northwest Airlines will resume
direct flights from Amsterdam to Connecticut next year.
The airline discontinued the service two months ago because of high fuel
prices.
"Yes, it is uaccessable, but it is often worth the effort to fly out of
(Bradley) because it is so nice," said Judy White of Wilton Center Travel.
"Once you fly out of Bradley, people love it." However, White said
that every time Bradley seems to get momentum, they seem to take a step back.
"We do business up there and we support the European flights, but once we
get behind them, they pull them," she said.
Northwest, now a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, is scheduled to begin flying
again June 2, 2009, from Bradley International Airport,
located about 14 miles north of downtown Hartford.
The flights will be offered five times a week, with no service on Tuesdays or
Fridays, on 160-seat Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Bradley offered $500,000 in
incentives to bring the service back to the state-operated airport, including
fee waivers and advertising money. Economic development groups from Connecticut and western Massachusetts also contributed money.
Rell and Joseph Marie, commissioner of the State Department of Transportation,
made the announcement at a breakfast meeting of the MetroHartford Alliance, an
economic development group of 1,000 businesses, education and health care
institutions and municipal leaders. "When an airline cancels service it is
rarely resumed, especially one that is international," Rell said.
"That didn't happen in this case. I am determined to make it a go. I may
have to take a flight to Amsterdam."
Marie said Connecticut and western Massachusetts's
officials worked hard to bring the flights back as quickly as possible after
Northwest stopped them in October.
