Photo Credit: Courtesy Harbor Express in Boston.

Watery Solutions

By Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson

Before roads, before railroads, New England traveled by sea and up its rivers. And waterborne trade has been a regional strength ever since Yankee clipper ships raced around the world and opened the first China trade.

Can water transport solve some of the region’s modern-day transportation challenges?

The answer should be yes. Take the issue of paralyzing congestion exacerbated by thousands of trucks along I-95 in southwestern Connecticut. Connecticut has been working for years on the idea of feeder barge service from Newark to New Haven or Bridgeport, allowing freight to bypass the most crowded Connecticut-New York freeway stretch. After prolonged political wrangling, Bridgeport was finally selected, but advocates are asking impatiently when the Connecticut Department of Transportation will finally get the service launched.

Also still to be resolved: What's New England's ocean freight plan for the century? Indeed, what of passenger service by water? Historically, water-borne personal transportation played a big role from New York all the way up to Maine. A dozen or so ferry services do still operate -- Boston-Gloucester and Boston-Provincetown, Providence-Newport, New London and Bridgeport across Long Island Sound, for example. The MBTA offers Boston Harbor service including connection to Logan Airport. Ferries run across Lake Champlain, connecting Vermont and New York State. New high-speed catamaran service connects Bar Harbor with Yarmouth in Nova Scotia in just three hours.

Photo: Courtesy of Maine DOT The CAT high-speed catamaran service connects Bar Harbor with Yarmouth in Nova Scotia.

But the potential is far greater -- serious high speed ferry service from Fairfield County to Manhattan, for example. Former Maine Transportation Secretary John Melrose says he’s enthusiastic about water transport because “it fosters development in core communities, has a low cost (which is zero) for maintenance of way, and has an extensive track record elsewhere in the world.”

For all the wonders of modern technology, the basic old-fashioned idea of personal travel by sea and river connection seems like a natural fit for New England’s character, tourism, and economic future.

[Originally published February 2006]