by jlichyen
My understanding is that any increase in movements on Grand Junction will cause a huge fouling of traffic on all the at-grade crossings in downtown Cambridge, putting a large non-monetary cost on that routing.
The other side of a Worcester-Ayer routing is that, there's a large amount of suburban sprawl unservicable even with a shuttle bus now, but if the path is made usable by Amtrak, the presence or potential for stations will provide a reason for denser development. I mean, this is a 20+ year kind of plan, and I'm leaning into speculative advocacy, but that's kind of what's already been happening in Worcester, Portland, and anywhere within spitting distance of a station.
The other side of a Worcester-Ayer routing is that, there's a large amount of suburban sprawl unservicable even with a shuttle bus now, but if the path is made usable by Amtrak, the presence or potential for stations will provide a reason for denser development. I mean, this is a 20+ year kind of plan, and I'm leaning into speculative advocacy, but that's kind of what's already been happening in Worcester, Portland, and anywhere within spitting distance of a station.