Even though it has been back in use for more than a week, Little Silver residents might be forgiven if they haven’t realized the borough’s train station is back in operation.
You read that right. The Little Silver train station is open after what seems like an eternity of sitting as a vacant and under-construction shell.
How the construction managed to get completed when no one ever seemed to be working there is almost as much a mystery as to why the building remained closed so long in the first place.
The reality of the situation is that the borough got a much bigger problem than it bargained for when it took control of the building.
What was originally viewed as a rather straightforward renovation was immeasurably complicated by a serious environmental hazard caused by a leaking oil tank.
To further complicate the project, the building’s status as a historic structure required the town to comply with a myriad of rules and regulations that made the project more difficult and more costly.
Add to those factors the delays that come with having to deal with several bureaucracies and the hold-ups associated with any kind of significant renovation project, and it’s almost understandable why the project took so long.
Almost.
All of that is in the past, though.
Tomorrow the borough will officially celebrate the station’s reopening with a ceremony at 2 p.m. Commuters will be celebrating its reopening long after that.