No easy access to rail station

The state Office for Commonwealth Development considers the new apartment complex called Jefferson at Dedham Station a ``smart growth" project because of its proximity to the commuter rail station. Just steps away, across Rustcraft Road, is the weekday stop for 19 Boston-bound trains, which reach Back Bay in about 20 minutes.

But -- in a spin on the old saying ``you can't get there from here" -- the only authorized route from the apartments to the station is a nearly 3 -mile ride along local roads, a state highway, and an interstate highway, through two stoplights, and around a rotary. If you have to park, the fee is $2.

An alternative, and very unofficial, route to the trains is a walk or sprint across busy Rustcraft Road, then through a hole in the chain-link fence that runs along the edge of the tracks.

All of which calls into question the ``smart growth" designation -- at least for the moment.

State and local officials agree that access to the station -- known as Dedham Corporate Center Station, because of a nearby office complex -- needs to be improved, and they say it will be eventually.

``When you have that many people in that many units, the idea is for them to keep their cars in the garage," said Dedham Selectman James A. MacDonald. ``If they have to drive to the parking lot to take the train, it doesn't make any sense."

Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said, ``The T certainly supports pedestrian access to the station."

When completed, Jefferson at Dedham Station, and another development about to start construction next to it, will have about 600 apartments. Dedham officials have required the developer of the second apartment complex, Fairfield Green, to provide pedestrian access to the station as a condition of its zoning permit.

The developer, Fairfield Residential based in Bethesda, Md., has drafted plans for a crosswalk on Rustcraft Road, according to Kevin Maley, vice president of the company. Fairfield Residential will work with the MBTA to design changes to the station so pedestrians can enter the area from Rustcraft Road and walk across the tracks, added Maley, who worked for Jefferson at Dedham Station when that project was being approved by state and town officials.

But the town did not make pedestrian access to the trains a requirement of the permits for Jefferson at Dedham Station. It did, however, mandate that the apartment complex run station shuttle buses, which have been operating in recent weeks.

Dedham has long struggled with the issue of access to Dedham Corporate station from Rustcraft Road. On the one hand, officials have tried to limit access to protect surrounding residential streets from an influx of traffic. On the other hand, barring access is increasingly hard to justify as more businesses and homes locate on Rustcraft Road and Enterprise Drive.

A new upscale shopping center, Legacy Place, is being planned not far from the station.

The town has required all traffic to and from the apartment buildings to use Enterprise Drive, and there is no access directly onto Rustcraft Road. Thus, driving to the train station from the apartments means going down Enterprise Drive, south on Providence Highway, and south on Route 128 to the East Street rotary.

About 150 families have moved into Jefferson at Dedham Station. Access to the train station has not been a problem so far, according to Francis O'Brien, one of the first residents to move in.

The shuttle buses have been a good interim solution, according to O'Brien, who is a Norfolk County commissioner. ``It's very convenient, and there are lot of people who live here and take the train," he said. ``I think it will be beneficial to all when they get the walkover."

Meanwhile, the opening in the fence will be the preferred method of getting to the station for most residents, according to Maley.

There are no ``Keep Out" signs on the fence, and neither the town nor the MBTA monitors the area. It is apparent that someone cut down a section of fence to create the opening.

``If you are ambulatory," Maley said, ``you just go out the door and through the fence."

Robert Preer can be reached at preer@globe.com.