An Amtrak train rolls into Springfield. With a new $4.2 million federal grant, the Knowledge Corridor Consortium plans to build off of major federal investments in the Connecticut Valley region, including the new Springfield-New Haven high speed rail line.SPRINGFIELD – The Knowledge Corridor has received a $4.2 million boost from the federal departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Environmental Protection.
“It’s transportation connected to housing and housing connected to environmental quality,” said Timothy W. Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. “What we’re trying to do is take Springfield and Hartford and make them the twin cities of the Knowledge Corridor much like Minneapolis and St. Paul are in Minnesota.”
The Hartford Springfield Economic Partnership recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Knowledge Corridor emphasis. it’s an effort to help the region compete with larger, faster-growing urban areas in other parts of the country by emphasizing the Connecticut River Valley’s large well-educated work force and variety of businesses.
The Knowledge Corridor name refers to the 26 colleges and universities, including large universities in the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of Connecticut.
Timothy W. BrennanAccording to a statement announcing the grant:
“The bi-state Knowledge Corridor Consortium includes three planning regions: the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, the Capital Regional Council of Governments, and the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency, and many cooperating organizations. The three regional organizations will work together to use this grant to create new opportunities for sustainability in housing, land use, environment, water infrastructure, transportation, employment, climate action, leadership development and food security. The consortium will update and integrate existing regional plans for land use, transportation, economic development, and clean energy, and add new plan elements to form a Knowledge Corridor Regional Plan for Sustainable Development.”
Brennan said, “We are trying to take this out of sloganeering and into substance.”
The plan will build off of major federal investments in the region, including the new Springfield-New Haven high speed rail line, and seek to create energy-efficient, affordable housing opportunities near transit and job centers, Brennan said.
The project will include three main steps: plan, do and measure. Work will focus will be what Brennan called “catalytic projects”, that is projects that can act like a catalyst in a chemical reaction and speed growth and development. He used examples like the long-planned redevelopment of the Court Square hotel in Springfield, Depot Square in Holyoke and the Chicopee bikeway.
The Franklin Regional Council of Governments of Greenfield also received $425,000 and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has been awarded $590,700 from a related Housing and Urban Development program tailored to more rural communities.
“Western Massachusetts did very well with this program,” Brennan said.
A planning agency in the Boston area also received a grant. There were only 45 grants given following nearly 300 applications sent by planning agencies around the country, he said.
Margaret M. Sloan, director of planning and development for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments said her agencies effort will focus on housing for the disadvantaged that is environmentally friendly and preserves farmland and areas crucial to drinking-water supplies.
“It’s about minimizing car trips,” Sloan said. “Making sure someone doesn’t have to get in a car to buy every little thing or to get a job.”
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