So basically, there should be no 3-lane roads anywhere in a region of 21 million people? Because if you’re against 3 lanes here, then I can’t see how you would possibly justify 3 lanes in any roadway in the region (or country/world for that matter).
No one is arguing against the amount of existing (and growing) travel demand in this region.
However, adding a 3rd general travel lane onto this stretch of road is something that’s ultimately going to do nothing to relieve congestion, encourage modal shift, improve air quality, reduce traffic collisions etc. (all things that transit improves)
Speaking of transit, you’re right that PATH and light rail don’t currently serve enough destinations to realistically replace enough car trips. But THAT’S one of the points we’re trying to make.
We’re saying that this project is a prime example of WHY transit sucks in this country. Because for the past century, 99 times out of 100, we build or widen roads to improve circulation instead of improving other modes of transit. Which is a short sighted and ineffective solution that, compounded over decades, has left us with a transportation system completely reliant on cars.
If we wanted to change this project in a way that might reduce congestion, why not add protected bus lanes?
It’s also worth noting that induced demand happens because people aren’t water molecules traveling through a pipe. They make decisions about how, when, and where they travel based on preference.
I say that because the opposite of induced demand (Reduced Demand) is a real thing too. Essentially, if you do a road diet and reduce throughput, less people will travel on that road rather than the road becoming more congested. You can look up San Francisco’s Embarcadero and NYC’s west side highway as examples of this. Essentially, they just reduced lanes and made the streets more people focused and they became safer roads with more people-centric options like bike lanes, wide sidewalks and better bus service.
Point is, we’re arguing about the systemic long-term problem that continues to get ignored in favor of these short-sighted widening schemes. If they add a 3rd lane here, which it looks like they will, we’ll be right back here in 10 years with someone saying, “But there’s demand for a 4th lane! Why not just build one more?”
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You’re right about this, which is the point we’ve all made. This is why service expansions are needed. PATH has been continuously running its service into the ground with less frequent trains, and NJ Transit keeps hiking fares to try and run the bare minimum of service due to a continual lack of investment. These agencies could have the potential to displace even more car trips if they were allowed to expand service and given the appropriate funding to do so. The money saved by only replacing the bridge and not widening it, acquiring property to facilitate the scheme and other unnecessary extras could be given to the transit agencies to upgrade their vehicles and make service more reliable.
Good example of preference: Induced demand is not an immediate effect but it is something that is inevitable with any road expansion - people will see that the new widened road has “less” congestion and now it will encourage more driving trips that otherwise would have been avoided since there is now an illusion that the road has less traffic. All these people who heard about the “less congestion” will bring the congestion back, and we return to square one.
You’re seeing the fact that NJ is aware of induced demand. We are all aware of continual population growth, but we should not be incentivising more people to drive when other options should be expanded instead. That “growth” in drivers is also due to more drivers being incentivised to use this road due to the false illusion of 'reduced congestion, ’ which is how induced demand often works.
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https://www.njtransit.com/press-releases/nj-transit-celebrates-completion-new-lyndhurst-station
New station in Lyndhurst opens on June 8. Kingsland train station will close the same day.
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There is a a very real chance that the NJ Transit train engineers may go on strike, especially since the proposed contract for them was rejected. The consequences of a strike are so severe that NJ Transit is telling people to work from home. If the strike goes through, all rail service will be suspended.
https://www.njtransit.com/railstoppage
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/nj-transit-tells-commuters-to-work-from-home-during-possible-strike/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/nyregion/nj-transit-strike-talks.html (Paywall Bypass)
NJ Transit strike plans would handle only 20% of rail riders
There is a contingency plan in place, but I do expect some severe service disruptions.
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Will Amtrak still run Northeast Corridor between Trenton and NY Penn?
“Members who live in New Jersey, who work in New Jersey, somehow believe that they are entitled to make wages like they live in New York and work in New York,” Kolluri said.
Haas said the minimum salary for engineers is $89,000, and the union has called for a 3% annual pay raise.
When’s the last time $89k was considered a “lavish metropolitan salary?”
