Parking at Secaucus

[michaelk]

exactly-

like every place in the state with access to the park and ride has viable mass transit?

Or that there is service 24/7 to wherever one happens to need?

Sure in a perfect world we'd all love transit service to be so good that we dont use our cars but the reality is it's NOT the case in many many many situations.

[michaelk]

Ryanov, why would they have specifically constructed an exit off of the NJ Turnpike if the original intention was to be only a transfer station. Seems like an awful big waste of money to me...

I do believe that was the original plan. It allows all the hoboken services a way to transfer to the rest of the system (and therefor midtown Manhattan while cutting significant time off their trips. Add up all those minutes and it's probably not such a crazy amount.

the station was open for over a year without the exit existing. I think the parking lot may have opened even later?

Probably the developer of the housing in the other side of hte turnpike is politically connected and got it built. (Only half laughing)

But really- look at the size of the lot- it's tiny. So clearly even though it's packed not all that many people use the stop- even considering it's right at the exit. Look at metropark and how big it is for what a station right next to a major tollroad exit could look like. ~10 years after the station opened and it still just has that tiny lot. People aren't breaking down the gates to park there.

[ryanov]

The exit was not built with the parking lot in mind -- there was to be no parking lot, and yes, it was solely a transfer station. I don't remember the reason it was built -- probably the never-materialized office park.

And I'll criticize whomever I like, thank you. Many (most?) people seem to move places with complete disregard for whether or not they can commute via mass transit or whether mass transit even serves the area and then bristle when criticized for their commute choices or, worse, expect sympathy (like "oh, can you BELIEVE the traffic I have to put up with"). I also hear that I'm "lucky" to live in a place where I can use mass transit but that the reality is that it isn't everywhere in NJ. Really, lucky? -- as if I just woke up in my current city one morning.

Really the only solution is for gas to go high enough where people actually have to think before they do things, and I'm rooting for it.

[R36 Combine Coach]

The exit was not built with the parking lot in mind -- there was to be no parking lot, and yes, it was solely a transfer station. I don't remember the reason it was built -- probably the never-materialized office park.

For a few years, the 15X interchange was a white elephant with low traffic. After all, the only traffic was more or less trucks to/from the industrial parks and the UPS terminal (which is served by the 78/124 bus). Secaucus already has the 16E/17 interchange (and is a stone throw from 16W).

Construction on the 15X interchange project began in early 2003, when the Transfer Station was well underway and nearing completion. There is a documentary film, "Snake Hill", about the construction and the relocation of bodies from the Hudson County Public Cemetery directly under the Turnpike.

[JCGUY]

Some people have the quaint idea that trains are there to serve humanity, others take the progressive, collectivist view that humanity is there to serve the trains.

[ryanov]

And some take the point of view that if we don't quit screwing around, there's not going to be a humanity for as long as there could be.

[EuroStar]

More parking at Secaucus might be coming within the next few years to a decade: http://www.northjersey.com/news/proposa ... -1.1543281.

The two lots, proposed by two developers for opposite sides of the station, would add 4,100 parking spaces to the immediate area, bringing the total to nearly five times the number that exist today.

4100 spots is a mindboggling number. Can the local roads and the highway support such amount of additional traffic during peak hour?

[millerm277]

The local roads and the highway ramps certainly can. There's very little local traffic and 15X is a monster of a highway exit. (And the Meadowlands Parkway from Rt 3 doesn't have much traffic...although Rt 3 gridlock certainly is an issue from that direction).

Can the Turnpike itself support it? That depends on where you see it pulling demand from. If you think it's going to make more people at outlying stops drive into SEC, it may make traffic worse. If you think it's pulling people who would otherwise drive into Manhattan or drive into Jersey City to catch PATH/ferries from there, then it's probably a positive for traffic. I'm inclined to lean towards thinking it's customers are largely in the latter category.

[CentralValleyRail]

The parking lot at SEC is already at capacity and they have to turn people away. This is a no brainier and as mentioned the roadways were designed with A LOT more traffic in mind. The problem is going to be the Enviormental Study as mentioned in the article.

[Jeff Smith]

Some people have the quaint idea that trains are there to serve humanity, others take the progressive, collectivist view that humanity is there to serve the trains.

WINNER.