July 27 (that's tomorrow as of this writing!) is the deadline for comments via email to New York Dept of Environmental Conservation regarding the state's plans for an old (and partly used by Adirondack Scenic) railroad route from Utica to Lake Placid. One option is to restore it for rail service, but from the documents linked below, I gather that the state's preferred option is to restore a little over half (Utica to Tupper Lake) and remove the tracks from the rest, for "trails". I am obviously late to discover the matter, so, please accept my apologies; this note is just for others who might have somehow slept through the controversy so far.
The state's web page, http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/62816.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, has links to a 1996 study about restoring the whole railroad, and a more recent study that estimated the economic effects of the half-and-half solution. I was surprised to see that it did not expect that the railroad from Utica to Lake Placid would bring in any (!) new visitors to the region. The study expects the extended railroad to be used only for local/scenic purposes, not transportation, and therefore, to provide very modest economic benefit. It cited that 8% of Adirondack Scenic's clients for the Utica-to-Thendara day trip use out-of-state credit cards, and did not predict any increase if the line were extended to Lake Placid. Crazy! Must read. And, if moved to do so, send in comments today.
The state's web page, http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/62816.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, has links to a 1996 study about restoring the whole railroad, and a more recent study that estimated the economic effects of the half-and-half solution. I was surprised to see that it did not expect that the railroad from Utica to Lake Placid would bring in any (!) new visitors to the region. The study expects the extended railroad to be used only for local/scenic purposes, not transportation, and therefore, to provide very modest economic benefit. It cited that 8% of Adirondack Scenic's clients for the Utica-to-Thendara day trip use out-of-state credit cards, and did not predict any increase if the line were extended to Lake Placid. Crazy! Must read. And, if moved to do so, send in comments today.
