Rapid transit
Study looks at better ways to navigate New Brunswick
Archived article from Nov 2, 2001
By Steve Manas
Imagine driving from Hoes Lane in Piscataway to Harts Lane in East Brunswick -- about seven miles -- in 26 minutes. If you're a typical member of the Rutgers community, you're probably thinking, "Hey, sometimes I can't get from College Avenue to the Cook/Douglass campus in 26 minutes!"
But a seven-month, $150,000 feasibility study directed by the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy for the Middlesex County Department of Planning has concluded that an exclusive, fixed guideway (light rail or bus) rapid transit system can be successful and greatly enhance movement throughout the region. In fact, said Martin Robins, director of the center's Transportation Policy Institute (TPI), who oversaw the Greater New Brunswick Area Corridor Study by URBITRAN Associates, "There appears to be enough ridership, especially when school is in session, to put this system into the upper echelons of fixed guideway systems."
He noted that campus buses -- which the new system would largely replace -- carry about 42,000 passengers daily. The proposed system might carry 55,000 to 60,000 on school days.
Robins said that proposed park-and-ride lots at each terminus of the system, near Route I-287 in Piscataway and Route 18 in East Brunswick, could "capture commuter traffic before it reached downtown," thereby alleviating road congestion. The proposed routing would link Rutgers' five New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses. Riders could disembark close to the New Brunswick train station on the Amtrak/NJ Transit Northeast Corridor line, where bus service connections are also available.
"This system would draw riders from surrounding communities and strengthen the city's position as an employment, education, retail and cultural destination, as well as a transportation hub," Robins said. The veteran transportation planner and policy-maker added that with careful route planning, downtown New Brunswick's infrastructure should be able to accommodate either the light-rail or bus rapid transit option and local street traffic without major modifications. A new bridge across the Raritan River, alongside the John Lynch Bridge, is needed, however.
Robins explained that Rutgers, with its reliance on intercampus bus operations whose reliability is increasingly compromised by traffic congestion, was the "primary catalyst" for the study. "Mobility and accessibility are serious issues for the future success of the New Brunswick campus, as well as the realization of downtown New Brunswick's potential," he said.
TPI and its consultants met with representatives from New Brunswick, East Brunswick, Milltown and Piscataway, as well as with the region's major employers, to determine their mass transit requirements and preferences.
Now that the project has been deemed feasible, Robins said the next steps involve "continuing to build momentum" and identifying additional sources of funding for an in-depth analysis of capital and operating costs, mode, route alternatives and refinements, and traffic impacts, which might cost $600,000.
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