I sent the transportation summary to some local leaders, members of PVACR, and Heather Brandon, blogger at urbancompass.net, who sent it to Tim Brennan, Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. He responded (and I've received his permission to share those supplementary comments here).....

"1) The Connecticut River is the reason for the region we now live in and it was in the first stage of settlement the principal mode of transportation connecting us on the north-south axis that continues to shape our contemporary settlement and travel patterns.

2) In the post rail era that came after WW II we replicated the north-south rail and trolley links with a primary ribbon of asphalt we now know as Route I-91. I-91 is our region's dominant transportation corridor and the central nervous system in many respects of the Pioneer Valley.

3) In my plea that we reinvent our approach, I am especially urging that we not focus on individual modes but rather on the connections between and among modes that can leverage a much more productive and user friendly transportation system that can be sustainable over time. This is an imperative as the era of new highway construction is largely over and precisely why we need to recapture and reuse the rail network we've too long ignored if not discarded.

4) We need new and innovative transportation governance systems for more than rail if the emerging Knowledge Corridor is to become the building block of our 21st Century region. A public-private governance system for Bradley International Airport is a premiere example of a need to cooperate with the future and recognize that our economic region is an interstate
region that does not conform to political boundaries but in a real sense is increasingly
borderless.

5) Brining commuter rail service to Springfield is undeniably a major and positive change agent for the City and ultimately the interstate region of which it is a part. The New England examples cited at the summit such as Portland, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island; Stamford, Connecticut
and more recently Worcester and Brockton, Massachusetts all provide compelling arguments why we need to invest in commuter rail as means to help achieve a sustainable and prosperous future both short and longer range.

6)The bottom line for me is that if we choose to connect we're choosing to compete and be a player in the 21st century global economy. We've got an impressive set of transportation and other assets to leverage to advantage--we now need the vision, courage and will to translate
our words into action."