Aerial video planned for rail bypass route
This story corrects an earlier version.
Stonington — Former Selectman Stephen Bessette, who is the administrator of the popular Stonington Community Forum Facebook page, is organizing a flyover of the proposed high-speed rail bypass from Old Saybrook to Kenyon, R.I., to provide more detailed information for residents about the impact of the route.
Bessette said he has reached out to the Civil Air Patrol branch at Groton-New London Airport about participating in the effort. He said the organization, which assists communities in addition to its many other duties, such as search and rescue, said it would help as long as Bessette gained support for the idea from one of the affected towns. So Bessette outlined his idea here Wednesday night to members of the Board of Selectmen, which unanimously offered its support of the idea.
Bessette, who organized a rally opposing the bypass at Olde Mistick Village earlier this month, said the idea began when he was contacted last week by a resident who suggested videotaping the route from the air. Bessette investigated and said he found that would require a high-wing plane that could fly at slow speed. When he inquired about who might have such an aircraft, he learned the Civil Air Patrol does.
Bessette said late this week he is now working out details of the project, such a securing a videographer, and said the video would be posted on the Stonington Community Forum page. He said the video would give people a better visual perspective of the impact of the route and what land it would cut through.
In Stonington, the bypass would parallel Interstate 95 and cut through the back of Olde Mistick Village and Mystic Aquarium, continue through wooded areas and the Elmridge Golf Course. The Amtrak bypass for high speed trains would not serve the existing Mystic and Westerly train stations.
Nationally, the Civil Air Patrol is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force and has 58,000 members who are involved in inland search and rescue, homeland security, disaster relief, transport of medical materials and other missions.
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