Long Branch Gets State Money For Train Station Pedestrian Tunnel

LONG BRANCH, NJ — This January, Long Branch was given $530,000 from the state to continue building its planned "Transit Village" around the train station.

Much new development is coming to the area in between West Avenue and Westwood Avenue by the Long Branch train station. First, there are several apartment buildings currently under construction there.

Secondly, Long Branch Mayor John Pallone said last year he plans to build a pedestrian walkway tunnel under the railroad platform to the west to tie the two sections of the Long Branch train station together (they are currently separated by train tracks).

He would also like to build a much larger indoor waiting room at the train station.

“The Long Branch railroad station has been resurfaced and repainted with improved lighting. A tunnel is planned to tie the two sections of the train station together that are currently separated by train tracks," said Pallone. "The buses that stop on Third Ave will be brought into the train station parking lot with a new bus platform and waiting area for passengers during inclement weather.”

This is all part of Mayor Pallone's vision to turn the Long Branch train station into a much bigger mass transit complex, one that will bring buses, trolleys, taxis, Uber/Lyft and electric car charging stations to the train station.

Also last year, Pallone announced the city will be moving the municipal court and the Dept. of Health into buildings on the Monmouth Medical Center campus, which sits right next to the train station.

That move should happen within the next two years, said the city.

Pallone hopes to get money to expand the Long Branch transit village from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last November. The state of New Jersey alone will get $1 billion from that act.

Prior: Long Branch Unveils Big Plans To Expand Train Station (April 2021)

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