Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
Not a choice one would need to make. They are several orders of magnitude different in terms of cost. And one would be self-supporting financially.
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A third bridge (and associated infrastructure) would be considerably more expensive than commuter rail (except if they choose to build a rail tunnel through the downtown core).
There would likely be better cost recovery however with a bridge rather than with rail.
One problem with the bridge option is that you are ending up depositing even more traffic on the peninsula. Where is it all going to go when it gets there??? At least with commuter rail, most of the associated vehicular parking will occur at suburban stations, and hence will stay out of the core.
No one solution is perfect. BRT will be subject to existing congestion on the few access points onto the peninsula. A third bridge will be prohibitively expensive and will contribute to worsening traffic in the core. Fast ferries probably wouldn't have the capacity to make much difference. Commuter rail won't be able to cover all areas.
My preferred solution would be a backbone of commuter rail, skipping the idea of a downtown rail tunnel, but connecting to and supplemented by trolleys on main downtown streets and also fast ferries to improve connections with the Dartmouth side.