Any rail connection to Boston is years away from breaking ground, but Manchester officials are trying to lay the groundwork for the investment boom that many hope such a project will create.

The city of Manchester has a lot going for it – world–class universities, a burgeoning tech scene, a growing population – but transportation has become a point of frustration in the city. With more businesses and more workers, congestion has built up in and around downtown Manchester. 

With the recent announcement that the city and state will be moving forward with a study that could lead to a commuter rail link between Manchester and Lowell, Massachusetts many in the city hope that this will spur development around the city, increase the workforce and decrease traffic around the city. 

The proposed rail project, which is still years away from construction, would create 16 weekday trains from Manchester to Lowell, according to Patrick Herlihy, director of aeronautics, rail and transit for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.  

Herlihy said that the rail link would extend the MBTA commuter rail service north and offer intermediate stops in Nashua and in Bedford at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. The rail link is expected to lead to the creation of 3,600 new residential units and 5,600 jobs, according to Herlihy.  

Transit Spurred Development in Merrimack Valley 

The idea revolves around what’s called transit-oriented development (TOD), a style of planning which creates compact projects around transportation hubs –in Manchester’s case, a train station on the south side of downtown.  

But TOD is more than just building near a bus or a train station according to Tracy Corley, who studies transit-oriented development at the MassINC think tank in Boston. 

“TODs are places where buses come together with trains or light rail, where there are shuttle drop-off locations and where you have biking and walking paths for pedestrians,” Corley said. 

Massachusetts has seen a number of these developments appear around existing commuter rail stops throughout the state, primarily in the smaller ex-mill cities that surround Boston like Lowell, Brockton and Haverhill. In studying what has worked for these areas, Corley said that TODs offer an attractive proposition to developers. 

“Investors see opportunity in these developments,” Corley said. “More and more people have long commutes. TODs are spurring more economic and community development in gateway cities. People want to work, live and go to school closer to home.” 

Thanks in part to its commuter rail connections to Boston, the Merrimack Valley mill town of Haverhill, Massachusetts has seen a spurt of development in recent years, culminating in the under-construction The Heights building, a 10-story residential development from the Lupoli Cos. Image courtesy of Cube 3 Architects

According to Corley, Salem, Massachusetts is a prime example of a community with high potential for transit-focused development.  

“It’s a 17–mile drive to downtown Boston from Salem, but it will take 2 ½ hours. No one wants to spend their time doing that. However, it’s only a 21–minute express train ride to get to Boston from Salem,” Corley said. 

A ‘Game-Changer’ for Manchester 

If it lives up to its reputation, transit-oriented development could completely change the landscape of downtown Manchester.  

Creating a rail link to Massachusetts would have a number of positive effects for the region, according to Arthur Sullivan, principal at Brady Sullivan Properties, one of the largest commercial developers and landlords in the city. 

“Adding rail to downtown Manchester could be a game-changer,” Sullivan said. “We have a lot going in the area – there are a number of businesses in the region, rent is two to three times cheaper than Boston, but the commute to Boston is too long. Rail could shorten the commute and these developments are all about creating mixed-use projects that combines retail, restaurants and housing.” 

The city officials also hope the rail link could recruit recent graduates from MIT and Harvard University to make the commute to New Hampshire for work. 

“We have thriving tech companies in the mill yard and we hope that reliable rail in Manchester could attract more individuals to the city to live and work,” said Lauren Smith, policy and strategic outreach director for the city of Manchester. “There’s a wealth of talent down in Massachusetts and with reliable rail we can take them up from Massachusetts to Manchester for additional opportunities.” 

While transit-oriented development sites can offer big returns to investors, Corley said poorly thought-out TOD projects can create disruptive change in the cities they call home. 

“These developments will put jobs closer to where people live,” Corley said. “You need to focus on developments and housing that work for everybody. Eighty percent of people are middle or low income, so you don’t want luxury housing. If you’re creating areas where only the people with the highest incomes can live then you’re going to destroy communities. The goal of these developments is to keep people in their communities and to create better opportunities for themselves and for the city.”