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Let’s work to elect leaders that will represent us all! Join Rosalee Keech, Donald Campbell, Steve Fulop, and Democrats for Change that will take on the difficult challenges and find solutions that help improve peoples' lives.

Taxes have reached an all time high in New Jersey, legislators are spending our taxes to benefit a select few, and it's time for elected officials to put their constituents' needs in the forefront.

Rosalee Keech and Donald Campbell are proud to stand with Steve Fulop and a new wave of Democratic leaders focused on fixing New Jersey’s infrastructure, supporting families, and bringing bold, forward-thinking solutions to Trenton. Together, they are committed to using our taxpayer dollars wisely and making NJ government work for all of us!

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NJ Turnpike board approves first steps of controversial $11B widening project - From northjersey.com - 3/25/25

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority's board unanimously approved five items to advance the first phase of a controversial $11 billion project that would reconstruct and widen the Newark Bay Bridge.

The project would also expand the Turnpike extension through Jersey City and its approach to the Holland Tunnel.

Two of the items were agreements with Hudson County and the state Department of Transportation to "cooperate" on the program, with the latter assisting with review and approval of design plans, traffic operations and access to rights-of-way.

The first contracts to be awarded will be for construction of two trestles in Newark Bay. The trestles are platforms from which the cable-stayed bridge construction will be conducted. That work will start later this year, said Thomas Feeney, a Turnpike Authority spokesman.

The board heard from a few dozen speakers Tuesday, some who fervently oppose and others who support the project, the first phase of which is a $6.2 billion project to replace the four-lane Newark Bay Bridge with twin four-lane bridges and approach spans.

Hudson County will receive $50,000 for a summer camp program to support vocational and technical training programs and $100,000 for maintenance of Mercer Park, according to the agreement.

The other three items were:

• A $5.2 million change order to increase the engineering services contract with Gannett Fleming Inc. to $35.45 million.

• A $1.4 million purchase of riparian mitigation credits from GV Oradell, LLC — which owns the Oradell Reservoir Mitigation Bank, deemed to be the only bank within the project's watershed management area that offers riparian credits — for up to 1.8 acres impacted in Newark Bay from the construction.

• A $10.2 million purchase of tidal open water and shallows mitigation credits from Evergreen Environmental, LLC — which owns the MRI3 Mitigation Bank deemed to be the only bank with a service area that includes the site of the filling that offers these credits — for up to 4.272 acres impacted in Newark Bay from the construction.

The existing bridge, formally called the Vincent R. Casciano Memorial Bridge, spans Newark Bay and connects Newark to Bayonne. It's part of the turnpike's Newark Bay extension, which sends traffic from the main turnpike route onto Route 78 into Bayonne and Jersey City, ending at the approach to the Holland Tunnel.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who is running for governor, requested more data and transparency about whether studies were done to account for traffic impacts if more rail and transit were built and wanted more detailed information about particulate matter generated from the project, especially if traffic backs up to Newark.

"Nobody is opposed to fixing infrastructure, nobody is opposed to remodeling the Bay Bridge, but we are having an issue where it’s creating more lanes … when the future should be rail, should be trains, should be public transportation," Baraka said.

Robert Briant, Jr., CEO of the Utility & Transportation Contractors Association, said his organization fully supports the project, particularly since the 70-year-old bridge is past its useful life.

"In order to make sure these are safe structures for the motoring public, the Turnpike spends a tremendous amount of money on triage," Briant said, adding that the project would create 25,000 jobs from the first phase.

A number of speakers called on the Turnpike Authority to pause the program while the effects of congestion pricing are considered. Congestion pricing is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's new program that tolls cars to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, an effort to reduce congestion, improve air quality and raise money for its public transit capital program.

The new toll hits New Jersey drivers who use the Holland and Lincoln tunnels to enter Manhattan.

Since it began Jan. 5, traffic in the congestion zone dropped 9% in January and 11% in February, compared to traffic the same months last year, according to the MTA.

Traffic at the Holland Tunnel decreased 5% in January 2025 compared to January 2024, the second-biggest drop that month among the Port Authority's six crossings between New York and New Jersey. The number of trucks using the Holland Tunnel fell 6.42% and the number of cars dropped by 4.97%, according to the Port Authority's latest data.

Feeney, the Turnpike Authority spokesman, said there has been no appreciable impact on traffic volumes on the Extension since congestion pricing went into effect.

Every eastbound vehicle on the Extension exits at one of three interchanges — 14A, 14B or 14C.

From the day congestion pricing went into effect through this past Sunday, March 23, transactions are down about 2% percent at 14A and 14C and up about 6% at 14B compared to the same period last year, when there was no congestion pricing, he said.

That mirrors the MTA’s environmental assessment for congestion pricing, which anticipated little to no impact on the Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension, Feeney said.

Turnpike expansion needed because of growing port operations?

But Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis said the expansion project is needed because of growing port and logistics operations, including CMA CGM Group's purchase of Global Containers Terminals, APM Terminal's expansion and UPS opening up a new Bayonne facility to be their East Coast hub.

"It can’t all be put on trains — there’s going to be a lot more truck traffic," Davis said regarding the movements of shipping containers. "We need to build a bridge so that 25 years down the road we have a bridge that’s viable."

Doug O'Malley, executive director of Environment New Jersey, countered that "the vast majority of truck traffic generated by the port does not use the Newark Bay Bridge."

Instead, he said the Turnpike Authority should consider peak-hour pricing to incentivize trucks and other vehicles to use this corridor overnight or during lighter traffic hours as a way to cut traffic.

"It now appears that there’s not as much as congestion to be reduced as there was previously and that’s because of the massive success of congestion pricing," O'Malley said. "It is crazy to continue to do work on this project without acknowledging that reality."

Click Picture above for more Pictures of Toms River protest - 4/5/25