SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. — NJ Transit plans to analyze the noise, traffic and environmental impacts of a proposed commuter rail line as part of an environmental study tied to federal funding of the project, the South Brunswick Post reported.
The agency has prepared a scoping document outlining the specific issues that will be addressed by the draft Environmental Impact Statement. The agency has held three scoping hearings — including one at the Holiday Inn in Monroe last week — that sought to get input from residents along the three proposed routes that are part of the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex corridor transportation study.
The rail line will be designed to take commuters from the Jersey Shore area north into New York City.
The Environmental Impact Statement was required after the state Legislature added an unspecified central New Jersey rail line to the Circle of Mobility, making the rail project eligible for federal funding.
The routes being studied are: a 40.1-mile line between Lakehurst and Monmouth Junction that would use existing freight tracks and would require the construction of a tunnel at the line’s connection with the Northeast Corridor Line; a 27.7-mile line between Lakehurst and Red Bank that would link with the North Jersey Coast Line; and a 35.8-mile line between Lakehurst and Matawan that also would link with the North Jersey Coast Line. The North Jersey Coast Line connects with the Northeast Corridor Line in Rahway.
All three trains would run on diesel fuel and would require commuters to change trains in Newark before entering New York. The Monmouth Junction route has the support of the politicians and residents in Monmouth and Ocean counties and is opposed by politicians and residents in South Brunswick, Jamesburg, Monroe and Middlesex County.
According to the scoping document, the EIS will review traffic and parking issues in areas through which the train will travel. Local officials and residents have long expressed concerns about pedestrian safety at train crossings. The scoping document calls for studies of pedestrian and vehicular traffic at train crossings on Georges Road in South Brunswick, Augusta Street in Jamesburg and School House Road in Monroe. The document also lists widening streets, improving traffic signals and prohibiting turns as possible means of addressing potential traffic congestion and concerns about pedestrian safety in Dayton and Jamesburg.
To provide parking for riders, NJ Transit officials are considering building 11 parking facilities along the South Brunswick-Lakehurst corridor and the document calls for an assessment of the impact of the MOM line on local parking — both in terms of what would be needed for new stations and to account for lost parking spaces caused by the upgraded line.
The EIS also will require a noise and monitoring study involving “continuous 24-hour monitoring” at homes and hospitals and “other locations where people sleep” and “short-term one-hour samples” at Reichler Park in Monmouth Junction and other areas where people congregate.
It also will look at how the project will affect endangered species, wetlands, water quality and air quality.
“Preliminary investigations indicate the potential presence of a multitude of rare, threatened or endangered species in the vicinity of the project corridors,” the scoping statement says. “The impact analysis will focus on determining which of these species might truly be impacted by the proposed construction and operation of the project and what steps may be taken to minimize that impact.”
Preserving endangered species might require rerouting or redesigning the line, the report stated. The EIS also will address potential displacement of property owners.
“The inventory compiled of businesses and/or residences potentially displaced by each of the short list alternatives will be used to prepare the impact assessment,” the report stated. Work on the EIS is expected to begin in spring 2003 and be finished by spring 2004. Public hearings will be held on the draft after completion.
Residents and officials may submit written input to NJ Transit until Jan. 31, 2003. Written scoping comments may be submitted to: James Schwarzwalder, project manager, NJ Transit, One Penn Plaza East, Newark, N.J. 07105-2246. Comments also can be submitted by e-mail to MOMcomments@njtransit.com or by fax to (973) 491-7767.