I remember over on the old, and even the origional board, we had some good desscusions going for awhie about the possibility of a New Brunswick area LRT, and if it would replace the buses, how it would run, even be phesable, etc. So what has everyone heard recently? For what I hear, it doesn't look to good, considering that the DOT wants to knock down the brdige over the old RRRR and i guess just have some sort of dip there or something? Also, I think the only way this could really work, is building a new infastructure for the majority of the line, and who knos if this would happen eaither. From what I gather, everything is very iffy at the moment.
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I haven't heard anything regarding this idea lately either. ( Seems to me the dot wanting to smooth out that part of rt. 1 going over the rrrr is a waste of money. ) Even though the dot is going forward with the total restructuring of rt. 18 between rt. 1 and rt.27 there will still be a need for some sort of transit solution for the traffic mess between campuses and throughout the area.
Deffinatly agree. There has to be some sort of alternate transportation for the area, the buses just don't cut it anymore. IMO, it would be best if the buses remained in service, except then there was also an LRT put in place, this way, there could be a good way to travel between the campuses, but also have a feeder system, etc. so people don't have to walk long distances to dedicated LRT stations, therefore, making the LRT used more, and takeing more traffic off of the main routes, making the traffic situation at least somewhat better.
Things are sure going to be interesting later this year when the DOT completely messes up Route 18. The local papers are saying that the road will be narrowed down to one lane in each direction, and New Brunswick's secondary roads will be gridlocked. Rutgers is also complaining that the buses won't be able to run effectively, and as a result, New Brunswick and Rutgers are looking into bus lanes within the city to keep the buses moving and encourage public transportation. And the best part of all this construction: the traffic light at Paulus Boulevard and Route 18 will NOT be eliminated, only the one at Commercial Avenue will, so where is the benefit? That one light is still going to keep Route 18 at a standstill during rush hours.
Now, with all that in mind, the Route 18 project would have been the perfect time to build the New Brunswick Light Rail. The extension of Route 18 to Route 287 in Piscataway could have encompassed the light rail to Rutgers' Busch and Livingston Campuses while the New Brunswick Route 18 Widening Project could have encompassed the light rail to Cook and Douglass. But, unfortunately, the state doesn't work like that. Twenty years from now, they'll be planning ways to fit the light rail around the Route 18 that is being built today....
Check out the site below for info and maps regarding the two Route 18 Projects.
http://route18update.rutgers.edu
Now, with all that in mind, the Route 18 project would have been the perfect time to build the New Brunswick Light Rail. The extension of Route 18 to Route 287 in Piscataway could have encompassed the light rail to Rutgers' Busch and Livingston Campuses while the New Brunswick Route 18 Widening Project could have encompassed the light rail to Cook and Douglass. But, unfortunately, the state doesn't work like that. Twenty years from now, they'll be planning ways to fit the light rail around the Route 18 that is being built today....
Check out the site below for info and maps regarding the two Route 18 Projects.
http://route18update.rutgers.edu
Where do you think the Light Rail should go? What routes? Should it intersect the NEC station at New Brunswick?
Being a Cook Student at Rutgers, I would love a light rail system from New Brunswick Station through Civic Square and to Cook/Douglass. It would be great. Waiting for a EE on a weekend at New Brunswick can be a rather lengthy process. Plus, if it crossed the Raritan to Bush/Livingston, that would be great too.
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IMO, it would be best if the buses remained in service, except then there was also an LRT put in place, this way, there could be a good way to travel between the campuses, but also have a feeder system, etc. so people don't have to walk long distances to dedicated LRT stationsTAMR213, IMO, keeping buses to serve as feeder routes would be unecessary and expensive. From my experiences at RU past and presentt, any LRT through campus could be configured so that your walk to a station would be no longer than, say Vorhees residence hall to the nearest bus stop on Cook campus. I would only keep bus service like the Brunsquik Shutte (for off-campus folks).
I agree that using the reconstruction of rt.18 to incorporate a LRT line into NB/RU would make sense monetarily and efficiently, I had also heard that they would have to build a bridge specifically for this LRT. AND they would want this line to serve the maximum amount of people (not just ru students) so they wanted it to go through and have stops in downtown NB and not skirt the CBD via rt.18
Korber,
Do you think maybe then, it would be cost effective to keep some partial areas of routes as a feeder system? Since some areas are pretty far away, yet house lots of Rutgers Students and faculty/staff. For example, The Cedar Lane Area (my apartment complex mainly), and the area around the Clevland Ave. Stop in HP, they, and Highland Park in General, house a large concentration of these people (includeing for example, My father, but he bikes to work, 2 miles there, 2 miles back), yet if there was no more bus, they would be quite far from any sort of LRT system, as this area is seperated from the rest of Rutgers by the Ecological Preserve, and the Facilities Maintanance buildings.
Do you think maybe then, it would be cost effective to keep some partial areas of routes as a feeder system? Since some areas are pretty far away, yet house lots of Rutgers Students and faculty/staff. For example, The Cedar Lane Area (my apartment complex mainly), and the area around the Clevland Ave. Stop in HP, they, and Highland Park in General, house a large concentration of these people (includeing for example, My father, but he bikes to work, 2 miles there, 2 miles back), yet if there was no more bus, they would be quite far from any sort of LRT system, as this area is seperated from the rest of Rutgers by the Ecological Preserve, and the Facilities Maintanance buildings.
