Metropark station is an intermodal transportation hub in the Iselin section of Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Owned and operated by NJ Transit, the station services trains on the agency's Northeast Corridor Line along with several Amtrak services, including the Acela, Crescent, Keystone Service, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, and Vermonter. Several other Amtrak trains bypass the station. NJ Transit also operates five bus routes that loop from Metropark.
The station is near the interchange of Route 27 and Garden State Parkway near exits 131 and 132. and has a multi-story parking facility that is open at all times.
The station, built by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and the United States Department of Transportation, opened on November 14, 1971, as Garden State Metropark. It was built as a suburban park-and-ride stop for the then-new high-speed rail Metroliners.
History
Metropark was one of two park-and-ride infill stations proposed in the 1960s for use by the new Metroliners, the other being Capital Beltway in Lanham, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. The two stations were originally named Capital Beltway Metropark and Garden State Metropark; these were shortened to Capital Beltway and Metropark. Both were conceived as public-private partnerships. Under a plan put forward in late 1968 by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) the state would contribute $648,000 toward the cost of the station, then estimated at $1.4 million.
Amtrak service to Metropark began on November 14, 1971. The station's cost had increased to $2.6 million, shared by NJDOT and the United States Department of Transportation. It had two high-level platforms and had 820 parking spaces. It was next to the Garden State Parkway to allow easy access by automobile; a large business park – "the first Edge City in the world to grow from a parking lot" – soon grew near the station. Commuter trains continued to use Iselin station, half a mile east.
Renaming controversy In early April 1979, Governor Brendan T. Byrne announced in Newark that he would rename the station in honor of United States Senator Harrison A. Williams Jr., a long-time mass transit advocate for the state. The rename, which would rebrand the stop as the Harrison A. Williams Metropark Station, was an idea of the Governor and supported by officials at the New Jersey Department of Transportation. A spokesperson at the Department of Transportation station stated that they would officially endorse his project on April 10 and plan a ceremony for the renaming. Williams was surprised by Byrne's announcement and was proud of the fact he had helped get some of the funding for the project. Ceremonies were held for the renaming on July 30, with Byrne doing the official dedication himself and praising Senator Williams. Williams spoke at the ceremony, attended by his wife, along with Department of Transportation Commissioner Louis Gambacchini. New signage was also revealed, signifying the new name.
On February 3, 1980, Harrison Williams was arrested in a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) scandal known as Abscam. As part of Abscam, Williams helped get himself 17% of stock in a mine in Piney River, Virginia with a bogus company known as Abdul Enterprises in return for securing contracts from the United States Department of Defense for titanium. The mine, formerly owned by American Cyanamid, had been abandoned since 1971 and Henry Williams III, a former publisher from Paterson, New Jersey, purchased it in 1976. Williams III was on the verge of selling the mine to foreign investors at a cost of $100 million. However, the foreign investors were instead of agents of the FBI, disguised as Arabic sheiks, pretending to be Abdul Enterprises. FBI and United States Department of Justice officials noted that they also had Williams on videotape helping Ritz Associates save $3 million on a new casino in Atlantic City through corrupt measures.
State Senator S. Thomas Gagliano joked with the press on an Amtrak train to Washington D.C. that the newly named Harrison A. Williams Jr. Metropark station should be renamed Abdul Enterprises Station in honor of Williams' arrest and added that it would be considered unwise to name train stations after living people for this reason.
Williams was convicted on May 1, 1981 after 28 hours of deliberation of bribery, conspiracy, conflict of interest, interstate travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise and receiving an unlawful gratuity; he was the final member of the United States Congress to be convicted for his involvement in Abscam. He would resign from Congress on March 11, 1982.
With his conviction and resignation, questions came about his name on Metropark station. NJ Transit stated on March 11 that they had no existing plans to remove Williams' name from the station title. David Crabiel, a Middlesex County freeholder, stated NJ Transit would possibly have to form a committee to decide what to do with the name change. NJ Transit confirmed on March 16 that they had no standing plans to remove Williams' name and it had never come up in any board discussions.
