Redesign In Works For Secaucus Boondoggle?

The Secaucus Transfer, a white elephant if there ever was one, is getting a renovation to resolve problems in traffic flow. This project, which John Cicowski notes costs $600 million (though I've seen estimates that push the cost closer to $1 billion - and it was originally supposed to cost $80 million), has never lived up to its expectations, and now we're going to have to spend even more money to fix problems with the station.

While this glass-roofed pachyderm might no longer be virgin white, it still seems slow, deaf and batty sometimes. It's cold and drafty in winter. Sun glare through the glass can blind you in summer. Noise makes it hard to hear announcements. And the 30 feet from the fare gates to the escalator leading to Tracks 2 and 3 are so short that the prospect of someone falling there at rush hour is too horrible to imagine.

"Yes, we have a plan for consolidating the three turnstiles in that part of the building," said NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel. "But it's not firm yet. Nothing has been decided."

Stessel didn't estimate cost. He described the job only as a "redesign proposal to better control commuter flow" — not as a safety measure.

Sure, no sense calling attention to an unanticipated design flaw, I guess. But no matter what it's called, the redesign would mark the first major renovation there since the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station was opened in 2003. Construction will likely disrupt commuter flow for weeks, perhaps starting in spring.

As currently conceived, the project would extend the Track 2 and 3 turnstiles at the mouth of the corridor about 70 feet into the rotunda where they would be anchored by several huge marble pillars now in place. Two additional turnstile locations for other tracks would be moved from within the corridor and consolidated at this location, creating a string of about 15 turnstiles.

"After you've been around for a few years, and more and more people are using your service," said Stessel, "changes are sometimes required."

No dollar amount was provided.

Nice.

It's good that NJ Transit is getting around to fixing deficiencies with the station, but you would think that after spending hundreds of millions on the project that they wouldn't have noticed that the station was poorly laid out from the outset. It made no sense to force commuters to go through multiple turnstiles to switch between the stations platforms in such a confusing manner. It again points out how confused and misguided planners were in pushing this project.

One problem that isn't being addressed is the fact that the diesel trains that operate on the Bergen/Main/Pascack Lines have to stop in locations that aren't convenient at present because the station wasn't designed with exhaust systems in place to divert the diesel exhaust from entering the station. That's not a problem with longer trains, where the engines stop under the NJ Turnpike overpass, but it does present a problem for shorter trains.