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Monmouth and Ocean rail proponents want their 'MOM'
9/28/2004, 3:23 p.m. ET
By STEVE STRUNSKY
The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A coalition of elected officials, business and community leaders and rail advocates has called for a new rail line between Lakehurst and South Brunswick, saying it would help relieve growth-related traffic congestion in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Specifically, the "Say Yes to MOM Coalition" supports a 40-mile spur that is one of three possible routes identified by NJ Transit for the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex, or MOM, line. The project would cost an estimated $300 million to $500 million.
The coalition says the Lakehurst-South Brunswick route, known as the Monmouth Junction route, would best serve increasing numbers of commuters in Monmouth and Ocean, which together accounted for 20 percent of the state's population growth from 1990-2000.
"We're just overwhelmed with the number of automobiles, trucks and buses that are using our highways," said Ted Narozanick, a Monmouth County freeholder.
Coalition members say the two other possible routes — Lakehurst to Matawan or Lakehurst to Red Bank — roughly parallel NJ Transit's existing New Jersey Coast Line, well east of the Monmouth Junction route, and therefore would not best serve the two counties' developing areas.
Coalition revives rail proposal for service in 3 Shore counties
Monmouth, Ocean onboard, but Middlesex opposes 'MOM' plan
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
A coalition of elected officials, business and community leaders and rail advocates has called for a new rail line between Lakehurst and South Brunswick, saying it would help relieve growth-related traffic congestion in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Specifically, the "Say Yes to MOM Coalition" supports a 40-mile spur that is one of three possible routes identified by NJ Transit for the proposed Monmouth-Ocean- Middlesex, or MOM, line. The project would cost an estimated $300 million to $500 million.
The coalition says the Lakehurst-South Brunswick route, known as the Monmouth Junction route, would best serve increasing numbers of commuters in Monmouth and Ocean, which together accounted for 20 percent of the state's population growth from 1990-2000.
"We're just overwhelmed with the number of automobiles, trucks and buses that are using our highways," said Ted Narozanick, a Monmouth County freeholder.
Coalition members say the two other possible routes -- Lakehurst to Matawan or Lakehurst to Red Bank -- roughly parallel NJ Transit's existing North Jersey Coast Line, well east of the Monmouth Junction route, and therefore would not best serve the two counties' developing areas.
"The other two lines kind of hug along the Coast Line and wouldn't address the growth issue," said Pat Torpey, a Say Yes spokesman.
Officials rally for rail planshttp://www.app.com/app/story/
LAKEWOOD -- Howie Fishman stood in the municipal building half-listening as a parade of politicians and power brokers told each other why a rail line through inland Ocean and Monmouth counties makes sense.
Fishman, a builder who lives in Lakewood, wasn't invited to the press soiree yesterday, but he offered one of the simplest explanations in favor of the plan.
"Commute to Manhattan, commute to anywhere," said Fishman, 32. "It's atrocious."
That sentiment will go from Fishman's lips to NJ Transit's ears if the officials who crowded into a conference room yesterday get their way. The gathering was organized by The Strategy Group, a Trenton firm hired last year by Monmouth and Ocean counties to build support for a rail line through Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties. The line has been nicknamed MOM.
The gathering was a reaction, its organizers said, to whispers that a $4.5 million environmental impact study of the project will not include a recommendation on which is the best of three proposed routes.
Each of the lines would start in Lakehurst. One would join the North Jersey Coast Line to New York at Red Bank and another would join the line in Matawan.
But the route favored by the Central Jersey Rail Coalition and yesterday's "Say Yes to MOM Coalition" would run from Lakehurst through western Monmouth County to South Brunswick in southern Middlesex County. That line would allow for transfers to the Northeast Corridor line, which stops in New Brunswick, Metropark (Iselin section of Woodbridge), Newark and New York City. The other two options would not include New Brunswick or Metropark.
Sen. Andrew R. Ciesla, R-Ocean, said if the Systra report does not recommend a course of action, he will.Oh my gosh, a politician that makes some sense. $4.5 million and the damn thing won't recommend which one should be built? Talk about a cop out.
"Then it's my recommendation as the senior, ranking member of the (Senate) Transportation Committee, to call for an investigation," Ciesla said. "It is outrageous to spend that amount of money (without a recommendation)."
Supporters of rail line want study to tap routehttp://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2004/
LAKEWOOD — Supporters of a passenger rail line that would travel through northern Ocean and western Monmouth counties and then connect to the Northeast Corridor in Middlesex County joined together last week to restate their view that the time has come to build it.
Those who are behind the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM) rail line believe it will provide a host of needed transportation benefits for residents living in some of the fastest growing areas of the state.
Estimates have placed the cost of the project at around $500 million.
On Sept. 28, the Say Yes to MOM Coalition came out to urge NJ Transit to move MOM forward and to do it now.
NJ Transit is nearing completion of a $4.5 million Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS), which in order for MOM to qualify for federal funding requires the selection of a clear and decisive rail alignment.
Speaker after speaker representing business, community, labor, rail advocacy groups, environmental representatives and elected officials called upon NJ Transit to conclude its DEIS with a preferred alternative alignment — the MOM line to the South Brunswick, Middlesex County.
