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I'm always surprised that New Jersey highways only have 3 lanes (Rt 208 has only 2) per direction/side, especially in more heavily congested and populated Northern part near NYC. NJ is the most densely populated state in the nation, and also being part of New York metro which is by far the largest in the nation.
Traffic is terrible during rush hour, and sometimes during non-rush hour times as well. God forbid you drive on Rt 4 and Rt 17 almost anytime of the day except very late evening and Sundays (Thanks to the blue laws in the county).
Even other highways like I-80, the Parkway and Turnpike is bad too.
They need to redesign the highways and increase the lanes to minimum of 4 lanes/direction.
I understand that it could still be traffic, but at least it will be less!
If you go further south and west in the nation with less population, you typically see 4 - 8 lanes/direction!
We need more Transit not more lanes , the Turnpike has 18 lanes and still gets severely congested... The Northeastern States have smaller highways...due to the denser population... I-80 has 6 lanes most its length...just shows you that more lanes does nothing...you still get traffic. The State behind on Transit and Rail Expansions by 20 billion , alot these projects would have solved some of the congestion like in Central & Western Jersey along with the Urbanized Core.... Route 4 and 17 do need a new lane , the state plans on adding a lane sometime by 2021 along with a Bus lane , same with 208 , The Parkway , I-80 , US1/9 , I-280 and I-78...some lanes will be taken for the busways...
Actually what would have helped quite a lot was if NJ finished some of the unbuilt interstates, the ones that never got built,,,obviously. But it's not going to happen anytime soon,and I've got to get outahere to visit my second job (haven't been there in about a year).
The state doesn't even build its own state highways that it proposed, and these past decades lots of people come out to protest most anything proposed.
There was like a decade, say the 60's to 70's when major interstates where built, then everything fell asleep again. I know, if you go to Texas or Florida or even Maryland the highways are more spacious and majestic and have more capacity.
If they started planning for this today the only thing that would happen is we would all live with the nightmare construction to get this done, the higher taxes to pay for it and we would all be dead by the time it was done.
And you'd accomplish this how? Most of those highways run through densely populated and built up areas areas where you would have to buy out hundreds of property owners/destroy huge portions of the tax base of the towns to expand them. Not happening, ever.
Hence why there is lots of traffic in NJ, NY, and CT.
And you'd accomplish this how? Most of those highways run through densely populated and built up areas areas where you would have to buy out hundreds of property owners/destroy huge portions of the tax base of the towns to expand them. Not happening, ever.
Hence why there is lots of traffic in NJ, NY, and CT.
Exactly!
With the density of our population and the presence of so many buildings close to NJ highways, further widening of many (perhaps most) roads in the northern part of the state would require the condemnation and demolition of an incredible number of homes and business properties. Aside from the extremely high cost of buying-out these property owners, the resulting disruption to so many lives would be distasteful to many people.
Everytime you add another lane to existing roads all you get is another lane of bumper to bumper traffic.
Instead of more highways how about a state of the art high speed Monorail system running down the center of I78, I80, GSP direct to the city.
The state already owns the land all they need is the commitment of those riders/taxpayers to pay for the convenience of not having to sit thru bumper to bumper traffic every day.
Yes I know it would be expensive but everything you build in NJ is expensive.
Good luck with that. You'll be lucky to get any major road improvement in NJ anymore. When I lived there, any major road widening, or even a new highway or freeway, that was a big deal. Other parts of the country still build new highways or widen existing roads.
Route 4 and 17 do need a new lane , the state plans on adding a lane sometime by 2021 along with a Bus lane , same with 208 , The Parkway , I-80 , US1/9 , I-280 and I-78...some lanes will be taken for the busways...
And you'd accomplish this how? Most of those highways run through densely populated and built up areas areas where you would have to buy out hundreds of property owners/destroy huge portions of the tax base of the towns to expand them. Not happening, ever.
Hence why there is lots of traffic in NJ, NY, and CT.
Exactly. Route 208 was a WPA project. Do you really think NW Bergen County looked the way it does now in the 1930's? LOL.
Hell, when I started working in the city in 1979 I drove in, and you could sail down 208 with no problem at 7 a.m. Then in the mid-1980s, entire herds of people started swarming in to the area from Bayonne, Jersey City, and the city and throwing up McMansions faster that you could keep up, and that was the end of easy driving on 208.
17 was built for the farmers to bring their produce down to the Newark markets. The towns and commerce grew up around it, and now there's now way to widen it without taking a lot of existing property. It would take years just to get the ROW.
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