FEDERAL RAILROAD OFFICIALS ARE WITHDRAWING THEIR CONTROVERSIAL PLAN TO AUTHORIZE CONSTRUCTION OF A HIGH-SPEED INLAND RAIL LINE THROUGH SOUTHEASTER CONNECTICUT SHORELINE COMMUNITIES. This proposal was a 30-mile inland rail line stretch from Old Saybrook to Kenyon, RI.
The federal proposal, termed the "Kenyon Bypass," was raised in 2015 and was immediately opposed; local officials and residents argued that the high-speed rail line with elevated tracks would ruin the character of shoreline communities and bypass existing rail stations.
Claudia Weicker, chairwoman of the Connecticut Audubon Society's Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center in Old Lyme, called the rail agency's decision "a considerable victory for conservation and environmental protection in southeastern Connecticut."
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Original article written by Gregory B. Hladky, Contact Reporter, of the Hartford Courant