Posted on 10/21/2017 12:44:16 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Maybe one day they'll finish the renovation project on the Bayonne Bridge.
Until then, we're going to have to keep enduring these total closures of the span, including on the weekends, which is a mind-numbingly bad time to shutter the bridge.
Not that the Port Authority sees it that way, no matter how much we bang on their cage.
We're supposed to have some nice weather this weekend. Mid-70s. Sunny. Lots of folks are going to be out driving. A lot of them are going to be going to New Jersey, either to shop, visit friends or enjoy what's likely going to be one of the few remaining pleasant weekends before the colder, drearier weather sets in.
In other words, a perfect time to close one of the three bridges that connect Staten Island to New Jersey. But we don't have a choice in the matter. The Port Authority said that the bridge is going to be closed to accommodate ongoing construction. All part of the project that has raised the bridge deck higher so that the new class of supercontainer ships can pass underneath.
Bravo for the port, bummer for those of us who depend on the bridge. If it seems like the project has gone on forever, we hear you. As Borough President James Oddo has pointed out, nobody at the Port Authority seems to have taken the fall for the project being so delayed.
Of course, the Bayonne is not one of the New Jersey spans that loom especially large in our minds. More Staten Islanders use the Goethals Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing.
But still, the oft-maligned and marginalized Bayonne is a valuable asset, particularly for those of us who live on the North Shore. It gives us a chance to avoid some of the traffic we'd otherwise face taking the Outerbridge or Goethals. It helps avoid some of the all-too-predictable traffic on the West Shore Expressway and the Staten Island Expressway.
Because you know what's going to happen all weekend and particularly on Sunday night: Everybody's going to be trying to cross a bridge, either coming or going, in other to get to their destination. There's going to be traffic chaos.
And we know it's going to be particularly nightmarish on Sunday night. A border war has practically broken out between New Jersey towns and New York motorists. Jersey residents have gotten fed up with us New Yorkers using their towns as shortcuts in order to dodge traffic.
It's gotten especially bad in Perth Amboy, where local cops have taken to blocking exits off of Route 440 in order to deter Staten Islanders and other New Yorkers from cutting through town on their way to the Outerbridge Crossing.
And let's face it, Staten Islanders: If Jersey residents were clogging up the streets of Tottenville in order to avoid highway traffic, we'd be out there with pitchforks and torches. We'd be laying carpets of nails down on the highway exits.
In other words, we need all the bridges we can get our hands on during the weekends. Borough officials, including Oddo, have practically begged the Port Authority to keep the Bayonne open. If it can't be open the whole weekend, at least keep it open part of the time, including Sunday night.
It's all fallen on deaf ears. The traffic we've seen the last couple of months when the Bayonne Bridge has been closed on a weekend hasn't changed a single mind at the Port Authority. Oddo made his pitch to the Port Authority again on Friday. No change. As Oddo said on Facebook, the Port Authority just doesn't give a damn about motorists who are going to get caught in this traffic.
Here's why it's all so particularly galling: We know the problem is coming. It's fairly easy to predict. Something can easily be done about it. But no. The ongoing construction needs trump the perpetual traffic needs of an entire region.
As Oddo said to the Port Authority in that same Facebook post: Thanks for nothing.
I can’t believe they’re building the second Goethels. or however you spell it. lived here my whole life lol
The rich and wealthy and the left wing RAG the SI Advance destroyed the highway that was going to cut the commute to the deep south shore in half.
It was almost finished!!! We used to walk on the cement for miles and drink beers.
liberals: whatever they touch they destroy.
Is the government in a cage? Are you banging on the government's cage?
Might have that backwards, buddy.
All the bridges should be privatized
they would be run better and have lower tolls
use the proceeds to pay down NYCs debt and fully fund city pensions
The huge containing vessel passed under the bridge recently. Now they need to finish the roadways and pedestrian & biking portions. Right now there is only one lane each direction.
There is constant traffic during the week at Exit 14A Bayonne NJTurnpike Construction Project. Work that is also taking forever.
Borough President Oddo should also acknowledge that the Bayonne Bridge serves almost no practical purpose at all anyway. You could never justify building it today, and the Port Authority would have been thrilled to just remove it rather than doing this major project to raise the clearance underneath it.
Agreed.
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