Comment EI-17488
Received or sent (printed as 4/22/2009)
The STB should authorize a full Environmental Impact Study on the Harsimus Branch. It is a key segment of the East Coast Greenway, a 3000-mile trail from Maine to Florida that will go through all state capitals and many other cities on the East Coast. The Greenway is an urban equivalent of the Appalachian Trail, bringing safe short- and long-distance walking, bicycling, and other exercise opportunities to many citizens who have no access to cars or to rural recreation. If STB ignores Conrail's sale of part of this line to a developer, it will foreclose the best opportunity to bring the Greenway through Hudson County. Over 21% of the route is already on safe, traffic-free paths. The New Jersey portion of the Greenway is currently 48% on traffic-free paths and has the second highest percent of completed trail in any Greenway state. Unfortunately, the most populous cities of Jersey City and Newark have yet to be connected. Right now, because there is so much traffic on local roads, bicyclists and pedestrians trying to cross this county on an interim on-road route have to have a police escort to do so safely. So far, users are urged instead to use mass transit to cross the county. Harsimus Branch preservation will do much to spur completion of the Greenway through this most densely populated county.
Submitted by: Alison Lutz · Newark, NJ
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/AB-167/sub/1189X/comment/EI-17488 · back to the docket sheet