Welcome to NJ. A state of congestion!
In case you haven't noticed, we live in the most densely populated state and district 6 has some of the highest density areas in the highest density state and despite all of us being so close to one another, and so many businesses existing in the district, every single one of us owns a car, or two, and drives our car to work, to school, to church, to the mall, etc every day. Despite being so close to "everything", we HAVE to drive everywhere. The "problems" are obvious if you just look around.

Poor pedestrian pathways
Have you ever tried to walk across Rt 36 in Hazlet from the Airport Plaza park and ride to the Academy bus terminal on the other side of the highway? It's not easy, and every year, we lose another good citizen (or more) to a traffic accident involving a pedestrian trying to cross the highway. (UPDATE: May 22 - About a month after I noted this problem, I saw this article in the APP about a pedestrian struck at this cross. Sad. Hopefully this individual recovers soon.) Have you ever noted that Monmouth County - a large part of our district) has what is considered the best "open space"/park program in the country, but you need to drive to get there? Sure you could ride a bike, or walk, but most of our county roads and state highways don't have shoulders at all, never mind safe shoulders for walking or biking. As I've mentioned, I live all of 4 miles from where I work but I can't walk or ride a bike to work because it is simply too dangerous. Shoulders simply "end" and turn into turning lanes for fast moving traffic, traffic lights allow cars to turn right on red, which is good cause it saves gas while idling and bad because it doesn't give a pedestrian a chance to cross. We have delayed greens; "smart" lights that don't pickup pedestrians; and not a sidewalk to be found along a state highway. While it's simply too unsafe to walk, bike or run to work or to the park, we complain about gas prices rather than complain about our own safety should we chose to travel through a more natural means, like walking.

Better rail/bus service
I live one block off of Rt 36 in Long Branch. I work on Industrial Way in Eatontown where I see THOUSANDS of cars parked in parking lots along the road meaning THOUSANDS of people also work right here, but there is not a single public, mass transit, bus that passes by on the highway a block from my house and makes it's way to a busy industrial park. Imagine how much less gas could be used if me and the hundreds of other people who live within walking distance of a highway could hop on a bus, go 4 miles and get dropped off at work. And again, I'm not working in some office building on a backroad somewhere, I'm working in a huge industrial complex where thousands of other people work. The parkway and Rt 18 are nearby - but there are no busses that run up and down the parkway with shuttles that run from nearby office complexes to parkway exits. Again, imagine if I worked in Edison in MetroPark, I COULD hop on the train in Long Branch, go all of the way up to Rahway, transfer to the NE Corridor line, come back down to Metropark, and walk a mile or two from the train station to an office nearby, OR, I could just drive from my front door to my office parking lot - much easier to drive, so I, like everyone else, bypass the train and cause traffic. Again, why isn't there a public bus that runs along Rt 35 and/or R36 to the nearest Parkway entrance, where another bus is waiting to take passengers north and another south, and those busses only stop at the exists, where other busses can take passengers down the next local highway. Again, Industrial Way in Eatontown isn't far from Long Branch train station, and isn't far from Rt 18 or the Parkway - but you can't move between any of those locations without driving a car. Again, if you work in MetroPark, and live in Sayreville, right on the other side of the bridge, you can't get to work without driving. Why isn't there a bus that just runs up the parkway and stops at the rest areas and the exists, including MetroPark, and you'd be able to save time and money trying to get over the bridge. It might also make sense for the federal government to allow a tax credit for tax payers who pay to use public transportation. With the tax credit extended to tax payers, it might also be fair and beneficial to offer some tax credit to insurance companies who are willing to deduct a significant amount of money from an individuals car insurnance premium for using public transportation; a double win as a tax payer and a consumer, afterall, if you're not driving your car as much, you shouldn't be as likely to be involved in an accident and so you should be less of a liability to the insurance company. It would be easy to know if a tax payer really used public transportation - a simple "stamp" on a train ticket or bus ticket proves that the ticket was purchased and the holder was on the train or bus. Turn that ticket stub in like a receipt with your taxes and consider the incentive.

The MOM Line
I wrote briefly about the MOM line and the need for it, and the need for the need for the government to stop wasting money talking about it, and actually building it. What is really needed is far more than the MOM line. Again, the state owns the parkway and turnpike - why isn't there a train that runs beside, above or below this property? Link those trains with the bus service mentioned above and we have quite the transportation system. Ever have to get from Rutger's Cook College in New Brunswick across town to Rutger's Bush College? Sure you can take the campus bus and 40 minute late to class you get there - but why can't we built a light rail, or an elevated monorail, or something to get cars and busses off of the street? To solve the "traffic" problem, we instead add another bus - but the traffic doesn't go away - there is just another bus on the road causing traffic.

"Hey Mr. Constitution. The Constitution doesn't 'allow' you to spend money on busses!"
Or does it? The Constitution provides that the Federal Government has the exclusive authority to manage commerce between the states. In my opinion, in the year 2008 when business is global thanks to the concept of the telephone and internet, promoting public transportation for workers to get to work, thus manages commerce. If workers can get to work "cheaper" and thus have more money to spend on goods, not to mention there is a better "quality of life" if you're not stuck sitting in traffic for hours at time, then Congress will have done it's job to promote commerce. Obviously, it would be up to the local municipalities to determine how and where new train tracks or bus service should be integrated into the current system, but it must be done. It is also my opinion that the initial cost of building such a system should come from the local tax payers, individuals and business included, but the cost could come in the form of a tax credit, or simply by not paying federal income tax in the first place - ie, instead of 100,000 workers paying $10,000 in federal income taxes that get distributed nationwide this year, those lucky 100,000 workers have instead paid for their own local transportation system. And if $1,000,000,000 is not enough money to have built a HUGE, working and practical system, in a year, everyone involved in the project, from politicians (self included) to the individual who will surely "protest" the development, to the lawyer and judge who put up with the protesters frivolous claims, should be nominated for a public hanging, and while that may seem harsh, if *we* could WASTE $1,000,000,000 on lawyers and politicians and not have a working system in place in a year's time, we all deserve such punishment. I for one don't want another single tax dollar of mine wasted defending public development that benefits the masses.

We need to be innovative and be willing to use technology to make our lives better. We need better, coordinated, public transportation in NJ. We all live and work so close to one another and yet we can't move about without driving a car. As a congressman, I would hope to be able to secure enough of our own tax money to promote such transportation development in our district. I would work to ensure that our money isn't wasted in legal litigation, political bickering or a corrupt bidding process and that if any of our tax money is spent on these projects, our money will go into something that shows results, not "studies" and lawsuits. I'm 27 years old and for the rest of my life, hopefully at least another 40-50-60 years or so, I'll have to live here, and having such a wonderful transportation system would only benefit me, and others like me, who have to live and work here in New Jersey - and such a system would certainly be "cheaper" to use than paying $4/gallone for gas to sit idle in traffic for hours to go a few short miles.

Frank Pallone would NEVER endorse undertaking such a large scale transportation project. Frank would point to all of the environmental "damage" that train tracks cause, the "noise" from busses, etc but he would fail to mention that such a solution could cut foreign oil dependence, and use, drastically which has a much more significant, long term positive effect on the environment. Frank has never fought to give we the people anything, and we certainly can't rely on Frank to initiate transportation development that will spur the use of public transportation and promote the growth of business in our district.