NJ Transit Issues Plea to Help Ease Meadwolands Mega-Mall Traffic

(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Transit issued an urgent appeal for private industry to help transport millions of people annually to a newly opened mega-mall just west of Manhattan.

“It can’t take 10 years,” Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, New Jersey’s transportation commissioner and NJ Transit board chairwoman, told a meeting Thursday of potential private partners in East Rutherford. “Frankly it can’t take five.”

American Dream, a 2.9 million-square-foot mall and entertainment complex about eight miles (13 kilometers) west of Manhattan, partially opened on Oct. 25. NJ Transit rail was to serve the mall and its neighbors, a harness racetrack and a sports stadium whose two teams, the Jets and Giants, make it the National Football League’s busiest venue.

But the cash-strapped railroad never built a crucial Meadowlands track loop, and says it can’t operate regular service there without upending the New York City commute. The region’s highways are among the nation’s most traffic-choked and promise to worsen, as American Dream is forecasting 40 million visitors annually.

“We are looking for firms that we can potentially partner with on the design, build, operating, maintenance and finance of the solution,” NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said in an email on Nov. 6.

State officials have said they would consider electric rail, similar to the $5 billion line under construction at Los Angeles International Airport, a magnetic-levitation train and bus rapid transit.

“We are not beholden to one process,” Gutierrez-Scaccetti told the audience this morning. “You are the experts. You’ve done this in other places.”

The agency didn’t allow media into the meeting and it live-streamed only the opening remarks. More than 140 people attended, representing 54 entities including manufacturers, planning companies, transportation providers, public transportation agencies and universities, NJ Transit said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Michael B. Marois

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