NJ Transit board votes for Montclair Connection
After nearly two decades of discussion, debate, and controversy, the NJ Transit board voted unanimously November 30 in favor of the Montclair Connection, a short track connection that will allow NJ Transit Boonton Line commuter trains to reroute through Newark, and thence directly to Penn Station in Manhattan. The quarter mile track project will also consolidate three stations into a new Bay Street station. The cost of the project, slated to be completed by late 1997, is estimated at $30 to $45 million. The cost includes extending electrified service west on the Boonton line to Little Falls, which will reduce the number of diesel trains running through Montclair by half and allow many more trains to reach Manhattan directly. In addition, the NJ Transit board plans to work with Montclair officials and private developers to redevelop a 3-acre tract around the station. Transportation Commission Frank Wilson said the redevelopment could more than replace lost tax ratables, as well as provide a model for transit-friendly development elsewhere. Thanks to input from the community, Wilson said the new plan contained definite improvements and major benefits that we didn't have when we started. Star Ledger
