1.
Connecticut Department of Transportation
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The Connecticut Department of Transportation is responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways in the U. S. state of Connecticut. The current Commissioner of ConnDOT is James P. Redeker, the agency has its headquarters in Newington. ConnDOTs duties include, The state highway system, for the latter, ConnDOT carries the reporting mark CNDX. Oversight of Connecticut Transit, a provider of bus transit in much of the state, management and operations of most of the states ports along Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. List of State Routes in Connecticut Official website
2.
Danbury Branch
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Metro-North Railroads Danbury Branch is a diesel branch of the New Haven Line from downtown Norwalk, Connecticut north to Danbury, mostly single-tracked. It opened in 1852 as the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad, until the early 1970s the branch originally had passenger service from Danbury to Canaan, Connecticut, to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Metro-North took over operation of the line from Conrail in 1983, the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad began operating its line from Norwalk north to Danbury on February 22,1852. In July 1872 a branch from the line at Bethel northeast to Hawleyville opened. At Hawleyville, the connected to the Housatonic Railroad, continuing north into Massachusetts. Also at Hawleyville, connections with the Shepaug Railroad to Litchfield were possible, starting on May 1,1874, that connection was supplemented by the New York, Housatonic and Northern Railroad, running from Danbury northeast to the Housatonic. In 1881 the New York and New England Railroad was completed, giving another connection at Danbury, a short branch from Branchville on the main line west to Ridgefield opened July 1,1870. In July 1882 an extension was built in Norwalk to docks at Wilson Point, the Housatonic Railroad leased the D&N on July 21,1887, and soon after, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad leased the Housatonic. The Danbury Line operated electric-powered trains beginning in 1925, steel posts that once carried the overhead catenary system can still be seen along the line. The catenary system on the Danbury Line was removed in 1961 when diesel-powered locomotives resumed service on the line, long-distance passenger service operated on the line. The Berkshire ran on the line from Grand Central to Danbury, to Pittsfield, the NYNH&H merged into Penn Central in 1969. On January 1,1971, the State of Connecticut leased the Danbury Branch from Penn Central, the last passenger train from Danbury north to Pittsfield, Massachusetts ran in April 1971, the day before Amtrak assumed passenger operations. From 1976 until 1983, freight and passenger service on the line was provided by the Consolidated Rail Corporation under a contract with Connecticut, in 1983 the newly formed Metro-North Commuter Railroad took over operation of passenger service along the line. Conrail continued to provide service on the line until 1993. The Providence and Worcester Railroad now provides freight service along the Danbury Branch, upon renovation of the Merritt 7 station, Metro-North ceased stops at Kent Road on January 16,1994, and instead provided service via shuttle bus to Merritt 7 for local employers. By the time of its closing, less than 15 passengers used Kent Road station daily, the Danbury Railway Museum is located in the former Union Station of the D&N and NY&NE in Danbury. It lies just north of the current Danbury Metro-North passenger station, at the museum are examples of rolling stock retired from service as well as an indoor display of model trains. There have been proposals to re-electrify the Danbury Branch, along with a plan to service north from Danbury to New Milford
3.
Side platform
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A side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. Dual side platform stations, one for direction of travel, is the basic station design used for double-track railway lines. Side platforms may result in a wider overall footprint for the station compared with a platform where a single width of platform can be shared by riders using either track. In some stations, the two platforms are connected by a footbridge running above and over the tracks. While a pair of platforms is often provided on a dual-track line. Where the station is close to a crossing the platforms may either be on the same side of the crossing road or alternatively may be staggered in one of two ways. With the near-side platforms configuration, each platform appears before the intersection, in some situations a single side platform can be served by multiple vehicles simultaneously with a scissors crossing provided to allow access mid-way along its length. Normally, the facilities of the station are located on the Up platform with the other platform accessed from a footbridge. However, in cases the stations main buildings are located on whichever side faces the town or village the station serves. Larger stations may have two platforms with several island platforms in between. Some are in a Spanish solution format, with two platforms and an island platform in between, serving two tracks
4.
Norwalk Transit District
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The Norwalk Transit District is the primary provider of public transportation services in Norwalk, Connecticut and surrounding communities. The local Norwalk fixed-route bus transit system, known as WHEELS, is the service of the district linking Norwalk. The agency also operates bus services as far north as Danbury and as far east as Bridgeport. Paratransit door-to-door services are available for residents in the area unable to use regular transit services. Norwalk Transit contracts with local service providers to perform some of the door-to-door services. The city of Norwalk founded the Norwalk Transit District in 1978, the district receives local, federal and state funding from the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Norwalk Transit operates fixed routes throughout Norwalk, Wesport and Greenwich, passengers on WHEELS routes 11 and 13 can transfer in shared service areas alongU. S. Fares as of 2017 are $1.75 for a 90 minutes unlimited pass
5.
