there's new life ahead for an unused rail line in one of the densest parts of the state The Nine Mile Stretch of land will be transformed into a public Trail cutting through towns that have little green space and the state wants your input on what to include Ted Goldberg reports parts of the old Boonton train line show unmistakable signs of nearly a decade of disuse other areas like the old Benson Street Station have been refurbished and repurposed the state of New Jersey hopes the other eight and a half miles of former train tracks can be reborn as a Greenway and they've invested more than 60 million dollars to make that happen I feel like it's a good thing so you could so other people could see the nature and so people like do less pollution and to help global warming and everything Aaliyah lives in Kearney one of eight municipalities that will be a part of the Essex Hudson Greenway a public Recreation Trail cutting through some of New Jersey's most densely populated areas earlier today the State's Department of Environmental Protection hosted the first of six listening sessions to hear about people's recommendations I feel awesome that they're going to put like a walk park with everybody's ideas from the whole neighborhood and it's awesome I love the idea um we're I'm all excited about it we have a lot of great suggestions the dep says the first segment should be open by the end of 2025. so suggestions are popping up one by one okay great to do a Bandshell so and pull up food trucks or have kiosks there with people with food or something bathrooms I never got to see Mount Clare so I really want to see there the state of New Jersey paid 65 million dollars to buy the land from Norfolk Southern the railway company that ran freight trains here until 2015. the deal was brokered over four years by open space Institute a company that converts private land to public open space OSI and the local Advocates have been very adamant that they wanted a strong public Outreach component when this moment did come to make sure that the communities surrounding the greenway had a say in how it would become developed how it will be developed is issue for the dep which is still in the process of sampling and testing soil a good portion of this land runs through industrial sites so while pollution is expected the dep tells me they don't anticipate finding another Superfund Site other questions include how to deal with streets cutting into these railroad tracks and how to handle storm water also there's the drainage problem of those old railroad tracks which we have a lot of water that accumulates right there no doubt the dep will find other issues and hear more concerns from people who live near the greenway I'm trying to talk and find out about the safety for let's say mugging stuff like that if you want your voice to be heard by the dep the next listening session should be in late August in Newark I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music]