You can barely find a dignified 1br apt in Jersey for less than $2k/month.
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The strike affects NJT only, not Amtrak. Amtrak trains from Trenton to NYC will be unaffected.
NJT engineers get paid much less than their Amtrak and Metro North colleagues which is why they’re striking. Allegedly, the engineers also haven’t received any kind of raise since 2019. They deserve more. Perhaps our lovely governor should stop wasting money on stupid projects that nobody wants and instead give these engineers a living wage so at least our commuters can get to work and have reliable service.
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Interesting…
No doubt New Jersey’s elected politicians will use the strike to argue for ending congestion pricing, widening expressways and various other things that they like advocating. Never let a good opportunity for demagoguery go to waste.
The longer the strike lasts, the more convincing their arguments (unfortunately).
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Murphy is to blame for all of this, and what if it’s intentional? He’s a vicious opponent to congestion pricing (which helped boost transit ridership), which clearly shows where his allegiance lies. NJ Transit execs are also saying that a pay increase for the engineers will “bankrupt” NJ Transit, and the strike seems inevitable at this point. Murphy blew $500 million on an unnecessary new NJT HQ and is now wasting 11 billion on a turnpike widening project nobody wants. That money could have gone to an engineer raise, and there still would be money left over for NJT improvements. But he’s backwards-thinking and is only driving our transit into the ground. His allegiance lies with the suburban automobile driver and not the many commuters who rely on transit to go to work.
In addition to Murphy, we also should blame Chris Christie who also royally screwed over NJ Transit through massive funding cuts as well.
Fares keep going up, and service keeps getting worse. We need a new governor who will finally fix NJ Transit.
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The Turnpike Widening Scheme gets full Coast Guard approval for the bridge component. Work will start in 2026. This article says each bridge will have four lanes, not three. That is even worse than just one for each side. Activists are not giving up the fight to oppose it.
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just two more lanes bro
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With the threat of an NJ Transit engineer strike being very real with major consequences for commuters to be had if it goes through, some moves were made to try and diffuse the situation.
A federal mediation board has called for NJ Transit and the engineers’ union to go to DC to try and negotiate before they strike.
However, the CEO keeps going against the union with misguided information that a raise may cause financial issues for the agency. These attempts to go against the engineers may further fuel incentive for a strike. Unless they make a deal, I do see the strike happening, especially since the first series of talks broke down this week.
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2025/05/06/nj-transit-ceo-rails-against-union-as-strike-looms/
Metro North has put a contingency plan in place for riders of the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Line riders with free rides being offered to New York City along with free ferry rides that connect to Hudson Line trains. They will also cross-honor select tickets for riders switching to the Hudson and Harlem lines and bus routes from Newburgh to Beacon.
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There’s hope after all:
If NJ gets Fulop as governor, he will kill the Turnpike Widening Scheme in Hudson County, redirect the money to NJ Transit and will get NJ to fully support congestion pricing.
As of right now, he is planning a lawsuit against the state for the way they’ve been fast-tracking this wasteful project. Something that is also of note is that the bridge still has some serviceable life and this is something that comes from a Turnpike Authority engineer working on the bridge replacement project so in this case, it is possible to rehabilitate the bridge and avoid widening the roadway.
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The threatened strike is already leading to some service cancellations, namely to the Shakira concert (the Super Bowl of Mass Transit).
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Bus service too? The bus drivers aren’t striking and they cancel all modes of transit to the stadium.
Less than 2 days until the Strike.
The official BLET strike page has a countdown of when trains will stop running. Allegedly they are in DC now trying to negotiate before the trains stop running midnight Friday morning.
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oh god im seeing Beyonce at MetLife next week 
No agreement has been reached yet regarding the strike and engineer wages. There’s less than 4 hours before all train service stops.
Update as of 11:20 PM: NJT has halted talks with the engineer’s union and walked out on them. Once the clock hits midnight, the engineers are striking.
The NY Compost also picked up on the issue, also saying that NJT failed to reach an agreement. A strike was inevitable.
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