Historic districts in the United States
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Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided into two categories, contributing and non-contributing. Districts greatly vary in size, some have hundreds of structures, the U. S. federal government designates historic districts through the United States Department of Interior under the auspices of the National Park Service. Federally designated historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, state-level historic districts may follow similar criteria or may require adherence to certain historic rehabilitation standards. Local historic district designation offers, by far, the most legal protection for historic properties because most land use decisions are made at the local level, local districts are generally administered by the county or municipal government. The first U. S. historic district was established in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931, Charleston city government designated an Old and Historic District by local ordinance and created a board of architectural review to oversee it. New Orleans followed in 1937, establishing the Vieux Carré Commission, other localities picked up on the concept, with the city of Philadelphia enacting its historic preservation ordinance in 1955. The Supreme Court case validated the protection of resources as an entirely permissible governmental goal. In 1966 the federal government created the National Register of Historic Places, conference of Mayors had stated Americans suffered from rootlessness. By the 1980s there were thousands of federally designated historic districts, Historic districts are generally two types of properties, contributing and non-contributing. In general, contributing properties are integral parts of the historic context, in addition to the two types of classification within historic districts, properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places are classified into five broad categories. They are, building, structure, site, district and object, all but the eponymous district category are also applied to historic districts listed on the National Register. A listing on the National Register of Historic Places is governmental acknowledgment of a historic district, however, the Register is an honorary status with some federal financial incentives. The National Register of Historic Places defines a historic district per U. S. federal law, a district may also comprise individual elements separated geographically but linked by association or history. Districts established under U. S. federal guidelines generally begin the process of designation through a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, the National Register is the official recognition by the U. S. government of cultural resources worthy of preservation. While designation through the National Register does offer a district or property some protections, if the federal government is not involved, then the listing on the National Register provides the site, property or district no protections. If, however, company A was under federal contract the Smith House would be protected, a federal designation is little more than recognition by the government that the resource is worthy of preservation. Usually, the National Register does not list religious structures, moved structures, reconstructed structures, however, if a property falls into one of those categories and are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria then an exception allowing their listing will be made. Historic district listings, like all National Register nominations, can be rejected on the basis of owner disapproval, in the case of historic districts, a majority of owners must object in order to nullify a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
6.
Contributing property
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Government agencies, at the state, national, and local level in the United States, have differing definitions of what constitutes a contributing property but there are common characteristics. Local laws often regulate the changes that can be made to contributing structures within designated historic districts, the first local ordinances dealing with the alteration of buildings within historic districts was in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931. Properties within a district fall into one of two types of property, contributing and non-contributing. A contributing property, such as a 19th Century mansion, helps make a historic district historic, while a non-contributing property, such as a medical clinic. The contributing properties are key to a districts historic associations, historic architectural qualities. A property can change from contributing to non-contributing and vice versa if significant alterations take place, the ordinance declared that buildings in the district could not have changes made to their architectural features visible from the street. By the mid-1930s, other U. S. cities followed Charlestons lead, an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution led to the 1937 creation of the Vieux Carre Commission, which was charged with protecting and preserving the French Quarter in the city of New Orleans. The city then passed an ordinance that set standards regulating changes within the quarter. Other sources, such as the Columbia Law Review in 1963, the Columbia Law Review gave dates of 1925 for the New Orleans laws and 1924 for Charleston. The same publication claimed that two cities were the only cities with historic district zoning until Alexandria, Virginia adopted an ordinance in 1946. The National Park Service appears to refute this, in 1939, the city of San Antonio, Texas, enacted an ordinance that protected the area of La Villita, which was the citys original Mexican village marketplace. In 1941 the authority of local controls on buildings within historic districts was being challenged in court. In City of New Orleans vs Pergament Louisiana state appellate courts ruled that the design, beginning in the mid-1950s, controls that once applied to only historic districts were extended to individual landmark structures. The United States Congress adopted legislation that declared the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, by 1965,51 American communities had adopted preservation ordinances. By 1998, more than 2,300 U. S. towns, contributing properties are defined through historic district or historic preservation zoning laws, usually at the local level. Zoning ordinances pertaining to historic districts are designed to maintain a historic character by controlling demolition and alteration to existing properties. It can be any property, structure or object that adds to the integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, either local or federal. Definitions vary but, in general, they maintain the same characteristics, another key aspect of a contributing property is historic integrity
7.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
8.
