• Connecticut and New York State DOTs expand SMART Ride Stuff Program.
  
  
• Rockland looks to the rails for congestion relief.
  
  
• MetroPool's Third Annual Leadership Awards.
  
  
• Winners of the Fourth Annual Earth Week Challenge.
  
  Results of the Third Annual Great Train Race.
  
  
• Compressed Work Week is a win-win situation at Raytheon.
  
  
• New tax relief for employers with traffic reduction plans in Connecticut.
  
  

Taking the train was much faster than taking the car on the morning of Wednesday, May 12th - 43 minutes faster, in fact, for commuters traveling across Southwestern Connecticut.

In the third annual Great New Haven-to-Greenwich Commuter Race, a unique challenge to draw attention to the benefits of commuting by train, two teams of commuters "raced" from New Haven to Greenwich - one on a New Haven Line train, the other by car. Both left the New Haven Railroad station at 7:27 a.m. The train, which made scheduled stops in Milford, Stratford, Bridgeport, Fairfield and Stamford, arrived at the Greenwich Railroad station right on schedule at 8:27 a.m. The car arrived at the station 43 minutes later, at 9:10 a.m., on what was a normal traffic morning, according to traffic reporters.

This was the third victory for the train commuters. In 1997, the New Haven line train won by 45 minutes. Last year, the margin was even wider, with the train beating the car by 47 minutes.

"We think this race is a fun way to drawn attention to the advantages of commuting by train," explains MetroPool marketing director Peggy Hetherington. "Our goal is to encourage people to consider alternatives to driving alone. In our traffic-congested region, commuting by train can save money, stress and lots of valuable time."

The race is organized by MetroPool, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and MTA MetroNorth. For information about the Great Train Race, call Peggy Hetherington at MetroPool at (203) 324-6700 ext. 308 or [email protected].