In April the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission voted to allow the construction of a 4,280-space parking garage and a 1,094-space surface lot near NJ Transit’s Secaucus Junction rail station, a deeply misguided decision that will worsen traffic in the area, preclude expansion of the freight rail network, and contradict the spirit of the “transit village” being built near the station (see also “Transit Village or Swamp Thing?”, MTR # 431).

Because it is a transfer station, Secaucus does not have any parking. However, concerns that this lack of parking is hurting station usage are misguided, as TSTC staffer Zoe Baldwin wrote in the Bergen Record last month. Instead of creating incentives for commuters to drive along the NJ Turnpike and board trains in Secaucus, state agencies should be improving access to local stations (by improving bike and pedestrian connections, funding jitney service, or if necessary adding parking).

The larger 4,280-space garage also comes at the cost of increased freight rail capacity, a state goal. Norfolk Southern Railway has proposed using the garage site for an intermodal transfer station where freight train cars could unload their cargo onto trucks. Without the intermodal station, the railway will have to unload some of its cargo in Pennsylvania to be trucked through NJ. According to a 2002 Federal Highway Administration analysis, truck traffic in Bergen County will increase by 70 percent between 1998 and 2020, making it important to find alternatives where possible. Rail is also a more efficient and sustainable way to move freight – one gallon of diesel can move one ton of freight 436 miles.

The smaller surface lot was authorized by an amendment to the Commission’s “Transit Village Redevelopment Plan,” which centers around a 2,000-unit residential project being built near the station (Secaucus is not a designated Transit Village under NJDOT and NJ Transit’s Transit Village Initiative). Such an amendment is contrary to the spirit of a “transit village” where residents can easily walk or bike to transit — especially because the residential development already includes garage parking. Back in 2003, a Meadowlands Commission spokesperson told MTR that the Commission could use its “zoning authority — over parking for example — to channel use of the site towards car alternatives” (see MTR # 432). Funny how that turned out.