North Brunswick Station

GandyDancer wrote:Well, the emphasis on New Brunswick's transit and transport problems is not exactly sudden, at least from my POV.

Back in the late '60's, an Urban Planning class I attended at Rutgers did a study of New Brunswick's transit needs and came up with a design that essentially created a transit village (shops and mid-rise apartments/condos) centered around the NB train station.

Vehicular traffic on George St. was to be cut off at Remsen and routed to Neilson St. to clear a path for LRT and to create access to a series of parking garages along Neilson. George St. from Remsen to Somerset was to be a combined pedestrian mall and street-running LRT ROW.

The LRT was to descend into a 500' cut and cover at Albany St. until past the NEC overpass to allow the LRT coming from Douglass/Cook to continue west up George without interfering with vehicular flow and then parallel Rt. 18 to a new river crossing to Piscataway about where the Lynch bridge is now.

We had planned Jersey Ave. to become what MetroPark is today, with capacity for about 6,000 daily boardings. The LRT route was to use part of the Sayreville Running Track (RRRR) with a large Park and Ride at the Turnpike and another at US1 in what was then the middle of the J&J campus. Once beneath US1, the LRT would then jog north around the Squibb property and come down parallel to College Farm Rd. through Cook and Douglass campuses to join George St. behind the Douglass Student Center. Escalators would carry riders from the LRT stop beneath the NEC up to the platforms.

The plan was presented by our faculty to Sen. Harrison Williams (of MetroPark fame) who gave it a thumbs-up and it might have gone somewhere if Sen. Williams hadn't gone somewhere also for having his hand out. Allenwood federal pen, I believe.

The continuing density increases and the additional vehicular traffic they will bring (DEVCO estimates another 7,000 daily trips) will not be solved by adding one lane to Rt. 18 as currently planned. So, even belatedly, now is a good time to start worrying about New Brunswick -- again.

Wow, that would be something. Of course, they don't do anything until it is absolutely necessary. And the 18 extension project as well as the expansion project will indeed help things (belatedly.) But while the project is underway, it is only going to compound the problems and make it much worse. Some estimates for the expansion project next year says that it will take sometimes up to an hour to go between campuses (when you can walk it in half the time.)

nick11a wrote:Some estimates for the expansion project next year says that it will take sometimes up to an hour to go between campuses (when you can walk it in half the time.)

And that is just plain scary.

Middlesex County
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Transit stop possible in North Brunswick
N.J. funds study of ex-J&J 212-acre campus
Home News Tribune Online 08/8/06
By GENE RACZ
STAFF WRITER
[email protected]
NORTH BRUNSWICK — The state Department of Transportation and NJ Transit have authorized funds to study the feasibility of a new transit stop at the former Johnson & Johnson campus, according to Mayor Francis Womack,.



The 212-acre site located along Route 1 was acquired earlier this year by North Brunswick TOD Associates, LLC — an affiliate of Garden Homes and Garden Commercial Properties.

While plans for the 1.2 million square feet of warehouse, office and laboratory buildings will focus on re-leasing the property to tenants in the short-term, the long-term possibilities for redevelopment of the 212-acre site are staggering.

Some of the ideas currently on the table:


A new train station stop in North Brunswick on NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor line.

A mixed-used Transit Village with space for office, retail and residents.

New hotel(s) and restaurants.

A youth center, a new Township library, an amphitheather or a police substation.
Expanded parking facilities would accompany the plans.

Garden Homes and Garden Properties, based in Kendall Park, is managed by the Wilf family. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. According to J&J spokesman, Marc Monseau, J&J is still leasing space at the site. J&J, headquartered in New Brunswick, maintains approximately 11,500 employees statewide.

Womack cited several reasons why the site would be appropriate for a transit village.

He noted:


The site runs on a parallel line with the Route 1 corridor.

A new train stop would be close to the existing Renaissance homes which has 1,900 units. The stop could be accessed from Route 130.

The potential stop would be located midway between the Princeton Junction and New Brunswick commuter rail stations. This 14-mile spread between the two stations is the longest span on NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor line without a station stop.
While Womack is excited by the redevelopment potential, he said he remains cautious in making sure planning decisions will be appropriate for township residents — particularly in terms of density and congestion concerns.

He said he welcome input into the planning process which is well under way.

