troffey wrote:I'm not sure of the ownership, but there is a good amount of undeveloped land surrounding the airport.
A good chunk of that land is either protected or incredibly steep(much steeper than airport drive).
The Worcester Street Railway had a similar issue when it was extended down to Lake Qunisigamond, the grade down to the lake along Belmont Street was too steep to be handled by streetcars, so they ended up laying a pretty open switchback up the hill just south of where Belmont St crosses the lake.
You can see a map of it in the 1922 Worcester Real Estate Atlas:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mastateli ... 399533238/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Interestingly enough, the line's layout is still reflected in the parcel boundaries, and if you look closely you can sort of make it out on imagery.