A large group of New Jersey officials, from Mayor to County Commissioner, were in front of Northampton County Council on Thursday. Were they there to complain about Pennsylvania drivers? No. They were actually there to criticize their own Department of Transportation, and to request the help of county officials to address a road "improvement" project that is certainly going to have an impact on Pennsylvania.
New Jersey's Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is planning a major rock wall along the S curve along Route 80 as it makes its way to Upper Mount Bethel Tp and Pa. It was originally projected to cost $5 million, but that cost has ballooned to $37 million.
As anyone who has ever driven along that S curve can tell you, it's unsafe. The road there is too narrow. It's very difficult for truck traffic to stay in its lane. In fact, according to "Stop the Wall" advocate Tara Mezzanotte, there have been 633 road accidents along that S curve over the past five years. Instead of addressing this problem, NJDOT is planning to mitigate rockfalls in that area with a gigantic wall that will require that the S curve be made even more narrow with no shoulder (we Pennsylvanians call it a berm). While construction takes place over five years, a lot of traffic will use Route 611.
In addition to numerous NJ officials, municipal officials from Northampton County complained as well.
Ironically, there have only been 14 incidents along the S curve caused by fallen rock.
Everyone agreed the proposed road is unsafe. Everyone agreed the road needs to straightened.
Warren County has asked Northampton County to join a bipartisan coalition of elected officials in requesting a more detailed study from NJDOT. That request will come up for a vote in February.
Council members John Goffredo was skeptical. "This is a New Jersey issue and we'd like to support you, but need a little more information."
13 comments:
That meeting was a trainwreak. A Zirinski crapshow again. Another ego show.
What is the recommendation of the LEHIGH VALLEY TRANSPORTATION STUDY? Run this by the proper authority's to get their input and then make a decision. Who is funding the project and where is the money coming from? Too many unanswered questions. Too many accidents along that section of highway. Not enough money to go around.
This entire project is a joke. I have lived in the area all my life and the 14 rock fall incidents have probably been spread over 30 years. As far as trucks staying in their lane, they can and they do when the drivers are decent. The vast majority of the accidents are car caused and car influenced.
The project is supposed to close 1 or 2 lanes of route 80 for up to 5 years. What a mess. 611 on the PA is falling into the railroad track. Many areas along 611 have been reduced in width over the years. there is probably 3 years of work just to 611 to a point to support substantial truck traffic.
And also please check the 37million price tag. I believe that is for a portion of the project and the actual cost of the full project is well over 100 million just for that section of 80. The impacts on 611, and Portland have not been costed nor included in the price tag.
Their road. Their rocks. It's not like our having to put up with the migrating bears NJ won't shoot.
509 am has got it right the train wreck monies would go a long way fixing the inpurvious streets. The trains to NY and NJ are a good pipe dream.
So, if either restate won't so it or the Feds won't do it, I am sure that a resolution from Tara Zirinski will force them to act. Her ego keeps writing checks her ability can't cash. Is she brain damaged or just dense?
Between 2001 and 2018, there have been 14 crashes that resulted from rockfall activity (13 from fallen rocks and one from a fallen tree). Of this total, there was one crash that resulted in one fatality and one minor injury.
I have not been able to dig into the detail of most of the accidents however I did find several news articles saying that a few of the accidents were people running over ball size rocks either causing damage to their car or the car behind them when the rock was kicked up.
There were also some that seemed to elude the driver was distracted and swerved to avoid debris. Then kitting a barrier or another car.
So it sounds like the rock fall scenario is blown well out of proportion when approximately 51,000 vehicles per day pass over the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge in both directions, based on data from the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s 2018 Annual Report. This equates to about 18.5 million vehicles per year passing through this segment of I-80 and the southern portion of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
So 14 accidents out of 333,000,000 vehicles traveling the same portion of the highway during the same time. Does this really make the expenditure worthwhile?
From a FAQ about the project:
The goal of any construction project is to minimize disruption to the motoring public. Preliminary analysis of staging shows that both lanes of traffic along I-80 can be maintained during construction during peak hours of traffic. No planned detours or long-term lane reductions are being considered at this time. Occasional delays during off-peak hour temporary lane closure and roadway stoppage scenarios are anticipated during project construction. Traffic stoppages (limited to 15-minute intervals) would occur during off-peak hours for construction blasting activities and would be controlled by the New Jersey State Police. These stoppages would be short in duration and unrestricted travel would be restored once the blast and clean-up are complete. Blasting activities are anticipated to occur before 12:00 PM where delays would be around 25 minutes or less. Blasting is anticipated to occur once per week (Monday through Thursday) between May 15 and September 15 (except holidays) during one construction season.
In an effort to minimize impacts to traffic during construction, NJDOT would continue coordination with PennDOT to provide regional coordination on traffic and construction activities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania including the proposed I-80 Reconstruction Project in Monroe County, Pennsylvania (located approximately five miles west of the Project Area), as well as other planned projects in the region, to anticipate and minimize potential traffic disruptions and delays.
Project Schedule
as of January 2022
Please note this schedule is subject to change
Complete Environmental Documents Winter 2024
Secure Permits Winter 2024
Final Design Completion Fall 2024
Award Contract Winter 2025
Construction Start Spring 2025
Construction Complete Spring 2029
I find it interesting that everyone agreed the road needed to be straightened. Pull up a map and look at the area. River on one side and a mountain on he other. I would think straightening is out of the question.
I have done some digging in hews articles. Take that for what it is worth but I have seen a ranges of $10 to $15 millions has already been spent on engineering. And various article I gather a consensus of $37 to $50 millions for a partially executed plan. With a full potential cost of over $200 million. So the reality I think is that the cost for the project is still unknown and susceptible to the typical exponential growth that all these types of projects have.
@4:13 - I think the "straightening" would be more "smoothing out" the curves really. The issue with that though is you basically need to create a mile or so of bridging that will primarily travel above the Delaware rather than directly across it. Won't be super popular with the folks kayaking, canoeing and tubing on the river.
4.1 million people visited the DWG in 2020. It is being considered for an upgrade to a National Park, the only one in Pennsylvania. More people visit it than Yellowstone. Don’t screw it up with an expensive Jurassic Park fence.
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