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Bergen Record: How a plan for buses could be compromise for controversial Turnpike-widening plan

October 3, 2022

By Colleen Wilson

In a debate over the wisdom of adding even more lanes heading into the narrow tube of the Holland Tunnel from North Jersey, two arguments have dominated.

The one against the plan concerns the environment. The case for it focuses on safety.

Now, there’s a third idea up for debate — making the expansion and safety upgrades at the Holland Tunnel, but using the widened highway for a dedicated bus lane. Robert Menendez Jr., who may soon represent the 8th Congressional District in the Holland Tunnel area, has floated a plan to include buses because the $4.7 billion highway-widening project had become “polarizing.”

Menendez proposed the expanded roadway be used for a dedicated bus lane and to create a truck-only exit and entrance ramp to bypass local Bayonne streets en route to the ports, according to an op-ed published last month.

Menendez said there is room to make it a more popular mass transportation corridor via bus rapid transit and dedicated bus lanes because of the population and business growth in Newark, Bayonne and Jersey City, the three cities affected by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s proposal.

“You could create, I believe, a lot of demand and ridership on that line by making that available because … it’s a corridor, which is seeing increased growth,” he said in an interview.

But his potential compromise hasn’t gained much traction with the Turnpike Authority, or at least not yet.

Tom Feeney, a spokesman at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, wouldn’t say whether agency officials were taking Menendez’s proposal under consideration, but said they appreciated his “thoughtful suggestions, his support for infrastructure investment, and his concern for the interests of the communities along the Extension.”

The widening plan and the backlash

The Turnpike Authority proposal, which was included in its 2020 capital plan, is to replace an 8.1-mile, elevated stretch of the Turnpike in four phases.

The first phase would replace the outdated, 66-year-old Newark Bay Bridge that leads to Newark Liberty International Airport; the second phase begins at the access point trucks use for the Bayonne ports and goes north to Liberty State Park; the third and fourth phases continue north to the Holland Tunnel entrance. There are nine toll lanes heading to the Holland Tunnel, with just two lanes of traffic through the tubes in either direction.

The project proposal includes various levels of widening:

Four lanes in each direction and shoulder space on a replaced Newark Bay Bridge;
Three lanes and shoulder in each direction from Exit 14A to the Columbus Drive Exit;
And adding shoulders from there to Jersey Avenue.

About 80% of the proposed project area uses elevated structures, which the Turnpike Authority said are in need of replacement.

Since the beginning of the year, opposition to the project has grown louder with a coalition of environmentalists and local officials, including Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, coming out against the project. They filed a formal petition earlier this year against the project, saying it is out of compliance with the governor’s executive orders to reduce greenhouse gases and will worsen congestion over time, especially at the Holland Tunnel, where traffic from a widened highway would still have to narrow into the same two tubes.

Doug O’Malley, director of advocacy group Environment New Jersey, said widening a highway for cars and trucks will worsen pollution, which is why more analysis and alternative solutions need to be considered.

“It’s worth more time to have an open process to decide what the best options are for the entire region and whether a dedicated (bus rapid transit) line is the right solution,” O’Malley said, referring to the idea that there be a dedicated lane to express bus service on this stretch of the Turnpike.

The petition was denied by the Turnpike Authority and state Department of Transportation and Gov. Phil Murphy came out in favor of the project in August. The Democratic governor, who has championed new offshore wind projects and other green initiatives, said the rise of electric vehicles and improved mass transportation at NJ Transit will alleviate environmental concerns.

Highway expansion has come under scrutiny nationally because of conversations around induced demand, the theory that more highway lanes only temporarily relieve congestion because people will increasingly drive on a less-congested route, eventually making it congested again. The Biden administration has even dedicated funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to enable communities to dismantle highways.

“If you’re going to add a lane and it’s BRT that’s great, more people will shift and probably take that bus because it’s now more convenient and faster than sitting in your car,” said Robert Noland, director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University. BRT is an acronym for “bus rapid transit.”

But, he added, “The traffic will come back, it’s not going to solve congestion.”

A challenge for buses in NJ

The eight-mile project area is not currently a popular route for NJ Transit; only five routes — Nos. 63, 64, 68, 81X and 120 — currently use that section of the Turnpike.

And getting bus rapid transit ideas — strategies that prioritizes buses on roads with dedicated lanes, signal prioritization technology and express routes — off the ground in New Jersey has proved challenging over the years.

Two NJ Transit bus lines incorporated bus rapid transit components, like priority traffic signal technology, using accessible buses and shelters, but most ideas have not transitioned from the planning to construction phase. Menendez noted that now is a good time to have discussions about new BRT routes because NJ Transit is in the beginning stages of redesigning its bus network in Hudson County, which could create connections for BRT routes.

“Any recommendations on the redesign of NJ Transit’s bus network in Hudson County will be made after a careful review of the needs and opportunities to improve bus service. It is too early to determine the extent to which BRT might play a role, as NewBus Hudson is in the early stages and a completion date has not yet been established,” NJ Transit spokesman Jim Smith said.

However, the Route 3 bridge in Secaucus is being rebuilt, so it could hold a future light rail line that would connect to the Secaucus Junction station. State Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said in January that this points to how the agency isn’t “only interested in building bigger and better roads, but we’re interested in a bigger and better transportation system that serves everyone.”

Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis supports the turnpike expansion project as is, but welcomed Menendez’s ideas.

“I support the concept of a dedicated bus lane, because each 50-seat bus could get 50 cars off the road during rush hours,” Davis said.

He also supports the dedicated truck interchange to get tractor-trailers to the ports and bypass local streets, an idea he proposed years ago when Exit 14A was redesigned, but that he said was rejected.

Public hearings on the plans are expected to take place in the first quarter of 2023, with final engineering and design work also expected to take place next year. Construction on the first phase is planned to begin in 2026.