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The situation in Eastern Massachusetts is disastrous. Two years ago people sat at a table and CSX tearfully sold the Beacon Yards in Allston to Harvard University and equally tearfully sold its tracks between Framingham and Worcester to the Mass Bay Transit Authority, which does not want to permit its commuter rail facilities to be used for hauling freight. The Commonwealth of MA also agreed to raise all the bridges crossing CSX tracks between Worcester and the NY border to permit double stacking, thus allowing CSX to decrease its operating costs by one third. I am sure that there were mitigation funds arising from these transactions, but I've not heard that any of them being expended in meaningful fashion to provide infrastructure support that is going to be necessary on all the arterial highways between Worcester and Boston and Ayer and Boston. I am a resident of a community. Natick, that is about midway between Worcester and Boston. Residents of the Town of Framingham, immediately to the west of Natick, are vehemently oppose to rail freight and MASSDOT has no rail freight plan worthy of the name, while telling us that truck traffic is going to increase state wide by 70% by 2035. Most of that increase will be rolling along arterials in our area of the Commonwealth. Fifty years ago there was a rail head at the Port of Boston, which was the port of entry for Chicago for all material coming from Europe because of the rail freight service provided by the Boston & Albany which linked directly to Chicago and the fact that Boston is a day closer to Europe than any other major US East Coast port. As you might imagine the existence of this facility provided many jobs and there was a good deal of industrial activity spurred thus. I grew up in Cambridge, MA before, during, and after World War II - the city then had a resident population of 120,000 and an employment population of close to 150,000 producing everything from steel plate to soap and candy. The population today is about 90,000 and has a very dim view of manufacturing employment, and if I mention reestablishing the rail head at a deepwater site in the Port of Boston, people stare at me as though I should be in a home for the delightfully delirious. In conclusion, I would have to say that there is a very strong bias against rail freight in Eastern Massachusetts and absolutely no realization of the impact that the impending increased volume of truck traffic is going to have on our infrastructure and environment. Arnold G. Pinsley -----Original Message----- From: FHWA Freight Planning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rick Johnsom Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 3:24 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Needed: Surveys on public perception of freight movement Does anyone know of any examples of surveys conducted on the federal, state, or MPO level that focused on the general public's perception or understanding of the (public) significance to the economy, environment, and safety on the efficent movement of freight by all modes? When crafting a message to the average taxpayer on why public funding for freight infrastructure is important, we should know in advance what their perception is, in order to craft a more direct and convincing message.