All Things Travel: Massachusetts Transportation In 2020
BOSTON (CBS) - The transportation picture for Massachusetts in the year 2020 is coming into focus.
A major new project is coming to the abandoned rail yard in Allston.
Beacon Park Yard is a 22-acre site that was formerly a CSX freight rail terminal. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has come to an agreement with Harvard University to acquire the land.
Plans call for about 60 acres to be developed including a new MBTA station that will connect neighborhood riders to South Station and Worcester. At the same time about $260 million will be spent to take down ramps and straighten out the approach to the Allston tolls.
MassDOT is making a major push to sign up new customers for E-ZPass transponders as the state goes to all-electronic toll collection by 2017.
According to figures released by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, Massachusetts had about 1.8 million vehicles on the road in 2012 and that figure should grow to more than 2 million cars, vans and trucks by 2020.
Across the turnpike in Brighton, New Balance is developing a 14-acre parcel that houses its world headquarters, other office buildings, retail, a hotel and a new sports facility. It will also have a new railroad station in the complex.
Earlier in September, legislators and business people gathered at South Station to officially announce the South Coast MBTA rail service to Fall River and New Bedford.
With South Station near capacity with commuter rail and Amtrak trains going to New York and Washington, at some point MassDOT hopes to purchase the Post Office land next to the current station.
All of this activity is taking place with more cars coming into Boston at a time when parking is being sharply reduced in the Seaport District.
Next month, the Seaport transportation management group is expected to release its research report on workers in that area. Use of the Silver Line from South Station to Logan Airport is also seeing steady growth.
Other plans by 2020 call for the doubling of space in the waterfront's Convention & Exhibition Center and the potential opening of a resort casino in Everett near Sullivan Square.
More mass transportation is needed and the increased gas tax will not pay the bills.
Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
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