This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Hudson Terrace Access Scandal: Political Speculation and Fact

Good bridges do not make good neighbors.  As Robert Frost wrote, it is good fences or walls, which incidentally can significantly decrease noise pollution.

It was established in “The GWB Information Gap,” New Brunswick Patch February 6, 2014, that the closure of Fort Lee toll booths between September 9 and September 13, 2013 did not cause a traffic jam beyond those toll booths on the George Washington Bridge.  This is the only rational, logical conclusion that can be made from decreasing the number of vehicles that enter the bridge.

One thing is certain; many residents of Fort Lee (pop. 35,345) gladly suffer with traffic almost every day, because it is a nice town, even on the afternoon of Saturday February 8, 2014 when information was gathered for this article.  Traffic accumulated at Lemoine Avenue and at the intersections near the Volunteer Ambulance Corps on Main Street.  River Road in Edgewater had lots of traffic.  Studies of Fort Lee’s circuitous streets could potentially make it a safer town.

Find out what's happening in Bed-Stuywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

People in New Jersey are familiar with the confusing phenomenon of one street having multiple names.  Google Maps shows how River Road goes north along the Hudson to Fort Lee from the town of Edgewater where it becomes Hudson Terrace.  The traffic jam that occurred on September 9 to September 13 could have entered Fort Lee at Hudson Terrace near Washington Avenue.

When asked to describe the GWB traffic jam, a resident near the corner of Washington Avenue and Hudson Terrace, who did not give her name, said that she did not remember the traffic in September.  According to her, traffic on the George Washington Bridge causes traffic jams in Fort Lee “once a month” or “every two weeks.”  “It is very difficult for the main residents to go out from the local street to the main road when there is a high volume of traffic on the bridge,” she said.

Find out what's happening in Bed-Stuywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

David Letterman made an understated joke about the Fort Lee traffic study to the effect that if the Port Authority closed access lanes would it a cause traffic jam?  Yes, ha-ha, it would cause a traffic jam.  As a matter of fact, it depends upon how many cars are travelling from the Turnpike and U.S. 1 to the George Washington Bridge, and how quickly cars go through the EZ Pass and Cash lanes.  On February 8, 2013, one toll booth was closed at the Hudson Terrace access lanes and traffic was flowing rapidly.

Hudson Terrace is not the only entrance to these toll booths.  Cars travelling south on Palisades Interstate Parkway get onto the bridge from the same toll booths.  Google Maps has a bird’s eye view photograph of a Fort Lee traffic jam sometime before there was snow.  It appears that only one car is exiting its access lanes.  Why, so many cars have stopped at these 6 toll booths! 

U.S. 1 has 9 toll booths.  The Turnpike has 12 toll booths.  Compared to the number of cars passing through the 6 Hudson Terrace toll booths, in the bird’s eye view picture, the other booths appear much more efficient.

2375 Hudson Terrace is an apartment building near the entrance to the access lanes.  When asked about the September traffic incident, the Superintendent, who did not give her name, said “I did not see a big difference.”  She explained that she usually goes out the backside of the building and, at the time of the interview, she was busy with her 4 children.

A central Fort Lee toll booth closure at the Turnpike is shown in the CBS Evening News video, “Christie outraged aide was involved in bridge scandal” posted on YouTube.  Mayor Sokolich wrote Bill Baroni, “Presently we have four very busy traffic lanes merging into only one toll booth.”  It appears that traffic is stopped in the open lane because a man is outside of his car.  The picture shows that lane 22 from the Palisade Avenue entrance (which is totally different from Palisades Interstate) is closed.  Elaine Quijano then says that New York authorities eventually ordered that “lane re-opened.”

The picture shows cones set up in what looks like a real traffic study as opposed to just closing the lane with its electronic sign.  Governor Christie’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Brigit Anne Kelly may have written, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” with a resigned tone because that is the way people in the Department of Transportation talk when they anticipate something will cause delays.

The CBS coverage shows slow traffic on the bridge, unrelated to the September incident, which may be as dangerous as a traffic jam in a town.  In general, intelligent control of toll booths and communication with local police and local ambulance corps could help avoid traffic jams on the bridge and aid ambulance drivers in navigating traffic.  Robert Durando, the General Manager of the George Washington Bridge, notified Port Authority Police of the study.  At the Subpoena Hearing, he said, “Mr. Wildstein told me do not speak to anyone in Fort Lee.”

According to the website of the Fort Lee Police, they have 94 members, including, “A radar sign board passively and effectively reminds motorists to slow down on the local thoroughfares.  A motorcycle fleet can cut through the heaviest traffic in response to not only traffic problems, but almost all types of emergencies. This, coupled with certain officers’ specialized training in various tactical responses such as assault sniper, hostage negotiation and recovery, and other specialized functions, make the Fort Lee Police Department uniquely qualified among surrounding departments to handle high risk tactical responses.”

Since the giant bridge is located at Fort Lee and crosses to New York City, they probably have a pretty effective system to monitor traffic situations when they arise but using the radar sign to cue motorists could have meant less drama and confusion.

Everyone in academia knows that sometimes research is done and data collected that does not become a presentable paper.  At the Subpoena Hearings which tarnished many people’s reputations, Gordon Johnson, Assembly Majority Conference Leader said, “Have we forgotten that Mr. Baroni came here with a poster sized graphic depicting this plan for fairness for the people who are crossing the George Washington Bridge?  The Fort Lee residents had this I guess access that was not allowing others free traffic flow. And there was a traffic study conducted for that purpose.  Now we hear that there is no traffic study at all.”  Maybe they did not complete the study because New York officials interrupted it. 

A man who was celebrating a birthday with his family, Saturday, at the Edgewater Fire Department on River Road thought that there “was probably more traffic” because of the access lane closures.  He said that the same inquiry should be made to the fire department of the next town south on River Road.

An interesting study would be to know how many times a year rush hour traffic on the George Washington Bridge causes the rate of vehicles passing through the Fort Lee toll booths to decrease by half the average rush hour rate.

Another would be to know how many restaurants in Fort Lee New Jersey have valet parking.

 

Contact me:  tedw.patch@aol.com

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?