by Arlington
Connect Us will work where states want it to work: California, Michigan, Virginia, Maine, Illinois, Vermont, New York, Washington, Oregon, Colorado (and even Wyoming) and probably some routes but not others in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Then it might work if the pro rail coalition can hold on long enough in places like New Hampshire, or get formed in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Massachusetts
If the locals are hostile they are not going to facilitate the kind of “solution package” (money) that host railroads demand in return for happy cooperation
Frankly the Interstate Highway System worked the same way: it included negotiation with land/ROW owners and some were easy and obvious (When everyone’s interests were aligned) and some were painfully delayed and some never happened (I-84 from Hartford to Providence; I-95 between Downtown and Maryland)
Then it might work if the pro rail coalition can hold on long enough in places like New Hampshire, or get formed in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Massachusetts
If the locals are hostile they are not going to facilitate the kind of “solution package” (money) that host railroads demand in return for happy cooperation
Frankly the Interstate Highway System worked the same way: it included negotiation with land/ROW owners and some were easy and obvious (When everyone’s interests were aligned) and some were painfully delayed and some never happened (I-84 from Hartford to Providence; I-95 between Downtown and Maryland)
"Trying to solve congestion by making roadways wider is like trying to solve obesity by buying bigger pants."--Charles Marohn