Foxborough: Massive traffic impacts

Casino will be huge draw, report says
BY RICK FOSTER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Daily visits could top 13,000, Wynn consultants say
FOXBORO - A resort casino complex proposed for Route 1 would generate additional traffic of 13,000 to 15,000 vehicles a day, according to an assessment by a consulting firm hired by Wynn Resorts.

Vanasse and Associates circulated the three-page initial traffic assessment to tenant managers and Route 1 businesses at Patriot Place last week, according to Scott Farmelant of "Jobs for Foxboro," a pro-casino group.

According to the report, the 13,000 to 15,000-vehicle estimate is for an average weekday. The report did not estimate the expected traffic on weekends.

The document said the hotel-casino complex is expected to attract about 20,000 visitors a day, which it said is comparable to the current number of daily visitors for all of Patriot Place.

By contrast, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut attracts about 50,000 visitors per day, the report said. Las Vegas hotel-casino magnate Steve Wynn and New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft announced plans in December for a $1 billion casino complex on land across from Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place. The casino would be built on land leased from the Kraft Group.

According to the assessment, the estimated traffic load for the casino development would be similar to the 15,400 vehicles per day estimated for an office park previously proposed for the same location.

Weekday peak-hour traffic from the resort would be similar to that generated by a typical big box retail store, the report said.

The Vanasse report also compared the estimated peak traffic volume from the resort of 1,000 to 1,200 cars per hour, compared with 1,600 per hour for a New England Revolution game. The Revolution professional soccer team plays 17 home games per year at Gillette Stadium.

Neither Wynn Resorts nor Vanasse and Associates would comment for this report, nor would a leading group representing casino critics.

According to the Vanasse report, additional expenditures would be made to enhance traffic flow, possibly including a pedestrian bridge connecting the resort and parking areas to Patriot Place and Gillette Stadium. The proposed bridge was designated as a "significant transportation investment point" in a blueprint for future development along the Interstate 495 corridor released last week by the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick. However, a state official said the designation was listed as a local priority and does not give the project special status for state or regional funding.

The Vanasse report did not indicate whether the costs of the bridge and other road improvements would be the responsibility of the state or the developer. The report did say the resort would include construction of a parking lot sufficiently large to offset loss of game day parking in the P-10 lot and provide reserve capacity for vehicles of resort guests.

Vanasse also asserted in the report that local roadways would not suffer "major detrimental impacts" because of the casino and that Route 1 would continue to be the "gateway" to the Patriot Place area.

The state's Office of Housing and Economic Development last week released the 495 MetroWest Development Compact Plan containing state, local and regional priorities for economic development, as well as environmental preservation.

The pedestrian bridge was listed as a "significant transportation investment point" but did not appear on a list of regional or state priorities, said Victoria Maguire, state permit ombudsman for the Patrick Administration. She said the bridge could eventually receive greater priority if it supports major state planning and development objectives.

In other words, Massachusetts taxpayers will subsidize the Kraft/Wynn project.