By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal on March 11, 2014 at 10:18 AM The man who leads Jersey Citys public safety department said this week that city officials are just guessing about the impact of the upcoming Pulaski Skyway shutdown on New Jerseys second largest city “While we can try to project what we think will happen, we’re aware we’re just guessing,” said Public Safety Director James Shea. Shea was speaking to The Jersey Journal about the citys plans for the shutdown, set to begin on Saturday, April 12. He called Jersey City ground zero for traffic repercussions related to the shutdown. The citys plan to mitigate the shutdowns effects includes prohibiting turns at a number of intersections, stationing 51 off-duty police officers at assumed problem areas and opening up the Office of Emergency Management on April 14, the first weekday after northbound lanes on the aging span are shut down. The plans are subject to change if April 14 comes and traffic problems aren’t as bad everyone assumes they will be, city officials said. “We’re in uncharted territory here,” said Shea said. On Saturday, April 12, the state Department of Transportation will shut down both northbound lanes on the Pulaski Skyway, the 82-year-old bridge that connects Newark and Kearny to Jersey City. The shutdown, which will last for two years, is part of a $1 billion rehabilition project that DOT officials say will add 75 years to the aging bridge’s lifespan. About 3,500 northbound motorists use the Pulaski Skyway per hour, and while the DOT has made a host of recommendations to drivers, such as taking Routes 1&9T and the New Jersey Turnpike Extension instead, Shea said the city believes a lot of the traffic will end up using Communipaw Avenue and Grand Street to get to the tunnel and Downtown Jersey City. The City Council last month approved nearly a dozen changes to traffic patterns throughout Jersey City that city officials believe will help ease congestion once the shutdown begins. The new restrictions are only for weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. For drivers headed north on Center Street, which runs parallel to the New Jersey Turnpike Extension, right turns onto Brook, Bright and York streets will be prohibited. Motorists headed east on Columbus Drive will be barred from turning left onto Barrow Street. Traffic headed east on Communipaw Avenue will not be able to make any turns, left or right, onto West Side Avenue or Bergen Avenue; left hand turns will be prohibited during those times onto Park Street. Traffic headed east on Grand Street will not be able to make left turns onto Ivy Place, Barrow Street or Marin Boulevard. The intersection of Grand and Marin will be “one of our main challenges,” according to Shea, who noted that traffic “bottlenecks” there now during rush hour. Drivers using Grand Street to get to the Holland Tunnel will be directed onto Grove Street instead, he said. Police officers, paid for by the DOT, will be assigned to the areas where new turning restrictions are going into place, and they’ll be in position one week before the Skyway shutdown so residents can get acclimated to the new traffic patterns, according to Shea, who added that the city’s entire motorcycle squad and “quite a few” on-duty cops will be on hand that day to help where they can. Some of the changes — the ban on turning left onto Ivy Place from Grand Street, for example — will help keep traffic from coming to a standstill when motorists turn, Shea said. Ivy Place is a one-block, one-way road that connects Grand Street to Summit Avenue. “Otherwise we think we’ll have traffic backed up to God knows where,” he said. City officials are planning two community meetings later this month to discuss the changes and seek residents’ input. The dates, times and locations will be announced shortly.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 14:49:04 +0000
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