Best Practices

One goal of the New England Futures project is to identify existing projects in New England, or around the United States, that represent innovative and proven models for Broadband and Transportation. We invite you to submit projects that you believe represent a best practices to info@newenglandfutures.org.

Air

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority
In December 2005, Washington Airports Authority announced its proposal to operate the Dulles Toll Road and oversee the construction of a rail line through the Dulles Corridor to Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. Under the proposal, the Airports Authority would invest all the revenues generated from the Toll Road into road and rail projects in the Dulles Corridor. According to James E. Bennett, President/CEO of the Airports Authority,the existence of Washington Dulles International Airport is the catalyst that has led to the development of much of northern Virginia. He believes that the economic future of this Corridor and the future success of the Airport depend on a viable road and mass transit network.

Broadband

Berkshire Connect, Inc.
Berkshire Connect, Inc. was incorporated in February 2000 after three years of working as a community to bring better telecommunications services and pricing into the region. Using the aggregated buying power of over 50 large and small businesses, Berkshire Connect was able to ensure competitively priced services, equal pricing throughout the county, and sustained competition.
Chaska, Minnesota
For over five years, the City of Chaska has been successfully operating a fast, reliable Internet service for businesses and government entities. In developing this system, its ultimate vision was to develop a similar service for Chaska residents. That vision is now a reality. A city-wide wireless network was made available in July 2004. By deploying this exciting, proven technology in combination with our current Internet backbone, Chaska residents can now experience state-of-the-art, broadband at dial-up prices.
MIT and Cambridge, Massachusetts
A collaboration with MIT researchers may provide Cambridge with a free, city-wide, wireless internet service as early as late summer. The project will rely on a mesh networking technology that allows individual computers to become new access points, projecting the reach of the network beyond its original antennas.
Rhode Island Wireless Innovation Networks (RIWINs)
RI-WINs was launched in 2004 by the Business Innovation Factory to create a statewide, border-to-border, wireless broadband network that breaks down barriers to innovation, improves interoperability among new products and technologies, and establishes Rhode Island as an ideal place to explore and test new business models. Physical construction of the RI-WINs pilot network will begin in January 2006. The pilot will run for approximately 12 months after the network becomes fully operational.
Smart Valley Initiative (Silicon Valley)
The Smart Valley initiative envisions a broadband canopy covering a 1,500 square mile area stretching from Fremont in the East Bay, south to Gilroy, over the hill to Santa Cruz, and up the Peninsula to San Mateo. Establishing this expansive wireless infrastructure will again demonstrate Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial leadership by expanding opportunities for emerging wireless technologies, increasing wireless enabled business development, improving government services, including applications for public safety and emergency response, and filling in gaps to affordable broadband services.

Wireless Philadelphia
Wireless Philadelphia aims to strengthen the economy and transform Philadelphia’s neighborhoods by providing wireless internet access throughout the city. Wireless Philadelphia will create a digital infrastructure to help citizens, businesses, schools and community organizations make effective use of this technology to achieve their goals while providing a greater experience for visitors to the City.

Highways

Chicago Skyway
The Chicago Skyway Bridge is a 7.8-mile toll road built in 1958 to connect the Dan Ryan Expressway to the Indiana Tollway. A $250 million dollar road reconstruction project that began in 2001 came to an end in the November 2004 and January 2005 will begin a new era for the Chicago Skyway. In a transaction that gave the City of Chicago a $1.83 billion dollar cash infusion, the Skyway Concession Company, LLC* (SCC) will assume operations on the Skyway on a 99-year operating lease. SCC will be responsible for all operating and maintenance costs of the Skyway but has the right to all toll and concession revenue. This agreement between SCC and the City of Chicago is the first privatization of an existing toll road anywhere in the United States.

