News
Two River Mayors Riled Over MOM Line
By John Burton
TWO RIVER AREA mayors are expressing concern about a proposal favored by NJ Transit to construct an additional rail line linking Middlesex, Ocean and Monmouth counties to the northern rail corridor with connecting service in Red Bank.
Some area mayors have vowed to fight the proposal, which is one of three possible options for extending rail service in central New Jersey now under consideration.
NJ Transit recently announced that a NJ Transit study group has identified the Red Bank route as the preferred option.
Under that proposal, rail traffic would travel from the Manchester/Lakehurst area of Ocean County, with a spur from Freehold Township and to Farmingdale Borough, and then travel to Red Bank where it would connect to travel to northern New Jersey and New York City.
The study group consisted of NJ Transit officials, members of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority and representatives from the counties, said Joseph Dee, a transit spokesman. "We discussed with them in terms of taking a fresh look at the project with an ear toward finding a more cost-effective measure to advance the project."
Dee said transit officials have come to the conclusion that none of the three proposals that had been under consideration would compete effectively for federal funding, causing transit officials to weigh cost options as well as how well the proposal addresses the transportation need.
Dee also insisted the MOM study, "is still very much underway; it's not completed," and no final determination has been made.
But once word came out about the Red Bank proposal possibly taking a front burner position, local officials were quick to react. Members of the 12th Legislative District, which includes Red Bank, all voiced their opposition to the Red Bank plan, citing the impact to the area communities, as some estimates have put it, as many as an additional 30-44 trains would make their way through the area daily.
So far, the most vocal has been Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna who has insisted the added rail traffic would be "devastating" for his community.
At the May 26 borough council meeting, Menna threw down the gauntlet, saying emphatically, "It's not going to happen in Red Bank."
The purpose of creating a MOM line is to provide commuter rail service in Ocean County and the western part of Monmouth where access to public transportation is unavailable. Critics of the Red Bank proposal have argued that this option doesn't help commuters in Western Monmouth.
"This plan to bring more trains into Red Bank simply causes redundancy," state Senator Jennifer Beck (R-12), a Red Bank resident, said in early June. "We have rail service here, and I have always been under the impression that the MOM line was supposed to provide rail service to places that don't have it."
"It's the wrong solution in the wrong place," Menna said this week of the proposal. "This was a politically orchestrated solution to avoid (having the line) going through Middlesex County, where it is really needed.
"So, it's throwing good money on a plan that is fatally flawed because it is not going to be used by the people that it is intended to serve," Menna added.
The other options included creating a spur at the Monmouth Junction section of New Brunswick, which would go farther north, to Matawan, where it would connect with the northern corridor.
The plan would impact Red Bank traffic as the trains make their way through the already congested borough, Menna said. It would also have a detrimental effect on the borough's west side, which would, "further alienate and install artificial barriers," on that portion of the community.
The borough will seek special legal counsel to challenge this proposal since Red Bank Borough Attorney Kenneth Pringle serves on the NJ Transit Board of Directors and would be ethically prohibited from representing the borough in the matter, Menna said.
According to Menna the mayors of Aberdeen, Matawan, Middletown, and the 13 communities that participate in the Two River Council of Mayors share his opposition to the proposal.
"I'm still in the process of gathering more specific facts," Middletown Mayor Pamela Brightbill said this week. "But I am certainly in agreement with Mayor Menna."
"There are many other options," she said, adding that she suspected the increased rail service would have ramifications for Middletown's road traffic, too. "And, from what I can see, it doesn't really solve the problem."
Their sentiments were shared by Little Silver Mayor Suzanne Castleman, who on Wednesday said, "I'm not very happy with it, to be honest with you."
"I don't think it's a positive thing for the east side [of the county]," she said. "I know they [NJ Transit] have a problem elsewhere," she said. But, she continued, "We have to take care of our area and not make it worse."
Should the proposal move forward, said Shrewsbury Mayor Terel Cooperhouse, Shrewsbury's Sycamore Avenue corridor, which is bisected by the train tracks, "in my opinion, at certain times of the day, it would be just one parking lot."
Cooperhouse has been in touch with county freeholders, state and federal legislators to voice his objections. His community also is willing to work with Red Bank and its special counsel to fight it. "Someone has to use logic," Cooperhouse s
aid. "Someone just has to."
"We know there are many stakeholders, including individual communities, such as Red Bank who will need to be comfortable with what alternative is advanced," said NJ Transit spokesman Dee.
"We will continue to work with all parties."
