Chemical Coast
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The Chemical Coast is the section of Union County, New Jersey that faces Staten Island, New York across the Arthur Kill.
The name was first used by the Norfolk Southern Railroad Company to designate a freight railway that served several chemical plants in the area. The railroad line, which runs parallel to the New Jersey Turnpike, is now owned by Conrail.
Emissions from the area's chemical plants have been blamed for some serious health problems that have been observed among residents of neighborhoods on Staten Island situated directly across the Arthur Kill, specifically an elevated rate of cancer found to exist among long-time denizens of Travis. Strange — though not necessarily unpleasant — odors often waft across the Arthur Kill, and affect air quality not only on Staten Island's West Shore where Travis is located, but parts of the island's South Shore and Mid-Island regions as well.
Plans are in the works to establish a connection between the Chemical Coast Line and a railroad that crosses the Arthur Kill immediately north of the Goethals Bridge, where it becomes the currently-dormant North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway. This connection, at Cranford Junction, would be with freight service only in mind, although separate plans are also being studied to reactivate passenger service on the North Shore Branch; some of these latter proposals would run passenger trains to Cranford Junction, while others call for a terminus at either the former Arlington or Port Ivory stations on Staten Island.
