(The following story by Maryann Spoto appeared on the Newark Star-Ledger website on January 24.)
NEWARK, N.J. — A majority of residents living near a proposed rail line through Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties want the service in order to reduce their commute time and ease congested roadways, a new poll shows.
Monmouth and Ocean county freeholders released the results yesterday with the goal of convincing Middlesex County officials the so-called MOM Passenger Rail Line is the way to get people to and from central New Jersey.
Middlesex leaders have cited safety concerns, increased train traffic and plummeting property values as some of the reasons they object to the proposal.
Commissioned by Monmouth and Ocean counties and conducted by New York City-based McLaughlin & Associates, the poll surveyed 150 residents of Ocean County, 150 from Monmouth and 200 from Middlesex about their feelings toward the Monmouth Junction Alignment of the rail project.
The proposed line would begin in Lakehurst in Ocean County and terminate in South Brunswick in Middlesex County, where riders could then hook up with NJ Transit’s Northeast Corridor Line to continue to points farther north.
“This particular line is the void that exists in the NJ Transit system,” said Monmouth County Freeholder Director Lillian Burry. “It just makes good sense … in every way.”
Middlesex officials don’t see it that way.
Freeholder Director David Crabiel said Monmouth officials are pushing this plan because they don’t want any more lines terminating in their communities.
“We don’t get that much benefit in Middlesex County,” Crabiel said. “They’re doing it politically. They think it benefits Ocean County and Monmouth County by coming into Middlesex County.”
A rail line serving the western section of central New Jersey had been discussed as long ago as the 1970s, but it wasn’t until 1996 that Ocean and Monmouth counties could persuade NJ Transit to study the issue.
To help alleviate the region’s growing pains, NJ Transit added bus service to Manhattan, but even that wasn’t enough to meet commuters’ demands. NJ Transit estimates more than 33,000 people would use the Monmouth Junction Alignment — the equivalent of the entire daily ridership on the North Jersey Coast Line.
The telephone survey, conducted Dec. 12 and 13, showed 78 percent of respondents in Middlesex County favor the rail line, while 81 percent in Ocean and 79 percent in Monmouth also want the line.
Besides the Monmouth Junction Alignment, two other options emerged from the study. Both originate in Lakehurst, but one would end in Red Bank and the other would terminate farther north in Matawan. Either option would join the North Jersey Coast Line.
The survey did not question residents about either of those options.
Crabiel said he’s not convinced by the poll’s results and questioned the methodology. He reiterated the county’s objections, including safety concerns about increased train traffic at certain crossings. Those towns most affected — South Brunswick, Jamesburg and Monroe — are still opposed to the proposal, as is the freeholder board, he said.
Though all three proposals would use existing rail lines, Crabiel said Monmouth County virtually assured anything but the Monmouth Junction Alignment would fail because it permitted homes to be built in areas where key easements would be needed for the Matawan or Red Bank options.
“They precluded that and they thought they’d dump it in Middlesex,” he said.
The freeholders in Monmouth and Ocean counties are expected to send the results to Middlesex County freeholders along with a “strongly worded” letter urging the county to back the project.
Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly said the proposed rail line would go a long way toward improving the county’s transportation problems that NJ Transit and the state Department of Transportation have long ignored.
“The results of this poll are extraordinary but they’re not surprising — not a bit,” he said. “The state of New Jersey has a failed transportation system not only in Ocean County and Monmouth County but in all of South Jersey. They don’t have a commitment to our area and it’s time to change that commitment.”