Trucks also top the agenda near Princeton, where completion of the missing link of I-287 (NJ and NY portions were linked without an impact study) has tripled truck use of Routes 31 and 206. Unfortunately, history may repeat itself as a fresher crop of elected officials and civic leaders failed to heed the lesson of their forbears that new truck routes only beget more trucks. They now want DOT to construct the missing link of I-95, from Ewing to I-287 in Bound Brook. That portion of highway was shelved after encountering heavy opposition in the 1960s and 70s, but area leaders say that was before I-287 completion brought a wave of trucks through the area. Studies at the time showed that it would have been an environmental disaster and attract even more traffic to Rts. 31 and 206. Alternatives to lessening truck traffic discussed at the Truck Crisis Forum in Princeton last June, including more weigh stations and lower speed limits along local roads to discourage their use by trucks, incentives for using the Turnpike and shipping more freight by rail were not mentioned by the group. The I-95 missing link parallels one of Conrail's most active freight routes, where there is capacity and right of way to reactivate a second line. Land acquisition alone for the I-95 missing link was pegged to cost over $700 million according to a 1987 DOT study, since thousands of parcels have been developed for residential and office use since the link was de-designated. We predict truckers won't even consider using the Turnpike if the I-95 missing link is built, as all truck traffic would be diverted to that free route. NJ DOT cut its rail freight budget by two-thirds this year. Trenton Times