South Acton Station Redesign -- Site Walk with the MBTA -- January 30, 1 PM

On Saturday, January 30 at 1:00 PM, the South Acton Train Station Advisory Committee (SATSAC) and Senator Jamie Eldridge will host an onsite visit at the South Acton train station with representatives of the MBTA, Acton residents and commuters to discuss, in context, the public's concerns with the MBTA's proposed station reconstruction.

Some readers will recall that Special Town Meeting this past June passed an article supporting the SATSAC's efforts to influence the MBTA's design for a station that, once their trucks and bulldozers have gone, we will live with for years to come.

The MBTA's process has been flawed from the start, and completely lacking in transparency. To my knowledge, the town was never consulted during any requirements gathering phase of the project. Instead, the MBTA brought its plans to the Board of Selectmen and citizens when the T's design was 60% complete, at which point they were not actually asking for input but merely informing us of their plans to proceed. Acton residents and commuters from neighboring towns were outraged and called upon Senator Eldridge, Rep. Benson and the town for support in impacting what we believe is a seriously flawed design. Consider these points:

• All commuters will travel the length of nearly two football fields on ramps, stairs and bridges, up and over the tracks, to reach a center platform. While this design will be annoying and time consuming for those of us who are able-bodied, consider the excessive burden that will be placed on those with physical disabilities. The design is technically ADA-compliant, but is far from feasible for actual use. Acton's Commission on Disabilities has spoken out in opposition of this design!
• Station access will be more restricted. Those reaching the station from the south side, (local residents, rail trail users, and commuters from towns such as Stow and Maynard) will loose the ability to cross over the tracks on foot. More people – and cars -- will be funneled into an already bottlenecked station entrance, causing many (like myself) to just get in our cars and drive to work. This completely defeats the purpose of the Fitchburg rail line improvements project, which is meant to encourage use of public transportation.
• Safety will be decreased -- Commuters will be forced to wait on a single, isolated platform for the trains, at all times of day and night. Emergency responders will need more time to reach people on the center platform.
• The industrialized design is in stark contrast to the area's historical architecture, and will detract from efforts to revitalize South Acton Village. The station might not be in an official historic district, but you can throw a stone from there to historic Jones Tavern and the old post office, and Exchange Hall and the Faulkner homestead are just a few more steps away.
• An ill conceived project like this makes poor use of state funds and federal stimulus money. Massachusetts is paying $75M for the project at a time when it has a deficit and the MBTA itself is $1.8B in debt. This project is being handled completely separately from the construction of a second ramp/ridge structure that is required to connect the Assabet River Rail Trail with the train station.

What has happened since Special Town Meeting? The MBTA asked the town to, in essence, stop telling them what we don't want and tell them what we do want. So the SATSAC, working with concerned citizens and Town Engineer Bruce Stamski, proposed an alternative design to the MBTA. Acton's design provides better vehicle access via distributed drop-off locations; provides better pedestrian access; features two platforms to promote easy access and orderly departures, along with a redundant elevator system to service the disabled and mobility-limited via elevators; provides improved weather protection for all commuters; features camera scanning to the Acton Police Station for safety, and integrates better with the neighboring historic district. But the MBTA has flatly rejected Acton's alternative design, saying that it's too expensive and would set the project schedule too far back. What the T even sincere in it's gesture to work with the town, or were they just brushing us off and hoping we would go away quietly?

The Beacon recently reported that "concerned residents aren't giving up; in fact, they're fighting even harder." And fight we will. The upcoming site visit has resulted in part from citizens continuing to voice their concerns over this unreasonable design and the MBTA's mishandling of the project. We've launched a letter-writing campaign to the MBTA, government officials and committees such as the Mass. Historical Commission and the Commission on Disabilities. We are planning to step up media outreach. This project has such a multiplicity of impacts; surely it impacts everyone reading this blog, whether it's because you use the train, or you live near it, or you care about the character of our community, or simply because it is funded through your tax dollars.

I hope many of you will attend the site visit and voice your concerns, or put them in writing to the MBTA. For more information, updates and address, visit www.calltoacton.org.