(The following story by Lalita Aloor Amuthan appeared on the Asbury Park Press website on February 14.)
ASBURY PARK, N.J. — The Middlesex route is still on the table as a viable option for the controversial MOM rail line, despite Gov. Corzine’s statement Sunday that he does not support a Middlesex County alignment for the rail service.
NJ Transit confirmed that the Middlesex County route will continue to be analyzed as one of the three in the draft environmental impact study (DEIS) because that’s required as part of the process to qualify for federal funding.
“The study, which commenced in fall of 2006, includes an analysis of three routes for rail service and that will continue as planned,” said Lynn Bowersox, spokesperson for NJ Transit.
Lilo Stainton, spokeswoman for Corzine, said that what the governor expressed on Sunday was his personal preference and that he believes that all planning should be transparent.
Stainton said that budgets for projects such as this are created by a group of people sending in plans and it is a collaborative effort. She added that while the governor’s opinion will be counted, it won’t be the only factor in making the decision.
When asked why the governor supported the MOM line in Monmouth County and an MO line in Middlesex County, she said at this point, everything is “evolving.”
The governor late last month committed an additional $250 million to finalize the DEIS work conducted by NJ Transit to determine the best route and to begin preliminary engineering.
The original funding for the study was $16 million.
The state had been considering three routes for the high-speed commuter line, known as the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line. The Middlesex route would have headed north to Freehold and west through Monroe, Jamesburg and South Brunswick, where it would connect with the Northeast Corridor line.
Middlesex County officials were opposed to bearing the cost of a railroad that would benefit mostly residents in Monmouth and Ocean counties. They also expressed concerns about people in Middlesex County who would have to live along the rail route and about property acquisition that would be necessary for the project.
The DEIS study lays out the benefits and disadvantages of all three routes.