Darien Train Station 2025
Darien Train Station consturction 2025

Zagrodzky: Why There’s a Delay in Completing Refurbishing of Darien Train Station

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First Selectman Jon Zagrodzky went to Darien Train Station on Thursday, July 10, to talk with the state Department of Transportation construction team at the site. The project has been delayed from the original mid-August completion of work on the east side (northbound side) to mid-October, with full completion of the work on both sides of the tracks now expected in May 2026, Zagrodzky said. He said there are several reasons for the delay, including problems the manufacturer has with new electrically heated platforms will be installed as part of the project (Zagrodzky didn’t say what the problems are). Also the bankruptcy of the company supplying steel fencing along the platforms; and the discovery that the pipes and other underground structures at the site had not been mapped. More details are in the report Zagrodzky wrote up for the Town of Darien Newsletter:
Text from the Newsletter
I paid a visit to the CTDOT construction team at the Darien Train Station yesterday (July 10).

Cameron on Transportation

Monorails: Too Expensive and Slow to Be Mass Transit’s Future — If Their Past and Present Are Any Guide

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While taking a summertime break this week, here’s a column I wrote awhile back. What is this fascination that people have with monorails? I can’t tell you how often people suggest them as “the answer” to our state’s clogged roads. “Why don’t we build a monorail down the middle of The Merritt Parkway?,” asked an architect at a recent meeting. To my astonishment, such an idea was once studied!

Talking Transportation 2025
Air France sleeping on flight airplane

Yes, You Can Sleep While Traveling — But How Well? And for How Much?

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There’s something very satisfying about the efficiency of overnight travel. In the best of conditions you make your journey and awake, refreshed, at your destination. But how well you sleep depends a lot on how you travel. Here’s my list of overnight travel options, from worst to first:

DRIVING ALL NIGHT

In my carefree youth I once drove all night from Chicago to New York City. Tired and wired (on a LOT of coffee) I encountered no traffic and made really good time, but arrived exhausted.

Cameron on Transportation
South Norwalk station parking lot

Commuters: Be Prepared for a Nightmarish Train Ride, Maybe Like One of These

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We take our train service for granted. For the 80,000 daily Connecticut riders on Metro-North the service is dependable and on-time — usually. But not last Thursday evening, June 5, the hottest day of the year (so far), when the overhead catenary power lines were dragged down near Westport. No power means no trains. What caused the problem won’t be known for a while.

Talking Transportation 2025

CT Loses a Billion a Year in Car-Tax Revenue But Isn’t Trying to Stop the Tax Cheaters

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“This is the number one form of tax evasion in Connecticut. Connecticut is losing millions annually and our DMV does not care.”

So says Stonington Tax Assessor Jennifer Lineaweaver, president of the state association for her profession (the CCAO). She’s speaking of Connecticut residents who register their cars in other states to avoid local property taxes. Land of Steady Bad Habits
“Connecticut is also losing money on registrations, emissions, insurance and unpaid parking tickets that cannot be enforced,” she says. It’s super easy to get Maine plates for your vehicles — without even traveling to the state or having an address there.

Talking Transportation 2025
Sherwood Island State Park jetty

Expand Your Horizons with TOR — An Alternative to Driving to Concerts, Beaches and Other Recreation Spots

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The recent cool and weather aside, it’s officially summer! Time to get out and enjoy our state’s wonderful parks and beaches and take advantage of TOR. You know what TOD is, right? Transit Oriented Development is building homes and offices near mass transit facilities. Well, I’m going to suggest you think about TOR: Transit Oriented Recreation.

Talking Transportation 2025
Grand Central Terminal Main Concourse

Did You Know …

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Over the 20 years I’ve been writing this column, I’ve come across some “fun facts” about transportation. Try dazzling friends at your next BBQ with some of these gems.

HIGHWAYS:

• The average distance driven on Interstate 95 in Connecticut is 11 miles. Some 180,000 vehicles drive all or part of the 112 miles that I-95 runs through our state. But even factoring in true interstate drivers (think Florida to Maine), the average distance driven in Connecticut is tiny. Why?