"The township is fully in support of investigation into the use of the property and facility," said Womack. "J&J had retained the offices, but the manufacturing unit was down for a couple of years. But we hope that re-leasing the property will be the use in the short run.

"The possibility of an appropriate transit village would be an opportunity for North Brunswick to cooperate with the state's office of New Jersey Smart Growth, the Department of Transportation and the developer to take control of our destiny and our place in the region.

"With a transit village, the devil is in the details, and we still must complete a town-wide discussion with significant resident involvement about what kind of density and buildings are appropriate at the village.

"Ultimately, the community involvement in this process will be the deciding factor."

According to Womack, North Brunswick has already held "a series of three to four meetings" sponsored by the new property owners to get public comment by residents. He said they were attended by "a couple hundred people."

"Whether it's a transit vilage or an office warehouse, we feel that the purchaser is very capable," said Mayor Womack. "In terms of the traffic that might be generated and the population density that might be appropriate, a township-wide decision is something that, over the next couple of years, will have a large amount of community meetings and involvement.

"We're going to continue a series of these township meetings."

Garden Commercial has set up a Web site — www.ourtowncenter.info — with information on the property.

Since when is this the former J&J site? Last time I was by there, there were cars sitting on the sidings going into the buildings. I assume the author means that the land has been sold, but will continue to operate at the location (I can't see them vacating that space)?

Though a station between Princeton Junction and Jersey Ave. is greatly needed, I feel that a station at a location such as Monmouth Junction would be better suited then at the J&J property. Doing a quick look on Google Earth, the J&J site is approximitly 3 miles from Jersey ave, and 9 miles from Princeton Junction, where as at Monmouth Junction the distances are 5 miles and 7 miles respectivly. Really though, a station anywhere in there would be welcomes.

J&J has left that site. They took down or covered up all references to their name months ago. This includes the big sign seen from the NEC.

We at NJ-ARP are more than happy to sit back and watch a political "battle of the Brunswicks," as North Brunswick and South Brunswick feint, parry, wallow in self-doubt and pity, and spar with each other over a future rail station for one or the other -- but likely not both.

Should either seek NJ-ARP's advice or counsel on the matter, we will of course offer same in good faith.

J&J closed this plant and one in Sherman, TX not too long ago. I think along with the J&J closing in NB, NB also lost a Cosmair plant too.

I just don't get it. All these local mfg. jobs leave, municipal taxes skyrocket, property values skyrocket, and people keep coming by the droves to live/work here. Something is odd, IMO.

Interesting, I had no idea they left. How many jobs were lost and when did this happen? I heard nothing about it. Any idea how this will affect operations out of Metuchen Yard?

TAMR213 wrote:Interesting, I had no idea they left. How many jobs were lost and when did this happen? I heard nothing about it. Any idea how this will affect operations out of Metuchen Yard?

ME-2 keeps plenty busy still with industries around there- but that is more suited for the "New Jersey Railfan" forum.

TAMR213 wrote:Interesting, I had no idea they left. How many jobs were lost and when did this happen? I heard nothing about it. Any idea how this will affect operations out of Metuchen Yard?

J&J made the annoucement of the closure a few years ago. Made news then. I heard the shut down was a done gradually over the past couple of years and didn't make much press at the final closure. I noticed the closure when driving by and the signs were either removed or covered over.

Is this the one with the blue windows, the ones they had to buy a whole bunch of and store because it'd be too hard to match the color if any broke?

Not the blue glass building on the west side of Rt 1. We are talking about the factory that is south of Adams Lane between Rt. 1 and the NEC across from the Regal movie theatre.

A few days ago, I was riding Amtrak through NJ and I passed an ad sitting on a big plot of land that said "Imagine a train station here" and it also gave the link to the site www.ourtowncenter.info. I decided to take a visit to the site today and found something quite interesting. It seems that this would be a station plus an urban housing type development. I didn't know if anybody saw this or knew about this so I thought it would be a good idea to share it with everyone. If there is another thread about this anywhere please link me.

Yes, there is a proposal to build a "town center" type train station
on the old J&J property. FWIK, this new station would replace Jersey Ave
station. Incidentally, there was a station right at Adams Rd. and there are remnants still visible today.

MOM is a great example of what the 'Brunswicks think of any expansion of rail service.

However, anything that puts smart growth on people's minds, whether it is achieved or not, is good. Because sprawl is no longer a sustainable method of building things in this state.