Intrusive? What I have found ironic is that all these NIMBY's, etc. who have grown up needing aural stimulus, like music with a beat constantly in thier ears via earphones, car stereo systems, home entertainment systems, and concerts that can be heard on the next planet and who cannot be without an ipod or a radio or a cd player cemented to their crowns, call the noise cops when a train goes by or blows its horn at a grade crossing in the next county; it is intrusive. These people's decension is from lack of proper information and the fear generated by the oil and highway lobby, and from politicians who need the control and power. Do they complain about the jets moving in and out of Morristown, Teetaboro, Newark? No, just trains blowing at a crossing or excelerating from a station. Would all electric operations stop thier Nimbyisim? No.
Over the past twenty or so years I have stood in front of my family's home in Denville unable to hear approaching trains because of the roar generated from I80 and the planes circling overhead awaiting a slot at Newark. When I left town in 1961 you could hear birds singing, fire sirens 10 miles away, but rarely a train, and none of it was a tenth as intrusive as today's I80 penetrating roar.
Grade crossings poorly designed? These towns were born around the railroad in the mid 19th Century with the grade crossings a product of the town's and later automobile's growth. If people and towns want the crossings taken care of, it is probably on the town's onus that underpasses be dug or bridges be built.
In the end there is no one answer to urban planning, especially when it comes to transportation. Planners know what has to be done over the next 10, 20, 50 and 100 years and the first thing to be done is to figure out how to address the NIMBY's so that, in this case, the State of NJ can keep up, progress, and be capable of handling any given situation in the near and distant future.
Over the past twenty or so years I have stood in front of my family's home in Denville unable to hear approaching trains because of the roar generated from I80 and the planes circling overhead awaiting a slot at Newark. When I left town in 1961 you could hear birds singing, fire sirens 10 miles away, but rarely a train, and none of it was a tenth as intrusive as today's I80 penetrating roar.
Grade crossings poorly designed? These towns were born around the railroad in the mid 19th Century with the grade crossings a product of the town's and later automobile's growth. If people and towns want the crossings taken care of, it is probably on the town's onus that underpasses be dug or bridges be built.
In the end there is no one answer to urban planning, especially when it comes to transportation. Planners know what has to be done over the next 10, 20, 50 and 100 years and the first thing to be done is to figure out how to address the NIMBY's so that, in this case, the State of NJ can keep up, progress, and be capable of handling any given situation in the near and distant future.