Talking Transportation 2025
truck burning oil

A Lot of Transportation Is Hazardous to Our Health

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Our air stinks. In fact, Fairfield County ranks in the top 25 of most polluted areas in the U.S., mostly due to ozone levels. And while much of those noxious gases drift our way from New Jersey and New York City, a large part of our pollution is home-grown: it’s due to heavy volumes of traffic, especially diesel trucks, which emit nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—key ingredients in ozone formation. Yes: I-95 is hazardous to your health. And all of this gets worse in the summer due to the heat which increases ozone production, often trapping it over our heads due to temperature inversions.

Talking Transportation 2025
On the train on the phone cell service on Metro North

Fumbling Media Coverage of Transportation News

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Don’t believe everything you read or see in the media. Sage advice on any topic, but especially when it comes to coverage of transportation. A couple of recent stories illustrate my point. Improved Cell Service on Metro-North
The governor and CDOT’s commissioner held a media event recently in Stamford to promote the fact that AT&T has improved its cell coverage along the New Haven line. That telco spent $6 million installing 30 high-powered macro towers and small cell nodes, some of them on CDOT land, in a public-private partnership.

Darien Obituaries 2025
Obit flower

Barbara Fairclough, 76, Skipped Two School Grades, Microbiologist, Worked at Kelly Associates Real Estate

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Barbara Keller Fairclough died peacefully in the late hours of Wednesday, April 23, 2025, following a hard fought battle with breast cancer.  She was 76. She was born in Manhattan on May 8, 1948, and raised by her loving parents, Anna and Sol Sandler. She grew up in Bronxville, New York, where she thrived, growing up with many good friends and was quite the academic. Having skipped two grades, she graduated from high school and attended the University of Rhode Island, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology. A microbiologist, she worked for many years at New York Hospital, before starting a family with her college sweetheart, Marek Keller.

Darien Obituaries 2025
Carolyn Burt Rusty Burt obit obituary

Carolyn ‘Rusty’ Burt, 91, Taught Swimming at Darien YMCA, Active Volunteer, Loved Sailing, Hiking, Tennis, Canoeing

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Carolyn Orchard Ruscoe Burt, aka “Rusty,” passed away on March 13, 2025. She was 91. Rusty was a born and bred native of Darien, born April 29, 1933 and educated in the Darien school system. Her childhood home was the Bell Mansion, overlooking Gorhams Pond. Rusty spent most summers of her youth at her favorite place in the world, the all-girls Camp Arcadia in Maine, playing tennis, swimming, enjoying campfires, and dreaming about the boys camp across the lake.

Talking Transportation 2025

Avelo Airlines: Neither Woke Nor Broke

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Connecticut’s favorite local airline, Avelo, is in trouble for making a strategic business decision: taking a long term contract with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to fly deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security. Starting in May they’re dedicating three of their twenty 737 jets to fly from Mesa, Arizona, to destinations both in the U.S. and overseas (presumably flying over the “Gulf of America”), possibly even heading to El Salvador to deliver deportees to prisons there. The public reaction, while understandable, is misplaced. Avelo has enjoyed amazing success flying out of New Haven’s Tweed airport, growing from 50,000 passengers in 2019 to a current 600,000 happy flyers. They fly to 31 different destinations and have recently added flights from Bradley airport.

Darien Obituaries 2025
Sarah Rex Geary obit obituary

Sarah Rex Geary, 63, DHS Cheerleading Captain, Led a School PTA, Loved Tennis, Gardening, Wee Burn Beach Club Sunsets

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Sarah McCune Rex Geary departed unexpectedly on April 7. She was 63. She was born in New York City on May 9, 1961, to Robert McKay Rex and Jean Foley Rex. As the eldest of four sisters who grew up in Darien, Sarah took immense pleasure in her high school days and friends. She was the enthusiastic captain of the Darien High School varsity cheerleading squad.