The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has proposed building a new eight-lane Newark Bay Bridge as part of its replacement of the Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension, as depicted in this rendering from 2023 that is for indicative, illustrative and contemplative purposes only. — Courtesy: NJTA
By Greg Lalevee
It used to be said there was no Democratic or Republican way to pick up waste or plow snow. Even in our divided times, according to a recent FDU poll, New Jersey Democrats and Republicans feel the same about traffic — they want it fixed and strongly agree on an important project to expand the New Jersey Turnpike from Newark Airport to the Holland Tunnel.
The expansion plan is to replace the existing Newark Bay Extension Bridge with two spans, one for eastbound traffic and the other for westbound vehicles. This construction would be a major step forward for improving traffic flow throughout the region and is vital for commercial and residential developers as well as commuters.
The poll question, sponsored by the Commerce & Industry Association of New Jersey, found that unlike most issues in New Jersey, there is little in the way of partisan divides on these transportation issues, with broad agreement across party and regional lines.
While the expansion has been politically contentious, 58 percent of New Jersey voters favor the project, with Democrats (63 percent) being slightly more likely to support it than Republicans (56 percent). As might be expected, voters in the northeastern portion of the state (65 percent) are more likely to support it than those in most other parts of the state, though support in South Jersey is surprisingly high (64 percent), according to the poll.
“Transportation is one of the few nonpartisan issues in New Jersey,” says Dan Cassino, professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University and the executive director of The FDU Poll. “Doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, everyone waits in the same traffic.”
With one of the largest and busiest ports in the nation adjacent to the Turnpike in Elizabeth and Newark, freight to New York City is primarily carried by trucks using the Turnpike to the river crossings. Along with the warehousing and logistics industries — and the hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents they employ — the state’s economy and industrial properties depend on a modern Turnpike.
“We need to update our infrastructure to reflect the massive increases in shipping that we’ve seen,” says Anthony Russo, president of the Commerce & Industry Association of New Jersey, according to the FDU Poll.
In addition to the ports and logistics, because of the many incentives to encourage the film and television industry to build facilities in New Jersey, massive entertainment investment and development is occurring. The reality is much of the equipment at these new studios are not coming by train — it’s trucks, and that is why Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis has been correctly boosting the expansion as a way to help grow his city and the state.
As Mayor Davis states, traffic volume on the Turnpike Bridge has increased as economic development and population growth have taken place in Hudson County. Residential, commercial and light industrial development have moved forward in Hudson County in recent decades, especially along the Hudson River and New York Bay waterfronts. New Jersey property developers would certainly agree.
Beyond industrial and logistics development needing an improved Turnpike, commuters, as the poll found, see this as critical to sustain New Jersey as the most densely populated state in the nation. Proponents of the project argue that it is needed to accommodate the increased number of trucks coming from the state’s ports, and that the bridges that would be expanded need to be replaced anyway.
“The Turnpike expansion is overwhelmingly popular, which is no surprise given how bad traffic has become post-COVID,” Russo said.
As Cassino succinctly explains, “The long-term solution for traffic is always going to be a mixture of mass transit and targeted road improvements. But we have to do something, and since expansions of mass transit aren’t coming, expanding roads is just about the only thing we can do.”
The message from commuters — and certainly industrial and residential developers — is crystal clear. Gov. Murphy must support this project as do the candidates running to succeed him.
Greg Lalevee is business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825
