UPDATED 2/13/20 8:33AM: To identify one of the speakers based on another media report. SPRINGFIELD—On Wednesday night, supporters of added rail service between Western and Eastern Massachusetts packed a room at the UMass Center in downtown for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation first public hearing
UPDATED 9:53AM 12/20/19: To note Sarno’s veto of the order on the X intersection. UPDATED 8:39PM 12/18/19: To clarify Councilor Ryan’s comments about the X project and to include comment from MassDOT. SPRINGFIELD—In the final meeting of the year, City Councilors saw off their retiring
SPRINGFIELD—It is a ritual that comes every couple of snow seasons. Following a hefty blanketing of snow, the plowing is inadequate, residents complain, councilors hold a hearing and Public Works pleads extenuating circumstances. With 36 hours of snow amounting to about 13 inches last week,
SPRINGFIELD—Once again, the City Council logged some mileage to get through the agenda. This past Monday, it was worth it. More than a dozen items were approvals of recommendations from the Community Preservation Committee (CPC), the panel that develops spending plans under the state Community
NEWTON—The same highway and rail line that divide Boston also splits Newton. In the capital city, the corridor separates neighborhoods from each other. Here, it pierces several of this city’s villages. Frothing traffic spills out into veins of streets, branching outward from the Turnpike. The Worcester Line tracks and dismal stations along I-90 provide little relief.
SPRINGFIELD—Compared to recent meetings, Monday’s City Council meeting was mellower than most. More throat-clearing than the advance of policy, it set the stage for a few issues like a plastic bag ban and tighter state health code standards. However, neither had the effect of law
It may not have been unconditional, but it was surrender. On Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by Springfield area legislators and US Rep Richard Neal, Governor Charlie Baker announced the East-West rail study will go out to bid Wednesday. To Baker’s left stood a seemingly triumphant Senator
UPDATED 8:22PM: For clarity and accuracy. EAST LONGMEADOW—Four years ago, Eric Lesser drilled his campaign down to a few simple themes. Yet the one that came to define his political identity was rail. It remained so even though efforts to secure a comprehensive study on
WORCESTER—For much of the past few years, progress on a host of rail projects in Massachusetts has ground to a crawl. Last week Gov. Charlie Baker’s Department of Transportation, in laying out its rail plan for the coming decade on January 26, seemed to lift
UPDATED 7/1/2016 8:36AM: To include comments from Amtrak about the platform delay and station renovations. SPRINGFIELD—Less than a year out from its anticipated opening, one part of Union Station will not go online alongside the rest of the terminal. A new rail platform fully compliant