Matt Amorello: Forget Direct Air… How About a Direct Road?
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Mr. Beffa’s visit was shortly after the company had named Valley Forge, PA the North American headquarters for the giant multi-national Corporation. In the discussion, Mr. Beffa told those of us attending that Worcester had been seriously considered for the North American Headquarters but that we had a fatal flaw; there was no easy access to Worcester via air. That conversation stuck in my head.
Over the next few years efforts were made to improve the airport. There would be a new terminal with state of the art features. New safety equipment and technical components to allow aircraft to land and take off safely.
The issue of being 1000 feet above sea level would no longer hamper flights. An agreement was eventually signed between the City and Massport to operate the airport. All of these initiatives were designed to strengthen Worcester's position as a regional transportation hub, as well as get it on the map of the Beffa's of the world who make facility siting decisions based on, and in addition, to other things, infrastructure and accessibility.
The airport improved. Four carriers provided service and the number of passengers going through the airport slowly begin to rise. Useage was in fits and starts, and eventually, notable carriers left and less reliable carriers replaced them. The issue now, (I believe always was), road access to the airport. If you lived in the city you knew the way to the airport, if you lived in the area you sort of knew, but were not too sure. If you looked on a map it looked like it was close by and should take no more than twenty five minutes to get there from a town like Grafton or Shrewsbury. In all likelihood, it could take an hour or more depending on traffic, your luck with the traffic signals, school bus flow and the winding neighborhood streets. And remember, I am talking about people flying who live right next to the City--not the folks from Marlborough, Framingham, the Route 495 corridor (one of the fastest growing areas of the state). I’m talking about the flyers from a radius of 30 miles who may not be familiar with Worcester's road network, like Kelly Square.
Those of us in government at the time tried improved signage to point the way. It was a nice in idea in theory, but it did not change the reality of using local roads to access Goddard Memorial Drive. When I was appointed head of MassHighway in 1999, one of the first initiatives we undertook in the Cellucci/Swift Administration was to study routes connecting the airport to the state's interstate highway system. After reviewing dozens of options, we narrowed the list to seven preferred routes. It was time to take the these routes to a public meeting. Nearly 1,000 citizens packed in South High's auditorium on a late July evening. If memory serves me correctly, I think there was only one elected official in favor of the improvements, who was openly booed. I do not remember any citizen speaking in favor of any of the routes. The routes from the south and east would have impacted several homes but would have had the most impact in terms of accessibility of the airport to the Turnpike and 290. The route from the west through Leicester and Auburn had no land takings, but were entailed more road improvements, such as widening Route 56 and additional intersection improvements. I left that meeting with a very clear view of what the residents thought and what the majority of the Worcester delegation thought. I made a commitment that we would continue to study alternatives and be back before the public with our progress. MassHighway continued to review alternatives but the best routes, those that would genuinely improve road access to the airport, all required home takings.
Time has passed. No route has been developed linking the airport to an Interstate, and the latest airline has ceased service until May 15th, and weeds blow through the $16 million terminal. To compete in the 21st century, to market the great assets that exist in our city and region, and to ensure a brighter future for our population, the time is now to make the difficult decisions to finally resolve the access issue to Worcester Regional Airport. Why not act now when our economy could use the stimulus? Possibly when some of the potential impacted homeowners might actually welcome an opportunity to have their property taken at a fair price. The world gets smaller and smaller everyday and competition for jobs gets tougher and tougher. I would like the future Beffa's of the world to say the decision to locate in Worcester was easy. Its accessibility to the world sealed the deal.
Matt is currently President of the Mayo Consulting Group. Mayo provides consulting services to engineering, construction, and manufacturing firms both in the United States and overseas. He was the former Chairman/CEO of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Highway Department and a four term State Senator for the Second Worcester District. He is a graduate of Assumption College, holds an MPA from American University in Washington, DC and a JD from Suffolk University Law School. He may be reached at [email protected].
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