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Major Traffic Rise Predicted With New Goethals Bridge

The Goethals Bridge Replacement Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been released by the U.S. Coast Guard and Port Authority.  The design remains largely the same as presented at the stakeholder meetings last fall, including three lanes in each direction, a peak hour HOV/bus lane, and a space in the center of the bridge for possible future transit expansion between NY and NJ.

The addition of one lane in each direction on the span will attract 28% to 40% more traffic, partly from trips diverted from the Outerbridge Crossing, according to the DEIS.

The added capacity will result in less congestion on the bridge itself, but traffic conditions on the surrounding roads and approaches will markedly deteriorate.  Worst hit is  I-278 and the New Jersey Turnpike at interchange 13 and the Bayway Circle/ Bayway Ave. corridor in Elizabeth, NJ.  The impact on the Staten Island Expressway (SIE) is not insignificant: traffic in the peak hour and direction is projected to rise 11% in the AM and 12% in the PM.

To deal with the increased traffic, the DEIS investigated several traffic mitigation measures.

The winner was a peak hour bus/HOV3+ lane extending across the Goethals, along the Staten Island Expressway to the Verrazano Bridge.  However, according to the DEIS, the initial alternative was complicated by NYSDOT’s decision to abandon an extension of the current SIE bus lane to the Goethals, instead terminating it at Richmond Ave.  Mitigation for impacts at the SIE/West Shore Expressway would likewise require NYSDOT to redesign the interchange.  The DEIS does not address the impact of NYSDOT’s  “pilot program” that allows cars with two passengers in the Staten Island Expressway bus lane during peak hours.

The plan also calls for system management changes, such as signal changes, restriping, reduced parking at approaches and the creation of turning lanes, at impacted corridors like Bayway Avenue/Bayway Circle and the local roads around the Verrazano Bridge.

Still missing is a commitment to ensure that there is bicycle and pedestrian access to the span.  While a 10-foot-wide sidewalk and bike path will be constructed on the north side of the new bridge, there is no indication of an agreement with the communities on either side of the bridge to provide access, needed since doing so will require construction in areas outside the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard and Port Authority.

The current bridge also has a narrow walkway, but over the last couple of decades it has been closed more often than it has been open. (The Port Authority simply lists it as closed without indicating why or whether it will reopen.)

Public hearings will be held on July 8 in Elizabeth, NJ and July 9 on Staten Island. Written testimony can be submitted until July 28 through the study’s website.

 

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[…] traffic in the short run and certainly won’t fix congestion in the long run, especially with more traffic projected to come to Staten Island with the opening of a wider replacement Goethals Bridge. The […]

Clark Morris
Clark Morris
14 years ago

Who would ride the shuttle between Perth Amboy station and the SIRT? If there is enough ridership from the shore to either Perth Amboy or South Amboy, the shuttle would only have to be frequent enough to connect with the NJT trains.

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[…] Wider Goethals Bridge Will Attract Up to 40 Percent More Traffic (MTR) […]

Cap'n Transit
14 years ago

The “transit alternatives” they examined were lame: bus lanes and ferry service. No consideration of reactivating passenger service on the north shore railroad to Elizabeth.

anonymous
anonymous
14 years ago

A transit connection between the Perth Amboy rail station and the Staten Island Railway would be nice, too, at the very least a set of shuttles running every ten minutes. The same across the Verrazano as well.

anonymous
anonymous
14 years ago

A bike/ped path is a MUST. On the Verrazano too, please.

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