Cannondale Historic District
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Cannondale Historic District is a historic district in the Cannondale section in the north-central area of the town of Wilton, Connecticut. The district includes 58 contributing buildings, one contributing structure, one contributing site. About half of the buildings are along Danbury Road and most of the rest are close to the Cannondale train station, the district is also significant for its collection of architecture and for its historic significance. The district has a number of buildings in Greek Revival style, as well as Victorian era buildings, the development was created by actress June Havoc, who sold the property in 1989. At least four contributing objects in the district are described in the NRHP nomination, including the 1872 Schoolhouse. Properties in the include the following, Nelson S. Charles Gregory Store. Cannon Grange Hall -1899 -25 Cannon Road - Victorian, 1½-story structure with a roof, clapboard with scalloped shingles in gable ends. Charles Gregory Dam -30 Cannon Road - c.1910 - coursed rubble spillway and abutments, atop west abutment is former Charles Gregory gristmill that was extensively remodeled in the late 1920s and late 1970s. Helen Godfrey House - c.1900 -34 Cannon Road - Victorian era, 2½-story house with a roof, wood shingle. 1940 -68 Cannon Road - 1½ stories, gable roof, barn to rear of Hiram and Mary Cannon Jones House Samuel Marvin House - c. Barn to rear of Samuel Marvin House George Godfrey House - c, Charles Scribner House, c.1830 Greek Revival house with c.1910 Colonial Revival porch with Tuscan columns. Center-chimney house - c.1795 - two stories, gable roof, clapboard siding, 3-bay facade with plain entry, flush eaves,1840 -493 Danbury Road - Greek Revival, 2½ story, gable-roofed, clapboard-sided house, originally center-chimney dwelling reworked in Greek Revival Style c. The barn just to the north of the Thaddeus Quick House also contributed to the case for registering the historical district,1870 -503 Danbury Road - 2½ stories, gable roof, vinyl siding, original portion is 5-bay with center entry, with cross-bable wing added c. 1870, also added at that time were porch with chamfered posts and round-arched attic lights, new chimney. The house was greatly expanded and modified, according to Russell. Gersham and Mary Ann Partrick House - c, the barn on the property of the Gersham and Mary Ann Partrick House also contributed to the historic-preservation registration. Charles Gregory Gristmill, non-contributing as it was coverted into residence in late 1920s, vernacular house -25 Seeley Road - c.1920 - 1½ stories, wood shingle Polly and William Wakeman House - c
9.
Metro-North Railroad
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With an average weekday ridership of 298,900 in 2014, it is the second-busiest commuter railroad in North America in terms of annual ridership, behind its sister railroad, the Long Island Rail Road. Metro-North also provides rail service within New York City at a reduced fare. There are 124 stations on Metro-North Railroads five active lines, which operate on more than 775 miles of track, the MTA has jurisdiction, through Metro-North, over railroad lines on the western and eastern portions of the Hudson River in New York. Service on the side of the Hudson is operated by New Jersey Transit under contract with the MTA. Three lines provide service on the east side of the Hudson River to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, the Hudson, Harlem. The Beacon Line is a line owned by Metro-North but is not in service. The Hudson and Harlem Lines terminate in Poughkeepsie and Wassaic, New York, the New Haven Line is operated through a partnership between Metro-North and the State of Connecticut. The Connecticut Department of Transportation owns the tracks and stations within Connecticut, MTA owns the tracks and stations and handles capital improvements within New York State. MTA performs routine maintenance and provides services for the entire line, its branches. New cars and locomotives are purchased in a joint agreement between MTA and ConnDOT, with the agencies paying for 33. 3% and 66. 7% of costs respectively. ConnDOT pays more because most of the line is in Connecticut, the New Haven Line has three branches in Connecticut, the New Canaan Branch, Danbury Branch and Waterbury Branch. At New Haven, the Shore Line East connecting service, run by Connecticut, Amtrak operates intercity train service along the New Haven and Hudson Lines. The New Haven Line is part of Amtraks Northeast Corridor, at New Haven, the New Haven Line connects to the Amtrak New Haven–Springfield Line. The Hudson Line connects with the Oak Point Link and is the route for freight to and from the Bronx. Freight railroads CSX, CP Rail, P&W, and Housatonic Railroad have trackage rights on sections of the system, there are two branches, the Port Jervis Line and the Pascack Valley Line. The Port Jervis Line is accessed from two New Jersey Transit lines, the Main Line and the Bergen County Line. The Port Jervis Line terminates in Port Jervis, New York, most stops for the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines are in New Jersey, so New Jersey Transit provides most of the rolling stock and all the staff, Metro-North supplies some equipment. Metro-North equipment has been used on other New Jersey Transit lines on the Hoboken division, All stations west of the Hudson River in New York are owned and operated by Metro-North, except Suffern, which is owned and operated by New Jersey Transit
Norwalk Transit District: Route 7 Link
Media related to Cannondale (Metro-North station) at Wikimedia Commons