LETTERS

States should partner on rapid mass transit to support Boston Olympic bid

Posted

To the Editor:

To encourage the International Olympic Committee to choose Boston to host the 2024 Olympic Games, Rhode Island and Massachusetts should form a partnership and build a personal rapid mass transit system (PRT) from Quonset Point to Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium along the Amtrak and the MBTA right of ways. There is room for the Olympic Village adjacent to Gillette Stadium’s MBTA station. Massachusetts could then build circulator PRT lines that connect to nearby Olympic venues.

Olympic visitors would find that PRT mass transit is safe, private, convenient, reliable and available 24 hours each day. This new mass transit system will serve Rhode Island and Massachusetts for many years to come and ridership fees are predicted to be very low.

In addition, docking facilities for cruise ships should be created at Quonset and Quonset’s airport should be upgraded to receive international traffic during the Olympic Games. Boston would be the only competing city that had outstanding direct connections to the Olympic facilities by air, sea, PRT, rail and road. Safe, convenient and reliable transportation connecting Olympic venues with nearby hotels and cruise ships will be the determining factor why the International Olympic Committee chooses Boston to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

Kenneth Berwick

Smithfield

Comments

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  • RMillette

    Slight issue with this idea. The Olympic Village will not be located next the the Gillette MBTA station. It won't even be located anywhere near it. The Olympic Village will be located at the current site of the Bay Side Expo Center near the JFK UMass T Station in Boston. Roughly 20 miles away from Gillette.

    Secondly. I see no reason to upgrade the Quonset Airport for this. T.F Green is currently undergoing upgrades and has more than enough space to handle any additional traffic that would come into the area.

    While PRT is a good idea. There are far more practical upgrades to be made in the coming years. Like expanding Commuter Rail Service to Kingston and Westerly and adding infill stations in places like Cranston and Pawtucket. It is very likely that places like McCoy Stadium and the Dunkin Donuts Center would see use for olympic events.

    Tuesday, January 20, 2015 Report this

  • Ken B

    We are living in very dangerous times. Boston has to make sure that the Olympic athletes and high ranking visiting dignitaries are kept safe. Planes carrying these high profile visitors could land at Quonset, board the PRT and be taken directly to the Olympic Village. The Olympic Village could be built as a 4 star hotel to house these visitors and then sold to private interest after the Olympic Games. Federal money and state money for mass transit is hard to come by. Partnering with Boston in the Olympics will provide these funds and make it possible to build a PRT mass transit system in Rhode Island.

    Tuesday, January 20, 2015 Report this