FDRLO to fund transit study

FORT DRUM — By this fall, the community may know more about what kinds of ground transit the north country could use.

"The question is simple," Carl A. McLaughlin, executive director of the Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization, said in a release. "How can we make this area accessible to its own residents?"

For an answer to transit questions in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, the organization will pay Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates $63,519. The New York City-based company specializes in rural and military base transit studies.

Mr. McLaughlin said Fort Drum is lacking ways to get the post's 8,500 single soldiers downtown easily, and the region is missing out economically as a result.

"Getting from place to place without a personal vehicle can be challenging for the local residents as well as for military personnel and their families, particularly with the rising cost of food, gasoline and other necessities," board chairwoman Elizabeth C. Fipps said in the release. "We want to determine the need for and potential options for expanded mobility within the wider Fort Drum community."

The team will study demands for transportation within a 30-mile radius of Fort Drum's north gate on Route 11 and will project future need. It also will hold focus groups with consumers and transportation providers and ask for feedback from the public.

Mr. McLaughlin said he would like to see a link to Watertown International Airport, Dexter, which recently landed a deal for direct flights to Chicago O'Hare International Airport through American Airlines regional carrier American Eagle.