From Friday's Asbury Park Press:
$1.5M asked from U.S. for MOM studyhttp://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 8802220328
FREEHOLD — Monmouth County officials have applied to the federal government for $1.5 million in funding for the final environmental impact study for the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex commuter rail line.
The request went to U.S. Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez for funds; the impact statement is needed before the rail project can advance to preliminary engineering and design.
NJ Transit is conducting a draft environmental impact study on the three proposed routes for the MOM line that would start at Lakehurst in Ocean County.
The Monmouth Junction route, backed by freeholders in Monmouth and Ocean counties and opposed by Middlesex County, would run on an existing freight rail line through western Monmouth County and three southern Middlesex towns before joining the joint NJ Transit-Amtrak Northeast Corridor line at South Brunswick.
The other two routes would join the North Jersey Coast Line at Matawan, via a former rail line that is now the Henry Hudson Trail, or at Red Bank, using the Southern Branch freight line.
Monmouth County freeholders reiterated their support for the Monmouth Junction route in a resolution last week. Ocean County freeholders also sent a letter to the governor supporting the Monmouth Junction route.
Gov. Corzine indicated he didn't back the Monmouth Junction route after speaking at a forum in Middlesex County earlier this month to promote his plan to increase tolls and borrow against the revenue to pay down the state's debt and fund transportation projects.
"Completion of this study is necessary before one of three rail options is chosen," Lillian G. Burry, Monmouth County freeholder director, said in a prepared statement. She reiterated that the Monmouth Junction route "will provide the best relief for our congested roadways."
The routes have to be studied.
Corzine administration officials would make their preference for a route known when state and Federal Transit Administration officials meet about the study fundings and federal funding.