Potential for

Transit Oriented Develop in Connecticut

TOD is the creation of compact, walkable communities centered around high quality train systems. This makes it possible to live a higher quality life without complete dependence on a car for mobility and survival.

Project OutlineConnecticut has plans to significantly expand rail service in the state including on the New Haven

– Springfield Line and on Shoreline East.

The goal of this class project is to assess some of the station areas on these lines to rate them in terms of their potential as a location for a strong TOD. Many factors go into determining how will a TOD is likely to function. One of the most important factor is the existing (and potentially, future) street network. In this project we will focus on assessing the quality of the street network. This will be done with the help of the Sustainable Street Network guide.

For this class we will look at four locations: Wallingford, Meriden and Berlin on the NH-Springfield Line, and New London on Shoreline East.

Your tasks will be to rate the four sites based on the six characteristics of a sustainable street network and then to rank order the four sites from best to worst based on their potential for having a street network that will support a strong TOD.

Designing Connected Networks

www.cnu.org/sites/www.cnu.org/files/sustainable_street_network_principles_op.pdf

Principles or Goals of Sustainable Street Network Design

1. Support community and place2. Attract and sustain economic activities3. Maximize transportation choice4. Integrate with natural systems5. Respect the existing natural and built environment6. Emphasis walking as the fundamental unit of design7. Work with other transportation networks

Characteristicsof a Sustainable Street Network

1. Maximize Connectivity2. Provide Multiple Location where Different Transportation

Networks Overlap3. The network should be complex – rather than flat4. Major Streets should be Multimodal and Frequent5. All Streets should be Walkable6. Wide variety of street types

NEW HAVEN – HARTFORD – SPRINGFIELD

RAIL Corridor

Wallingford

Meriden

Berlin

New London