Jersey City officials are bringing the fight to an ambitious Turnpike widening proposal that they argue is “environmentally disastrous” for the city.
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority submitted an environmental impact review two months ago, but Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and other leaders from the city consider that study flawed. Instead, the group demands an independent study from the U.S. Coast Guard, which oversees the environmental review process.
The proposal, a $10.7 billion project that would revamp eight miles of the Turnpike from Newark Bay to the Holland Tunnel, has driven a stake between transit-oriented Jersey City leaders and major proponents like Gov. Phil Murphy. Gubernatorial hopeful Fulop and other city leaders say the expansion will increase car pollution and traffic in the city and that the money is better spent on improving rail infrastructure in the area.
“I am deeply concerned about the adverse impacts the New Jersey Turnpike expansion will have on our vibrant community, inciting worsening traffic and environmental hazards that can jeopardize the safety and well-being of our residents and families,” Fulop said in a release. “I hope our collective efforts will urge the Coast Guard to conduct its own independent study so that we can protect our community and ensure these billions of taxpayers dollars are used appropriately.”
The multipronged effort to win an independent review includes a Jersey City Council resolution demanding an independent review from the Coast Guard — the resolution is all but guaranteed to pass Wednesday — and a Tuesday night rally outside a Turnpike Authority information session on the project.
The Turnpike expansion puts top New Jersey leaders between a rock and a hard place: Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) was noncommittal after a debate question on the project; he said he supported parts of the plan, like the Newark Bay Bridge replacement, but called the lane widening in Jersey City “problematic.”
And the proposal could be a wedge between Fulop and other gubernatorial candidates. Democratic hopeful Steve Sweeney — the union leader and former Senate president — is likely to support the project and the thousands of union jobs that will come with it.
The project’s cost, the highest of any Turnpike Authority proposal, has skyrocketed from the initial $4.7 billion forecast. A Turnpike Authority spokesperson told The New York Times that inflation and rising interest rates were to blame for the 125 percent spike.
The first and highest-priority phase of the project, between Interchange 14 and 14A, consists of the replacement of 16 bridges, including the Newark Bay Bridge. That phase is scheduled to wrap up in 2036.
The Turnpike Authority’s environmental assessment, which only looks at the first phase of the proposal, says the project will decrease congestion and cause “no meaningful differences” in air pollution, claims environmental activists dispute.
“I’ve stood shoulder-to-shoulder with advocates across the state in opposing this plan, which would increase pollution and congestion in Ward E and all across the city even as NJ Transit’s crisis of delays, which have still not been addressed, force even more commuters onto our roads,” said Councilmember James Solomon, the sponsor of the resolution asking for a Coast Guard review.
Solomon is still considered a potential candidate to succeed Fulop as mayor of Jersey City next year.