09 August 2007

...A More Ambitious Plan

Yesterday I wrote about the plan for railroad quiet zones at the four Norfolk Southern grade crossings in Hillsborough. Establishing quiet zones, although a good first step, alleviates only one of the problems inherent in grade crossings.

To solve all of the problems, the grade crossings need to be eliminated. And we can do it.

Hillsborough has a long history of working to eliminate dangerous grade crossings - but we haven't done much lately. Hagstrom's 1945 map of Hillsborough shows numerous grade crossings on each of the three railroads, many of which have since been done away with - either by "grade separation", literally making the road go over or under the railroad so that they are on separates grades, or by closing the road altogether. And in the case of that third railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the complete abandonment of the entire line.

For instance, the grade crossing near Flagtown where the woman was killed in 1922 has since been eliminated by the overpass on South Branch Road. Route 206 used to cross the Lehigh Valley line at grade, near the present day Docherty Park, - and people were killed at that intersection also, until 206 was rebuilt to pass under the tracks. Mill Lane and Hodge Road were each dis-connected at their grade crossings, and are no longer through roads.

None of these projects was completed overnight. The railroads have been around for 150 years, and will still be here in another 150 years. And Hillsborough, unlike other towns where the railroad passes right through their downtown, has a unique opportunity to completely eliminate ALL of its grade crossings.

Not this decade, or the next, but certainly within 40 years or so - or about the same time as the Town Center is completed!

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