“The MOM rail line is a smart growth, pro-environment and business-friendly project that will improve the quality of life of residents throughout the project area for years to come,” said Ocean County Freeholder Director James F. Lacey. “Millions of dollars of taxpayer funds, both state and federal, have been spent studying this project. The time for action is now. Without the preferred alternative, federal funding for this project will be in jeopardy.”
NJ Transit proposed two different alternatives to the proposed MOM rail line that would both originate in Lakehurst. The first alternative would connect with the Jersey Coast Line in Red Bank; the second would connect with the Jersey Coast Line in Matawan. Ocean and Monmouth counties support the Lakehurst-to-South Brunswick MOM alternative. Advocates believe the MOM route will provide greater congestion relief for overcrowded roads like Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway, while providing public transportation alternatives to the fast growing areas of western Monmouth and southern Middlesex counties.
“We need relief from traffic congestion,” said Monmouth County Freeholder Deputy Director Theodore Narozanick. “We can’t build any major new roads and we’ve pretty much maxed out on bus service. There is really only one solution that holds the promise of reducing traffic and improving the quality of life — the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex passenger rail line.”
“Unless this is done now, there will be further delays and very little to show for all this effort,” said 10th District state Sen. Andrew Ciesla.
Advocates of the line say that in addition to reducing traffic congestion and improving the environment by getting
cars off the road, the rail line will improve the local economy by attracting new jobs and economic development; and make more of the region’s employers, medical centers, educational facilities and cultural attractions accessible to all citizens, and in particular, seniors.
Rail advocates tired of delayshttp://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,1171547,00.html
Published in the Asbury Park Press 1/11/05
By BILL BOWMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
Leaders of a citizen's group working to restore inland rail service in Monmouth and Ocean counties stepped up their public campaign Monday to force state officials to get the decades-old project moving.
If some progress isn't made soon, the group's leaders told the Asbury Park Press editorial board Monday, escalating costs and loss of rights of way to new housing developments could scuttle the project.
"Let's get it going," said William F. Braden, the coalition's chairman. "It's time."
Compounding the problem is the fact that a draft environmental impact study on the three proposed railroad routes was supposed to have been completed by 2003 but is still not done. The expectation is that it will not be completed until later this year, members of the group said.
That's too long, the group's leaders said, considering that the proposal to reinstate rail service in Monmouth and Ocean counties has been kicking around since the 1970s.
"Should the job be done? Of course it should," said Bernard Gindoff of the Central Jersey Rail Coalition. "Anyone who drives the parkway knows that."
Dan Stessel, a spokesman for NJ Transit, which is overseeing the project, said the agency is "moving as expeditiously as possible."
At issue is the long-standing proposal to create the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex commuter line, also known as MOM. Three separate routes are being considered, each of which begins in Lakehurst and goes through Lakewood. The most popular proposal among Monmouth and Ocean officials would have the line join the Northeast Corridor tracks in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick in Middlesex County, for service north to New York and south to Philadelphia. A second proposed route would meet the North Jersey Coast Line in Red Bank and a third would connect with that line in Matawan.
Proponents say the rail line would open new markets in the region, would provide Shore area commuters with more options to get to work and would be a positive factor in the fight to keep Shore area military bases active.
The main sticking point to moving the project along is a draft environmental impact study now being prepared by Bloomfield-based Systra Consulting, which was hired by NJ Transit several years ago. The report has so far cost about $3.2 million of the $4.6 million contract, Stessel said.
Stessel said changes in the study's scope and a requirement by the Federal Transit Administration that a historical analysis of the lines be included in any reports submitted for consideration have delayed its completion. "When the project was conceived," Stessel said, "we were planning on offering two alternatives. Now there are three. With that third alternative, you have that many more station sites to consider. Only after the station sites have been considered can you move on to the environmental, historic and ridership analyses."
He said the third alternative -- the Matawan route -- was added after the Systra contract was signed.
The process of looking at the station sites, Stessel said, "is just about done."
Still, said Gindoff of the Central Jersey Rail Coalition, "this is getting frustrating. It seems like we're playing a stalling game."
Shore area politicians say they, too, want to see the project moved along.
State Assemblyman Michael Panter, D-Monmouth, said it is "unfortunate that a new line hasn't been completed already."
Panter said he favors the Monmouth Junction line and would not favor a new line into Red Bank.
"A new line going through Red Bank, Shrewsbury and Tinton Falls would have strong opposition and would be a poor use of taxpayer funds," he said. "We have an existing commuter line already serving those communities while western Monmouth continues to be under-served."
State Sen. Andrew R. Ciesla, R-Ocean, a longtime proponent of the rail line, said he, too, is frustrated with the pace of the project.
"I can't for the life of me understand what is taking so long to produce that recommendation," he said. "We can't road build our way out of the congestion we have in Monmouth and Ocean counties."
Braden said his group also believes the Monmouth Junction route is the best alternative, despite opposition to that route from Middlesex County offi-cials.
But, he added, "to really serve the region, we need both."
But, he added, "to really serve the region, we need both."It's incredible the amount of support that MOM has down here in the Monmouth and Ocean county areas...and the Asbury Park Press is now running at least once a week an article or editoral about the line in one way or another.
