Last month, [...]]]>

Trees have been cleared along on the Garden State Parkway between miles 30 and 64.5. NJTA spokespersons say the clearing is advance work for the planned Parkway widening, even though the portion of the project south of mile 48 is unfunded. (Pictured here is a section between miles 31 and 33.)

Last month, the Christie Administration announced that it was able to “prioritize enough money” to accelerate its project to widen the Garden State Parkway. In a release, the NJ Turnpike Authority said that in June it would bid out contracts to “add a third lane in each direction between milepost 48 in Port Republic and milepost 63 and provide grading and drainage improvements between mileposts 30 and 48.”  This is the second part of a multi-phase widening of the Parkway between mileposts 30 and 80; the widening of the Parkway between miles 30 and 48 remains unfunded.  Gov. Christie’s support for the wasteful project seemingly goes against his mantra of reducing spending on projects the state can’t afford. According to Turnpike Authority studies, the widened Parkway will fill with traffic just a few years after completion.

The second phase of the widening wasn’t included in NJTA’s 2011 capital plan, and this announcement puts the project back on the schedule laid out by the Corzine administration. (In 2009, the Corzine administration said the widening between miles 48 and 63 would begin in July 2011, while the phase between miles 30 and 48 was unfunded.)

Despite the announcement, TSTC hasn’t been able to find an actual action or public comment from the Turnpike Authority that would explain how the agency freed up money for the widening. As recently as the April 13 State Senate Budget Committee hearing (two days before the announcement), NJDOT Commissioner Jim Simpson was describing the second phase as “lacking board approval.” The project wasn’t mentioned during NJTA’s March board meeting and didn’t appear on the April 27 meeting agenda.

The release seemed timed to deflect mounting criticism of the agency over a massive, ambiguous tree-clearing project along the Parkway which began earlier this year. State Sen. Jeff Van Drew had been vigorously seeking clarification as to why the NJTA had undertaken a massive tree clearing project along 34 miles of the Parkway (between mile 30 and 64.5) in his South Jersey district.  Senator Van Drew received inconsistent responses regarding the purpose of the tree clearing, with the authority sometimes citing traffic safety and other times pointing to the furtherance of the widening project.

The April 13 Senate Budget Hearing was a prime opportunity to directly ask Commissioner Simpson about the tree clearing’s intended purpose. When questioned, Simpson stated that the trees were removed to “fast track” the Parkway widening once funding was found and contracts awarded.  Interestingly enough, NJTA’s press release cites both traffic safety and the impending widening as dual purposes of the premature clearing. But the explanation doesn’t wash, since there’s still no funding for the widening south of mile 48.

Also during the budget hearing, Senator Van Drew requested a public hearing on the tree cutting in response to his outraged consitutents.  Simpson indicated he would cooperate with the request to hold a hearing in the near future. No word yet on the fate of the public hearing(s) in light of the apparent funding find.  The NJTA did state in its release that it is “working with the [Dept. of Environmental Protection] to determine the appropriate method of mitigating the loss of trees resulting from the widening.”

Photo: Dale Gerhard/Press of Atlantic City.

In March, the NJ Turnpike Authority announced it would seek to end off-peak toll discounts on the NJ Turnpike for drivers whose E-ZPass accounts are outside the state’s [...]]]>

The NJTA may end off-peak discounts on the Turnpike for drivers whose EZ-Pass accounts are registered outside of New Jersey, worsening traffic at rush hours.

In March, the NJ Turnpike Authority announced it would seek to end off-peak toll discounts on the NJ Turnpike for drivers whose E-ZPass accounts are outside the state’s E-ZPass system. The policy would mean higher rush-hour traffic for everyone on the road; according to an agency spokesperson, more than half of Turnpike drivers who use E-ZPass would be affected by the change, including those with accounts through the Port Authority of NY & NJ.

The Authority issued a reminder notice of public hearings on the change today. The three hearings are:

Today, 4:30-7:30 pm, at the Meadowlands Race Track (Hambletonian Room), East Rutherford, NJ.

May 5, 4:30-7:30 pm, NJ Turnpike Authority HQ, 581 Main Street, Woodbridge, NJ.

May 9, 4:30-7:30 pm, Camden County Community College’s Blackwood Campus, 200 College Drive, Blackwood, NJ.

Comments can also be submitted by email to info@turnpike.state.nj.us and regular mail to Office of the Executive Director, New Jersey Turnpike Authority, PO Box 5042, Woodbridge, NJ 07095.

Photo: Daniel Hulshizer/Associated Press.

The NJ Turnpike Authority is in a bit of a cash crunch, unable to fund all of its plans to widen the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. That [...]]]>

The NJTA may end off-peak discounts on the Turnpike for drivers whose EZ-Pass accounts are registered outside of New Jersey, worsening traffic at rush hours.

The NJ Turnpike Authority is in a bit of a cash crunch, unable to fund all of its plans to widen the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. That seems to be leading to some desperate, and detrimental, actions.

NJTA announced last month that it wants to end off-peak toll discounts on the Turnpike for drivers whose EZ-Pass accounts are outside the NJ EZ-Pass system. Over half of drivers would be affected, including those with accounts through the Port Authority of NY & NJ. The discounts have had a measurable effect in reducing rush hour traffic, and ending them would be bad policy. NJTA will hold public hearings on the toll change, but hasn’t announced when those will be.

The authority has also come under fire over a tree-clearing project related to the Garden State Parkway widening. So many trees are being cut that State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Atlantic) has said it “looks like we were strip mining.” He’s also blasted the agency for talking out of both sides of its mouth when explaining the project.

