Background:

There is an abandoned railroad track between Union Station in Hartford, and the Griffin park in the Town of Bloomfield. This track runs in close proximity to the University of Hartford, (it's the track between the residences and Weaver High School) and is called the Griffin Line. The Griffin Line supported active rail and freight service between Downtown Hartford and it's northwest neighborhoods, and suburban communities from the late 1800's until the last freight service ended in 1982. The State of Connecticut provided the initial financial and policy commitment toward the Griffin line in 1981, acquiring the 8.5 mile segment of the rail right-of-way under the Rail Banking Program, thereby reserving the Griffin Line for future use as mass transit facility.

In recent planning for the use of the Griffin Line as a commuter transporter and connector between Bradley International Airport and Downtown Hartford, light rail has emerged as the leading candidate for the type of system to be used. Light rail in this sense means something similar to an electrified trolley. A major question has emerged in the planning studies: where to place access stations.

Problem Definition:

You have been hired by the Town of Bloomfield to find a suitable site for a Griffin Line station, within the boundaries of the town. In order to screen candidate sites, the following selection criteria have been formulated. The site should:

• Be within 1000 ft of the center of the track right-of-way.
• Be located on "barren land".
• Be greater than 2 acres in are but less than 12 acres.
• Be within a mile of a "major" highway.
• Be located "near" the center of the town, if possible.

Solution Procedure:

1) Data required. For the Town of Bloomfield, you will need:

• A land use map.
• A map of railroads.
• A map of roads.

2) Data Acquisition. Go to the MAGIC site.

• MAGIC - Geo-spatial data - Town - Bloomfield
• Download *.eoo type data files for the three maps indicated in 1) to your folder (see instructor for path to folder).
• Unzip the files
• Using Import71, Convert the three files to files readable by ArcView (feature data source files). Save all of your work in your folder designated by the instructor.

3) Data Preparation:

• Open ArcView
• Add a new theme "Landuse" with data from the Land Use file prepared in the fourth part of 2.
• Using the Legend Editor, change:
• The Legend Type to Unique Values
• The Values field to Av_legend
• The color scheme to Bountiful Harvest
• Customize the Bountiful Harvest legend so that:
• Land Barren = Red
• Forest-Conf = Dark Green
• Forest-Decid = Light Green
• Deep Water = Dark Blue
• Shallow Water = Light Blue
• Road Major = White
• Road Pavement = White
• Add new theme Roads - choose Black as the color
• Add new theme Railroads - Choose Red as the color
• Save the project as Bloomfield.apr.
• Using the five criteria listed in the problem definition, make a flow chart (cartographic model) of the steps you will use to solve the problem.
• Do not change the other legend entries.

Problem Redefinition:

The State of Connecticut has asked you to consider new criteria, and compare the results from the initial study: The site should:

• Be within 2500 ft from the track right-of-way.
• Be located on "barren land".
• Be greater than 4 acres but less than 10
• Be within a mile of a "major" highway.

Final Report:

Produce a "professional" report (Cover sheet, table of contents, numbered pages, etc ).

• Cover Sheet (Title of Project, Your Name, Date, Signature)
• Table of Contents
• Introduction (Background, Introduce the Problem)
• Discussion (How you did things)
• Results
• Figures (Put all figures, Tables, etc. in this section and refer to them in text).
• Appendices
• Print or list the names of the files in your folder on F drive. (place in Appendix)
• Include Cartographic Model. (Place in Figures)
• Final Land Use, Roads, and Railroad maps. (Place in Figures)

For original problem and problem redefinition:

• Final site selection maps, prepared using principles from Lab 9 (In Figures).
• Select one parcel for the site and write a short paragraph as to why you chose that particular site for the Access Station. (In Results)