Following article is from the Daily Record web site.
Lackawanna Cutoff chugs closer to federal funding
June 14, 2009
The plan to restart rail service on the Lackawanna Cutoff - which runs from Port Morris in Roxbury to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River - has entered the final stage of it environmental review.
If the Federal Transit Authority adopts a revised environmental assessment for the proposed rail line, the project would be eligible for further funding.
Advocates for rebuilding the historic cutoff, which operated from 1911 to 1979 and is a necessary link to restore passenger service between Scranton, Pa. to Hoboken, a 133-mile trip, would help reduce the daily traffic clogging Route 80.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, a long-time supporter, said, "This development is welcome news to all of us who want to get cars off our clogged highways and will assist our efforts to secure funding for the entire Lackawanna Cutoff."
The Federal Transit Authority next week will publish a revised environmental assessment, which after a 30-day public comment period, could result in the issuance of a finding of no significant impact, or FONSI, which would give the project environmental approval.
The assessment generally concluded that there would be limited environmental damage from the construction of the rail line because the work would be done on an existing rail right-of-way or on state-owned land that once supported rail activities.
"This is the end of the environmental review,'' said Joe Dee, spokesman for NJ Transit, the lead agency for the $551 million restoration project.
The FTA already issued a FONSI for the 7.3-mile section of the cutoff between Port Murray, near Landing in Roxbury, to Andover. NJ Transit last year announced a $36 million project to rebuild tracks along that stretch.
Gerald Rohsler, Morris County's transportation director, said, the FTA announcement means "this is essentially done. This is a good thing."
The release of the FONSI will trigger a three-year period in which action on the project must occur, or the environmental approval will be withdrawn, Rohsler said.
What hampered progress on the cutoff for years was the lack of rail capacity in the eastern end of the line into New York, Rohsler said. That was resolved last week with the start of a project to build an $8 billion transit tunnel from New Jersey to New York City. It will be the third transit tunnel into Manhattan.
Norman Ressler of Lake Hopatcong, president of the Penn-Jersey Rail Coalition, a longtime advocate of the cutoff, said the release of the environmental assessment will finally move the project along.
The project calls for eight passenger stations.
The project has been panned by some environmentalists.
At a 2007 public hearing Rich Anoh of Blairstown asked, "What is the possible logic in this, making it easy, in fact subsidizing a person's choice to travel from Scranton to Hoboken on a daily basis? How is traveling 260 miles a day environmentally responsible?"
The environmental assessment estimates the new train service will carry 40,640 two-way passengers annually in 2012, increasing to 66,040 by 2030. It would serve part of eastern Pennsylvania where population has been increasing, as well as parts of Sussex and Morris counties.