TAMR213,
If ru/nb/njdot ever get to the planning stages of designing/developing a route for this LRT a lot of tough choices will have to be made. People living on cedar ave. may lose service to the ru campuses and have to fend for themselves. Or they may actually get a station near them. It all depends on the route that the system takes. One must keep in mind that the system must be made to serve the most patrons and also be efficient. Probable patrons living off raritan ave. in HP already can use bus 810 to get to NB and transfer to ru's system. If you run a feeder bus for patrons on cedar ave. will enough people use it to make it cost effective? I don't have the answer to that.
If ru/nb/njdot ever get to the planning stages of designing/developing a route for this LRT a lot of tough choices will have to be made. People living on cedar ave. may lose service to the ru campuses and have to fend for themselves. Or they may actually get a station near them. It all depends on the route that the system takes. One must keep in mind that the system must be made to serve the most patrons and also be efficient. Probable patrons living off raritan ave. in HP already can use bus 810 to get to NB and transfer to ru's system. If you run a feeder bus for patrons on cedar ave. will enough people use it to make it cost effective? I don't have the answer to that.
Tamr213, replace cedar LANE where ever you see cedar ave. in the previous post.
....also the route i've designed would take actually allow patrons living on cedar lane to use the LRT.
My LRT would start at the student CENTER (hate it when colleges refer to theirs as a student UNION! what is THAT?). make a left onto hamilton st. go past j&j, over rt18 (parallel to the nec stone trestle) land in johnson park and up cedar lane with a station somewhere in between river road and livingston campus. The bridge allowing the lrt to cross the raritan would also have a 2 lane wide bike path for access to the park connecting with bike paths already in johnson park. through livingston it would head to busch. from busch down to river road following river road making a right onto the new lrt bridge over the river onto hamilton street making a right onto george past the river dorms left onto richardson st. left onto college ave to land in front of the student center.... I can see myself riding it now :D
....also the route i've designed would take actually allow patrons living on cedar lane to use the LRT.
My LRT would start at the student CENTER (hate it when colleges refer to theirs as a student UNION! what is THAT?). make a left onto hamilton st. go past j&j, over rt18 (parallel to the nec stone trestle) land in johnson park and up cedar lane with a station somewhere in between river road and livingston campus. The bridge allowing the lrt to cross the raritan would also have a 2 lane wide bike path for access to the park connecting with bike paths already in johnson park. through livingston it would head to busch. from busch down to river road following river road making a right onto the new lrt bridge over the river onto hamilton street making a right onto george past the river dorms left onto richardson st. left onto college ave to land in front of the student center.... I can see myself riding it now :D
ALL
doesnt anybosy realize that if they knock down the bridge over the RRRR on rt 1 by where the new bridge is the traffic cuased will be horrendous.. for get about when they did the over passes. also that track is LIVE... it is used to serve silverline windows behinde devry... trains that go back there are usually short but some times they can be 20-30 cars long.. the trearing up of that line will cause them to leave half the train in EB by the run around and double the train.. more RR traffic by me yes but the traffic on ryders lane.. oh forget about it
a wise man said once" IF IT AINT BROKED DONT GO ON UP AND TRY TO FIX THE DURN THING.. ITLL ONLY MAKE IT WORSER"
doesnt anybosy realize that if they knock down the bridge over the RRRR on rt 1 by where the new bridge is the traffic cuased will be horrendous.. for get about when they did the over passes. also that track is LIVE... it is used to serve silverline windows behinde devry... trains that go back there are usually short but some times they can be 20-30 cars long.. the trearing up of that line will cause them to leave half the train in EB by the run around and double the train.. more RR traffic by me yes but the traffic on ryders lane.. oh forget about it
a wise man said once" IF IT AINT BROKED DONT GO ON UP AND TRY TO FIX THE DURN THING.. ITLL ONLY MAKE IT WORSER"
John,
In December Conrail applied to abandon the trackage from the overpass into New Brunswick. This would allow the NJDOT to remove the bridge if they wanted to. However, I see this as pointless, as there are many other intersections along Route 1 that are in need of repair or elimination, and the funds for this bridge removal could go towards building an overpass somewhere else.
As far as the New Brunswick LRT, it will not effectively replace the Rutgers Bus Service unless there is a direct connection between Livingston and Douglass Campuses. The way the plans are now, all three proposed routes call for the LRT to enter New Brunswick through Cook/Douglass, go through downtown New Brunswick, then go through College Avenue, over to Busch, and finally to Livingston. As I see it, the only way an LRT system will work is if the line creates a loop and enters back into Douglass after serving Livingston. Sure, two bridges over the Raritan would be need to be built, but I don't see the system functioning if they aren't. A student traveling from Livingston to Cook/Douglass or vice versa should not have to take the full campus tour to get to class. And if the line doesn't loop, then I still see the G and GG buses staying in operation.
In December Conrail applied to abandon the trackage from the overpass into New Brunswick. This would allow the NJDOT to remove the bridge if they wanted to. However, I see this as pointless, as there are many other intersections along Route 1 that are in need of repair or elimination, and the funds for this bridge removal could go towards building an overpass somewhere else.
As far as the New Brunswick LRT, it will not effectively replace the Rutgers Bus Service unless there is a direct connection between Livingston and Douglass Campuses. The way the plans are now, all three proposed routes call for the LRT to enter New Brunswick through Cook/Douglass, go through downtown New Brunswick, then go through College Avenue, over to Busch, and finally to Livingston. As I see it, the only way an LRT system will work is if the line creates a loop and enters back into Douglass after serving Livingston. Sure, two bridges over the Raritan would be need to be built, but I don't see the system functioning if they aren't. A student traveling from Livingston to Cook/Douglass or vice versa should not have to take the full campus tour to get to class. And if the line doesn't loop, then I still see the G and GG buses staying in operation.