Posted on 03/01/2021 8:41:48 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A local citizens group has formed a Facebook page urging New Jersey transportation officials to improve a stretch of Interstate 80 they say will become unsafe once construction begins on a $50 million fence project.
I80DWG Coalition says the stretch of the highway through the Delaware Water Gap, where the four-lane highway is squeezed between a 1,526-foot-high cliff at its peak and a river, is too tight for traffic congestion during any type of construction and especially, once work commences on a fence designed to prevent rockfall on the winding highway. Tractor trailers, the group says, will become wedged between concrete barriers because the 1.5-mile S-curved portion of the highway in Hardwick and Knowlton townships is not wide enough.
The state Department of Transportation says that stretch of I-80 -- beginning at the Delaware Water Gap Bridge and snaking along the Delaware River as it cuts through Mount Tammany on the New Jersey side and Mount Minsi on the Pennsylvania side -- has the highest risk of rockfall of anywhere on New Jersey’s highways. Rockfalls and related events have closed the highway three times in the last 15 years. Between 2001 and 2017, there were 11 rockfalls that caused 14 accidents, one of which was fatal.
The DOT proposed the fence with a price tag of at least $50 million in early 2018. A DOT schedule anticipates construction to begin in 2023 and take three years to complete.
The fence/pyramid construction does nothing to straighten the S-curve, and that is the problem area, claim local residents and elected officials. Tara Mezzanotte, of Knowlton Township, who is an administrator of the coalition’s Facebook page and responsible in putting the group’s project online, called the plan Monday a “total nightmare.”
(Excerpt) Read more at lehighvalleylive.com ...
PING!
Lol. Nimbys.
I’ve often said that DJT never needed a wall, all he had to do was send a few crews of PA DoT road workers to the southern border and tell them to build a road. They’d be an immediate standstill for years.
Nothing wrong with that road that a few Billion dollars of your and my money wouldn’t fix. Either bridge it out over the river so the rocks will fall between the road and the cliff face, or tunnel through the mountain. Slap on tolls (deep state loves those) and everyone will be happy.
Or, in this case, NJ DOT workers.
Is it possible to bridge the highway along the river that way without the current putting undue pressure on the piers? Having it go across is one thing, but going along the river out in the water itself would present problems, correct?
I suppose you would want pilings similar to freeway overpasses, to let the current pass through, rather than solid, wide piers like you would see on a bridge crossing a river.
“too tight for traffic congestion during any type of construction”
Any type? construction of ANY kind?
so then, close the road.
Can’t fix it, can’t drive on it, can’t upgrade it, can’t do anything.
Give ‘em all what they ask for.
Wyatt’s Torch burns clean.
The tunnel would be an interesting idea, allowing the highway to be widened to 6 lanes like it apparently needs to be between the I-380 exit (PA) and where the six-lane stretch begins in NJ.
Our wonderful state of N.J. just spent 37 mil on a rock wall project on Rte. 46 just east of the area area a few years ago. No one I spoke to could remember a rock falling and causing injury in the their lifetime. The local joke was that someones brother or cousin was down on his luck and needed a big money contract.
I’ll leave the engineering to someone who knows what they are doing. But I don’t see where the stress on the piers couldn’t be solved with enough cash. I do understand that due to the shape of the river, it might require piers in stronger current than normal, as the strongest current would normally be bridged over.
As we speak I’m looking out over I-80 here in glorious Placer County, CA. I take comfort that the traffic backup is unlikely to extend this far
The local mayors demanded to see the documentation of the so-called rockfall fatality, and received pages of 100% redacted text. Somebody's getting their pockets lined.
Another interstate built on a former railroad roadbed; IIRC, this one’s part of the former New York, Susquehanna & Western main line to Stroudsburg and Wilkes-Barre. Yes, it’s going to be narrower than a typical highway. They did quite a bit of this in New Jersey.
Nothing that 3⅔ years of democrats in unchecked power can't make happen...
If it is too congested for construction maybe just drop in a miracle bullet train modeled after the successful project going on in California. You don’t need an actual working railroad, just a hold to dump money into.
“Some body’s getting their pockets lined”.
That is the politicians way. Get rich. Then get richer.
OTOH, they could use non-union construction crews and eliminate all the bribes to politicians thereby cutting the construction time by 70%, the cost by 70%, and increase the work quality by 300%...
Isn’t it amazing how many people become Civil Engineers when money is up for grabs?
BOOKMARK!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.