Rail

Acela Express
In 1999, Amtrak introduced the first high-speed rail service, the Acela Express, in the United States. Amtrak currently operates 20 Acela Express high-speed trainsets currently along the Northeast Corridor between Washington, DC and Boston. The tilting design of the Acela trains allow it to acheive speeds of up to 150mph along certain stretches of track, but on average the train travels at 135mph.
Inter City Express (ICE) – Germany
After falling behind its main European counterparts, Germany was able to quickly make up ground when it introduced its first high speed railway line, ICE (Inter City Express Germany), in 1992. Today, there are 32 destinations, primarily in Germany. About 65,000 people use these trains daily in Germany, Austria, and soon the Netherlands. These trains travel at about 175mph, providing a safe and fast way to reach popular destinations. It only takes 6 hours to travel from Hamburg in the north of Germany to Munich in the south.
Move NY & NJ — Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel
MoveNYNJ is a coalition of concerned leaders from New York's business, labor, environmental, community and planning sectors dedicated to improving the region's freight transportation system through the construction of a Cross Harbor Rail Freight tunnel underneath New York Harbor. The Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel would provide a Hudson River crossing to connect freight railroads in New Jersey to railroads in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Such a connection would enable freight to travel to east-of-Hudson destinations by rail, rather than truck.
Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) – France
The TGV, launched in 1981, has revolutionized not only high speed rail service throughout Germany, but has bolstered the French economy and the way the French live and work. Since 1981, TGV has expanced service throughout France (running both on traditional lines and dedicated high speed lines), and in many places has replaced air travel as the perferred mode of transportation. Due to the sucess of the TGV, neighboring countries, such as Switzerland and Italy, have built their own lines that connect with TGV.

Regional/State Transportation Plans

The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State
Population in the West Bank and Gaza may reach 6.6 million by 2020, taxing the already overburdened infrastructure of a new Palestinian state. An infrastructure corridor linking the West Bank and Gaza could create conditions for economic development and sustainable population growth and engender a common sense of purpose. The corridor, called the Arc, would support high-speed interurban rail, a toll road, an aqueduct, an energy network, and telecommunications lines linking Palestine's major cities and towns. Boulevards connecting the train stations to the towns would create new areas for housing and commercial activity. The Arc concept provides for sustainable development and would preserve open land for agriculture, parks, and nature reserves. Building the Arc's core infrastructure would cost about $6 billion and employ more than 100,000 Palestinians over five years. [See commentary in Hartford Courant about applying the ARC concept to Connecticut.]
New Hampshire Transportation Business Plan
The New Hampshire Transportation Business Plan (TBP) is a 25-year vision that will serve to advance transportation, economic development, land use and environmental goals throughout the State. Under Carol Murray, New Hampshire’s reform minded Transportation Commissioner, the plan was entrusted to a Citizens Advisory Committee, co-chaired by Lew Feldstein, president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and Executive Councilor Raymond Burton. The committee was a kaleidoscope of New Hampshire opinion, from the truckers to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, municipal officials to business leaders, legislators to children’s and housing advocates.
Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC)
The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) is a wide-ranging, cooperative effort to design and implement a strategy for the restoration, protection and sustainable use of the Great Lakes. In 2003, at the request of a Great Lakes congressional delegation and as a first step in providing the leadership and coordination all agree is needed, the Great Lakes governors identified nine priorities for Great Lakes restoration and protection. Since their release, these priorities have been adopted by the Great Lakes mayors, the Great Lakes Commission and other Great Lakes leaders. These priorities form the organizing principle for this action plan. For more information, also read the article: Great Lakes Pacts Would Boost Jobs.
Northeast Can-Am Connections
While the proposal for an east-west transportation corridor has raised some issues across the three northern New England states, this transportation initiative is certainly a regional effort to keep an eye on as as it progresses through its initial stages. Initiated by federal funding as the Northeast Border Corridor Study, this initiative has brought together economic development and transportation departments from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York State, as well as Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The participating state and provincial representatives subsequently agreed to work together on a study named, Northeast Can-Am Connections: Integrating the Economy and Transportation. The focus of the study is on identifying and assessing opportunities to attract investment and to create jobs by promoting east-west trade corridors and improving multi-modal transportation access that can effectively increase competitiveness and capture new business investment for the region. Read more about this initiatve at www.canamconnections.com.

Waterways

Alameda Corridor Project
The Alameda Corridor will dramatically improve railroad and highway access to the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The two ports comprise the San Pedro Bay Ports, the largest port complex in the United States. The complex is located on the doorstep of the Pacific Rim - the largest and fastest growing marketplace in the world.

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