It looks like Hillsborough will be coming in second - again. Recently Money magazine named Hillsborough the second best place to live in New Jersey. Now, if everything goes as planned, Hillsborough should be the second New Jersey town to have 24-hour "quiet zones" at its railroad crossings.
Westfield, in Union County, has been working since 2006 to silence train horns, and, according to a recent news article, is well on its way to being the first New Jersey town to secure 24-hour quiet zones. Montclair, in Essex County, has partial night-time quiet zones at its rail crossings.
I have mixed feelings about quiet zones. As I have stated in a previous blog entry, I feel that this initiative is only a partial solution. and that the ultimate answer would be to eliminate grade crossings completely, where possible.
In fact, that is the approach being considered by Montgomery Township for the CSX grade crossing at Route 601 in Skillman. Officials are reviewing plans to either rebuild Route 601 as an overpass - which is cheaper but not as aesthetically pleasing - or to make the road an underpass at the crossing - which looks better, but is a lot more expensive.
In any case, if the proposition is for central New Jersey to become a quieter, more peaceful place to live and work, well, I'll second that!
Those improvements can't come soon enough. The trains were blowing their horns every 10 minutes this morning for some reason.
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