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OptimalFlight101 t1_isz0b8h wrote

Reply to comment by penkster in Do you think MA needs to build a commuter rail between Worcester and Fitchburg/Leominster? by HRJafael

The idea of city building though is to create infrastructure first and for demand to follow it. At least in better countries.

American way is to play constant catch up with problems due to lack of foresight.

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penkster t1_iszncf8 wrote

You know that's not how state and city governments think. Look at the Big Dig. $21billion spent to make car travel faster and easier. Very little improvement to the rail service. In a lot of ways the big dig just pushed the congestion further into the suburbs, with 93 and the mass pike being regularly at a standstill.

So yeah, 'proper' rail service is politically unfeasible.

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PLS-Surveyor-US t1_it0augv wrote

If you study the highway map, you will see the capacity of the highway system to the south is lower than any other sector. This puts more traffic on the pike. The planned northeast corridor route would have balanced this a little better...but here we are. Google maps with the traffic layer on illustrates this status on a daily basis. The big dig fixed a ton of access issues around the city. There has been capacity issues on 93 south for decades prior to the project and they continue to worsen.

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