Transportation investments always influence patterns of development because they create opportunity around them. How that development might occur in Southeastern Massachusetts was the subject of a two-hour discussion organized by the Regional Sustainability Exchange on April 15, 2009, at the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center. The prospect of a South Coast Rail line sometime in the next decade provides the opportunity to rethink the transportation network, reshape patterns of land use, protect ecosystems, enhance green infrastructure, reduce auto dependency and cut carbon emissions. The purpose of this exchange is to build a regional collaborative that works toward a sustainable future and to give communities the resources need to move toward economic and environmental sustainability. Click here for the Herald News article about the event. For more information about the event, contact Louise Haridman at SRPEDD, 508-824-1367 or Kathleen Christianson of the UMass-Dartmouth Office of Campus and Community Sustainability.
 

(Top row, left) Fall River Planning Director Jim Hartnett greets Walter Sullivan of the Capeway Rail Terminal in Middleboro. (Top row, center) SRPEDD Executive Director Steve Smith chats with Executive Committee Chair Susan Peterson of Rochester before the presentation. (Top row, right) Former New Bedford Mayor and and President of the Sea Education Association (SEA) John Bullard welcomes participants at the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center. (Middle row, left and right) Jim Hartnett listens as Mayor Correia talks about the vision of a rail connection to Fall River. (Bottom row, left and center) Linda Grubb and Kathleen Christianson of the UMass-Dartmouth Office of Campus and Community Sustainability who sponsored the event along with SRPEDD and the Island Foundation.