Crabiel Wrong On New Rail Service to New Brunswick
June 16th 2007 10:40 pm
Recent statements by Freeholder Director David Crabiel regarding the proposed routing of NJ Transit passenger service through Ocean and Monmouth Counties via Monmouth Junction to New Brunswick are puzzling. Why does he object to using existing, active railroad tracks to create better access to New Brunswick for Rutgers students, J&J employees, visitors to and employees of county offices and UMDNJ and RWJUH employees, patients and visitors?
No further expansion of Routes 18, 27 and US 1 (which would be an environmental disaster and would require acquisition or condemnation of private property) and parking garage space can possibly keep pace with the explosive renaissance and growth of New Brunswick as a daily commute and entertainment destination. Nor should area residents want any road expansion, as the New Brunswick Transit Village project is proving to be an enormous success. And its continuing development will draw even more daily traffic. More than New Brunswick and surrounding communities can handle.
The Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex passenger rail project is needed to alleviate traffic congestion and air pollution and to promote commerce in the tri-county region, now home to 25% of New Jersey’s population and workforce. This project has been on the drawing board since 1985 and is in the final stages of environmental study. Preliminary studies have already been successfully completed.
Although alternate routes have been suggested and studied, those routes miss New Brunswick and large parts of Middlesex County. They miss the point, too. The proposed route connecting Lakehurst, Lakewood, Freehold, Manalapan and other towns along congested Route 9 and overloaded county roads would make New Brunswick and other central Middlesex County destinations easily reachable.
Monmouth and Ocean counties are a significant source of daily traffic to and from central Middlesex County already and getting those cars off our roads can only help ease traffic congestion and improve our ever-worsening air quality, already among the worst in the nation.
Any assertion that this is to be a high-speed commuter line serving only to bring Monmouth and Ocean County commuters to and from New York is untrue. The US Census has documented that most commuters in New Jersey are NOT going to New York. They are going to other destinations within the state. This route will serve intrastate commuters, families and seniors for the next hundred years or more if activated now. Equally untrue are statements made by Mr. Crabiel’s supporters that “every other public official in Middlesex County” is opposed to this plan. I challenge them to produce such a list. It does not exist.
Mr. Crabiel’s alliance with a small group of people who promote fear of school buses being struck by high-speed trains while ignoring the exemplary safety record of established routes such as the North Jersey Coast Line is, at best, disingenuous. It’s time to end the rumor-mongering, let all constituencies be heard and the documented facts about cost, projected ridership, traffic improvement and environmental benefits be presented.
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Data source:
US Census 2005 American Community Survey
New Jersey
Worked in state of residence 87.5%
Worked in county of residence 54.5%
Worked outside county of residence 33.0%
Worked outside state of residence 12.5%
Middlesex County
Worked in state of residence 88.5%
Worked in county of residence 52.6%
Worked outside county of residence 35.9%
Worked outside state of residence 11.5%
Monmouth County
Worked in state of residence 88.5%
Worked in county of residence 61.2%
Worked outside county of residence 27.3%
Worked outside state of residence 11.5%
Ocean County
Worked in state of residence 95.1%
Worked in county of residence 58.6%
Worked outside county of residence 36.5%
Worked outside state of residence 4.9%