BostonUrbEx wrote:I hope they don't butcher the thing if they're going to be cutting it up for drainage...
And if that East Coast Greenway happens, kiss a Portsmouth extension of the Newburyport Line goodbye. *rolls eyes*
That's going to be a low-priority Greenway extension for funding. Can't traverse the nuke plant exclusion zone without a re-route, and can't get across the Merrimack River. I think the Greenway organizations are getting on the record with it since this is the first time that corridor has become available, but even they know they're decades from critical mass and have other easier-to-fill gaps in the network.
Seacoast isn't like the rail cro-magnons in Manchester and Concord who keep shooting themselves in the foot. The local pols actually want passenger rail on this corridor, and I've been pretty impressed by the amount of concern they've expressed in public comments over this filing to do it right on the line purchase and make certain no interim plans for it block passenger rail. Not that they can expect that anytime soon, but there seems to be an element of "Yo, Union-Leader, we'll take 'yer evil trains over here if you don't want 'em" awareness-raising for their transit needs. Always good to see it when some significant percentage of a region's leadership exhibits proactive applied knowledge. It's so rare.