The agency previously referred to the tree clearing as a maintenance project, leading to concerns that it was trying to evade reforestation requirements (under state law, trees cut for state projects must be replaced elsewhere; maintenance projects are exempt). Only more recently did agency officials admit that the clearing was advance work for the planned widening of the Parkway between miles 30 and 64.5, even though that part of the project is currently unfunded.

Haste may make waste. An agency spokesperson told the Press of Atlantic City in February that “any actual work [on the Parkway] is so far away that some of the trees will probably have started to grow back by the time work begins on the widening.”

Photo: Daniel Hulshizer/Associated Press.

Yesterday, Governor Christie reiterated that his decision to kill the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel was about lack of funding, telling outlets across the state that the decision “was [...]]]>

Last year, then-Gov. Jon Corzine broke ground on the widening of the NJ Turnpike, a project whose cost has increased over the years.

Yesterday, Governor Christie reiterated that his decision to kill the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel was about lack of funding, telling outlets across the state that the decision “was a dollar and cents issue” and he needed to protect “our long-term fiscal health.”

But a quick look at the rising costs of the Parkway and Turnpike expansion projects suggests his interest in saving money only applies to transit projects. As MTR wrote earlier this year, these widening projects steadily increased in cost even before ground was broken on them during the Corzine administration. Here’s a reprint of the table from that article:

A few weeks before canceling the ARC Tunnel, Christie administration officials borrowed an additional $2 billion to continue paying for the road widenings. Only time will tell what their eventual cost will be.

Photo: Governor Photos/Tim Larsen.

The NJ municipalities of East Windsor, Hamilton and Robbinsville have filed suit against the State of New Jersey for the return of funds that were supposed to be used to replace trees destroyed by NJ Turnpike [...]]]>

Robbinsville officials blocked access to a Turnpike construction site in protest of the state's broken reforestation promise.

The NJ municipalities of East Windsor, Hamilton and Robbinsville have filed suit against the State of New Jersey for the return of funds that were supposed to be used to replace trees destroyed by NJ Turnpike construction.

According to reports, $15 million set aside for replacing 268 acres of lost tree cover has been diverted by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection to keep state parks open instead.  Another $1.6 million that was to be used along the Garden State Parkway widening project has also been diverted.  In total, the Turnpike project involves clearing 449 acres of trees in seven towns. $13 million remains for reforestation, an amount the municipalities claim is far too small to cover the losses. (Reforesting one acre costs $61,200, according to the reforestation plan the NJ Turnpike Authority submitted to DEP.)

The replanting funds were among the measures promised to the municipalities in exchange for land to accommodate the massive widening of the NJ Turnpike, which will add 170 new lane miles to the roadway from interchange to 6 to 9.  The redirection of funds clearly violates the spirit of the No Net Loss Reforestation Act, which says that trees removed from state land during construction should be replaced as close as possible to the original site. Whether it violates the letter of the law should be determined by the lawsuit.

Town officials now regret transferring the land needed for the widening. “After this episode, what mayor in his right mind would ever sign an agreement with the State or the Turnpike?” Robbinsville Mayor Dave Fried wrote in Politicker NJ. Aside from the lawsuit, the reallocation has prompted direct action by Mayor Fried (see picture), and has legislators weighing in and asking the Governor to intervene on behalf of the aggrieved municipalities.

The broken promise is another sorry chapter in the history of the Turnpike widening project, which has been poorly justified and promises little but induced traffic and more sprawl.  The trees would have offered noise and pollution mitigation along the widened sections of the Turnpike.  The net loss of trees is a blow to local residents, and threatens to deepen the adverse effect of the widening on greenhouse gas emissions, making it all the more difficult for the state to meet goals mandated by the Global Warming Response Act.

A state judge will hear the case on October 1.

Photo: Times of Trenton.

Yesterday MTR obtained a copy of a letter sent to NJDOT Commissioner Jim Simpson from the NJ Turnpike Authority earlier this month, requesting that the current HOV lanes on the NJ Turnpike between exits 11 and 14 be converted to general purpose lanes. [...]]]>

Interchange 11 connects the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway.

Yesterday MTR obtained a copy of a letter sent to NJDOT Commissioner Jim Simpson from the NJ Turnpike Authority earlier this month, requesting that the current HOV lanes on the NJ Turnpike between exits 11 and 14 be converted to general purpose lanes. Signed by outgoing Authority Director Diane Scaccetti, the letter sites a change in federal air pollutant criteria, driver confusion, and a bottleneck in the heavily trafficked segment as grounds for removing the carpool restrictions, and suggests that the Authority can maintain its “commitment to reduce traffic congestion … and do its part to improve the environment” by building a 400-space park-and-ride lot at Exit 11 in Woodbridge.

The HOV lanes were established in 1996, after the Turnpike Authority widened the highway, as part of a “mitigation agreement” to reduce impacts on air quality. They are in effect only during peak hours and can be used by vehicles with at least three occupants. They provide carpooling commuters a less congested roadway, incentivizing an inexpensive and sustainable form of transportation for those traveling to areas poorly served by transit.  Similarly, buses use the lanes to ensure they reach their destinations on time.

What private or public transit services would stop at the park-and-ride are not explained in the letter. But it would not make up for the loss of the HOV lanes, which would likely hurt transit ridership by giving riders longer, less predictable commutes. A state transportation official suggested to MTR that a new lot might even increase driving by drawing transit customers out of nearby NJ Transit rail stations, such as Metropark, Woodbridge, and Edison.

Scaccetti’s assertion that the air quality problem that prompted the HOV designation “is no longer an issue” simply because federal guidelines have changed says it all when it comes to NJTA’s “commitment” to the environment. This is the same authority that is currently widening the Turnpike between exits 6-9, the Parkway between exits 63-80, and has long-term plans to further widen both roads.

Image: Google Maps.