As you may have heard, the Federal Railroad Administration has proposed to run a high speed train through Lyme Street adjoining the I-95 bridge. One can imagine that citizens are full of questions and concerns: Where will the train be headed? How much will this project cost? Why Old Lyme? What is also disconcerting to Old Lyme citizens is that the train route will run straight through the famous Daffodil Field, where many citizens come to look at the stunning flowers during this time of year. LymeLine turned to Gregory Stroud, an Old Lyme resident with an extensive amount of knowledge on the proposal, in order to receive peace of mind.

First, Stroud gave an overview of the company who will build the bridge; the Federal Railroad Administration sent their plans for the train to a huge multinational company called Parsons Brinckerhoff in Canada. Parsons Brinckerhoff planned the building of the Baldwin Bridge. They are familiar with the town of Old Lyme, and are not afraid of what some citizens have to say about implementing the high-speed train. However, the company was quite uninformed with their assumption; 1,200 out of the 3,000 comments Parsons Brinckerhoff received were complaining about the Old Lyme train project. In order to respond to the unexpected commotion, Parsons Brinckerhoff is reaching out to town officials in order to “keep the peace” with the antsy citizens. “They need to get this done by the end of the summer. They want to make their bosses at the Federal Railroad Administration happy. They have to make the people funding this in the Senate and Congress happy. It has to be something that Hartford can swallow,” according to Stroud. Because of this, some may see Old Lyme as being bothersome. However, their efforts are making some progress, because Parsons Brinckerhoff knows that the majority of citizens would rather have the train connect from Hartford to Boston. Nonetheless, the company will most likely follow through with its plan to penetrate Old Lyme, because the FRA sees no significant reason as to why to change the train route now, since they perceive Old Lyme as the most logical route. It seems as if all the citizens can do now is wait for more information. “A decision will be made, probably in August. The choice will be announced around September 1. And if the Federal Railroad Administration chooses Alternative 1, and Alternative 1 still has a purple line running through Old Lyme, then we are in for the fight of a lifetime. We have a once-a-generation chance to shape federal plans for Old Lyme, and we need to get this right,” says Stroud. Hopefully, Old Lyme has the cajolery to sway the FRA and Parsons Brinckerhoff, but for now all we can do is wait. Osprey Online will continue to keep you updated on this ever-changing proposal.

http://www.facebook.com/secoast.at.Old.Lyme/ Link to Stroud’s Facebook page where citizens can read more information on the proposal

http://secoast.org link to website where you can read upcoming news on the Daffodil Riot, to come in the distant future