In January 1984, Woodbridge Township Mayor Philip Cerria requested that Williams' name be removed from the station. With all of Williams' appeals exhausted, Cerria felt that leaving the former senator's name on the station would cause a black cloud over the township. Cerria added that the Township Council would vote on a resolution on January 17 to request the removal. Cerria also reached out to new Governor Thomas Kean to have it removed. NJ Transit added that they would still be the ones to make that decision, but that by the time of the resolution, no plans were expected to change the station name. NJ Transit's spokesperson, Richard Mariani, added that despite the conviction, they viewed Williams favorably for his work on mass transit funding. The six members of the Republican Party voted in favor of the removal of his name while the three Democratic Party members opposed the resolution.
While Senator Williams would be released from custody on January 31, 1986, the name would not be removed until the early 1990s.
Traffic and parking improvements (1986–1997)
As part of improvements for traffic in the area, a new ramp was built on the northbound Garden State Parkway at exit 131A in 1986. Constructed for $4.4 million, 75% of which were from federal funds and 25% from New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund, the new interchange would allow drivers to avoid traffic at Metropark station but access businesses around the station. Metropark station by 1986 had become the home of a hotel and at least ten major office complexes. Local opposition had been fierce due to belief of even more development coming into the Metropark area, but that occurred anyway without the interchange. Department of Transportation Commissioner Hazel Gluck, Crabiel, and other officials from multiple levels of government opened the new northbound ramp on November 19, 1986. Crabiel told the press that with growing levels of commuter use at the station (3,200 daily), that more improvements in the area would be necessary, including a possible parking deck.
Crabiel and Middlesex County officials met with NJ Transit on September 17, 1987 to discuss the improvement of parking at Metropark station. Middlesex County had maintained the parking lot since March 1980, and noted that the fees at the station covered maintenance and repairs of the lot. Crabiel added that the parking lot at Metropark was in need of resurfacing and that it might be time to consider construction of a parking deck to help move parking. At the time, Metropark station had 1,385 parking permits and access to only 1,216 permit spaces. The rest of the parking at Metropark included a 384 daily parking space lot with fees. There was also a waiting list of 2,500 names of people who wanted parking permits for Metropark, most of which were from Woodbridge Township and Edison Township. Repaving would add only 80 space by eliminating the islands that separated parking spaces.
Middlesex County Planning Director George Ververides added that without a new parking deck, the waiting list would have to be given a different place to park, suggesting a lot proposed for exit 10 of the New Jersey Turnpike, where they would be bussed to Metropark. Crabiel, aware that NJ Transit did not have funds to build such a deck, offered to raise fees to help cover costs of a new structure. He also offered a "free enterprise" proposal where a private developer would build a new office building and a parking deck for use by both private and public entities. Ververides added that improvements were needed in the general area around Metropark, including work at multiple intersections and four railroad overpasses on the Northeast Corridor. NJ Transit officials added that they were aware of the issues at Metropark and would have a study released by November 1987 about what to do with the parking lots.
The study resulted in NJ Transit going ahead with plans to construct a parking deck. Due to lack of funds, they announced in December 1987 that they would be looking for a private developer to help with the construction. They added that a request for proposals would be released in early 1988 and that a new parking deck would open about 1,200 new spaces at Metropark station. Gluck added that this would help with the overcrowding and provide more office space in a rapidly developing area of Middlesex County. NJ Transit added that they would build the parking garage over the existin gparking lot but the new office building would separate (though nearby). Crabiel, happy with the decision to go with a private developer, added that because Metropark's station lot was built with federal funds, the government had to approve the measures before they could talk to private developers, a process that took 18 months.
Two different companies offered proposals to Edison Township in early 1988. J.M. Huber Corp offered in February 1988 a new office building of wth 85 new parking spaces and a four-story parking deck. The proposal would include an access road between the new building and a building previous built by Huber in the complex. A month later, M. Alfieri Co., a local investing firm, proposed a pair of 24-story office towers, a three-story parking deck and a six-story hotel that would reach into Woodbridge Township. The hotel would have 198 rooms and the parking deck would have 3,000 parking spaces. This was a scaled down version of a 1986 proposal that would have brought 6,000 parking spaces to the area between a 5,000 car garage and a 1,000 car parking lot. The United States Army Corps of Engineers rejected the original design due to the of wetlands that would need to be filled for such a project. The new version would only take of wetlands and the developer expected the government would approve it. The Edison Township Planning Board approved the reduced scale project on March 16, 1988.