Funding stymies MOM line

Commission finds no money for proposed rail line.

By: Al Wicklund
   The state transportation commissioner said this week there’s no state money available to build the proposed and much-debated Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex commuter rail line.
   DOT Commissioner Jack Lettiere said the state budget crunch and other demands for transportation money will take the MOM line out of consideration for at least the foreseeable future.
   And elected officials in South Brunswick, Jamesburg and Monroe couldn’t be happier.
   "I’m pleased to hear it," said South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese.
   For the past eight years, NJ Transit had been researching and reviewing how to get Shore area commuters to New York and alleviate traffic in central New Jersey. The state Legislature added a Central Jersey rail line to the "Circle of Mobility" in 2000, making it eligible for federal funding.
   NJ Transit then began an environmental study of the two primary lines, one using a lightly used freight line to connect Lakewood with the Northeast Corridor line in South Brunswick and the other connecting Lakewood with the North Jersey Coast line. A third option — between Lakehurst and Matawan that would link with the North Jersey Coast line — was added to the study in 2001.
   Shore area political leaders favored the South Brunswick alternative — a 40.1-mile line that would begin in Lakehurst, run through Lakewood, Freehold and Jamesburg before running through South Brunswick. In the township, the line would cross Georges Road in Dayton near the Wetherill Historic site and Culver Road near the Pulman Loop development and then come within 20 feet of the Monmouth Walk townhouse development before connecting with the Northeast Corridor line in Monmouth Junction. The line would require the construction of a tunnel at the line’s connection with the Northeast Corridor line.
   Residents and politicians in South Brunswick, Monroe and Jamesburg and the Middlesex County Freeholders opposed the South Brunswick line because it would be a disruptive force in their communities.
   They said that the transit agency should pursue one of the other two proposals because the line primarily would benefit Shore-area commuters.
   NJ Transit had been hoping to find some common ground among the various groups before making a decision.
   But funding issues make that unnecessary, Even if there were agreement on where the rail line should go, "we wouldn’t have the funds to build it," Mr. Lettiere said Wednesday.
   He said demands for state transportation money include $2.5 billion in the next five to seven years for major repairs on 15 bridges.
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   Monroe Council President Irwin Nalitt agreed that building the line now would be inappropriate, because of the current poor economic conditions in the state and country.
   "It’s idiocy to spend millions on this line," he said. "In economic times like today’s, it’s beyond belief."
   Jamesburg Mayor Tony LaMantia said the line is just a bad idea.
   "It would be a detriment to Jamesburg," he said.
   Mayor Gambatese said it didn’t make sense to spend large sums on the MOM line.
   "Particularly, not now. There are other alternatives," he said.
   Mayor Gambatese said the money would be better spent to widen Route 1 in South Brunswick and eliminate the bottleneck that’s created by three lines of traffic becoming two.
   "Widening Route 1 would put people to work and provides an answer that makes the best financial sense in dealing with transportation problems," he said.