Middlesex freeholder raps funding for MOM study

Middlesex County Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel has criticized a vote by the New Jersey Transit board to increase the amount spent on consulting fees for a proposed rail line that would travel from Ocean County to South Brunswick, Middlesex County.

Crabiel made his comments in response to a March 15 vote by the New Jersey Transit board to increase by $2.3 million, plus 5 percent contingency, the authorization for the Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) with SYSTRA consulting.

"According to New Jersey Transit, this brings the total federal authorization for the MOM DEIS project alone to $9.2 million. To date, a total of $10.43 million has been spent for the project consultant work, consisting of both federal and state funds, for the various technical studies that have taken place since 1994. There is $10 million being spent on consultants and none of that funding is for construction for anything," said Crabiel, speaking at a May 14 meeting of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority board, of which he is a voting member.

Crabiel said Middlesex County and the three Middlesex municipalities impacted by the proposed Monmouth Junction alternative of the MOM line - Jamesburg, Monroe Township and South Brunswick - have and continue to strongly oppose the passenger rail plan.

Crabiel said two other alignments - one that travels to Matawan and one that travels to Red Bank - are more favorable.

He said Middlesex County and its municipalities believe the Matawan alignment would provide immediate relief to the present traffic congestion along the Route 9 corridor. The Red Bank alignment will provide relief to the Garden State Parkway and best serve Naval Weapons Station Earle and the soon-to-be converted Fort Monmouth property to private development, according to the freeholder.

Crabiel said the draft DEIS started by SYSTRA Consulting in 2001 favored the Matawan alignment for the central New Jersey passenger rail line and found the Monmouth Junction route to be the most expensive of the three possibilities.

"The Monmouth Junction alignment would also adversely impact Monmouth Battlefield State Park" in Manalapan and Freehold Township, he said. "I say once again that the MOM facility will never be constructed in Middlesex County."