Submitted by joeynnj t3_ynzcuw in jerseycity
Just a heads up to anyone who may be driving downtown that there is some gnarly traffic going on. In particular, Jersey Avenue is stopped up all the way from Hamilton Park back past Newark Avenue. There’s also crazy traffic on Barrow Street. I don’t know what’s going on over by Hamilton Park.
There was also a sportsball game today in the swamp. That probably adds something to traffic coming in from the city.
Good thing the PATH and HBLR are running smoothly today. /s
I just walked from the Home Depot into Hamilton Park. Everything is gridlocked.
That's so odd. Traffic is usually non-existent downtown.
Google Maps show crashes on Marin, Jersey, and 8th Street.
NYC Marathon was on in the city today. Same traffic issues across the river. Likely it’s spillover traffic to and from said event.
Suggest to walk or transit and not drive anyway. Then you don't worry about tunnel traffic or any of that other jazz.
Don't want to blow your mind or anything, but sometimes people actually NEED to drive, like an out of JC trip or, like me when I encountered this tunnel traffic shitshow, going to Home Depot for building supplies. And no, they could not be carried home on foot!
We only need to drive because our cities were destroyed for cars.
Correct
This is a fake argument. Something like 80%+ of Hudson river crossing are > 50 miles. Way beyond the size of NYC or JC. Hell Philadelphia is only about 90 miles away. It's metro area is actually way closer.
And most of those crossings could be done by train or bus.
Plus ambulances and fire trucks.
That would be tragic if someone died during morning gridlock, but I doubt it would cause change. It's been a decade since Sandy, and absolutely nothing has been done to change our vulnerability there.
> actually NEED to drive, like an out of JC trip
You might need to sit down for this, but there are trains and buses that leave JC.
News flash but not all towns are serviced by train or bus.
Anywhere worth going to is
This is a narrow mindset, I have family members who reside on farms, for me it's worth it to visit them
They can pick you up from the nearest station
Yeah or I can drive my car and save literal hours lol.
Taking a kayak on a bus is somewhat difficult, and they don't let you off at the side of the water.
Last I checked you can get on your Kayak in JC
But all the other motherfuckers in your way could have easily taken public transit, walked, or biked, or rode a scooter, and then there wouldn't be a problem.
They're not locals, they're just heading to the tunnel. The PA & TPK could easily eliminate all Downtown tunnel transients using the EZ-Pass system, but they have no incentive. To them, DT gridlock is a feature not a bug, otherwise the TPK would not have built and paid for the Jersey Ave Bridge.
Yup. It actually increases revenue by reducing the milage of a backup and thus reducing traffic getting sent through not Turnpike routes (like the Skyway). There's a reason they sped up that project when the Skyway construction winded down and things reopened. They didn't want that revenue to go away.
And Fulop could have played his hand on traffic downtown, but chose not to because he's done with JC and wants to be governor. He could have offered to back the expansion on the condition local governments could restrict through traffic on local streets when a highway exists (which is the law in most of the world by the way). He'd have gotten lots of mayoral backing around the state (especially places like Fort Lee, but even some more conservative areas that have been having this problem for years with things like the GSP), and political capital to actually pull that off... but piss off some more conservative democrats in the state he needs to win Mayor.
Realistically that would reduce traffic downtown, and since the footprint of the Turnpike doesn't change, it has no real impact on anything for the Turnpike. Traffic on the extension would be relatively constant since the tunnel isn't getting bigg.er Since the Turnpike is funding it themselves, there's not even a financial issue at play.
The only reason he didn't play this card is it would hurt his run for governor.
Also groups like Bike JC have been against any effort to cut down on Turnpike traffic using downtown as a bypass because they feel it will hurt their funding. People annoyed by it support them. People less annoyed less likely to do so. That's the real dirty laundry people don't like seeing written.
It's not a problem that can't be fixed. It's that there's nobody who cares enough to fix it, even if it's not beneficial to them personally.
Sounds like we need to take their power away and vote for how the money is spent.
Yes! Of course! You're as practical and realistic as always.
People who are pessimistic are destined for failure
People who are unrealistic are doomed to disappointment at best, the wall at worst. Your naïve attitude is like "why doesn't someone tell Putin to stop being so mean?" Until you have the votes, guns, or sometimes both, optimism is idiotic. Ask an Iranian or Venezuelan.
These power structures are powerful and stay powerful because they're really, really good at it. We can't even successfully take on a local self serving teacher's union, never mind appointed and unaccountable statewide and interstate "Authorities".
We actually could fix this if we collectively decided to. It'd just take actual effort from a lot of folks who don't care to put forth effort.
>It'd just take actual effort from a lot of folks who don't care to put forth effort.
Wow, thanks. I had no idea that was the answer!
But increasing car lanes will fix this, right?
Timing the lights better would fix this.
I was being sarcastic
Yeah and I responded with the actual solution.
Hilarious how JC Reddit loathes cares so much. News flash. There is a life outside of Jersey City that people need cars for. I’m all for public transportation but sometimes it’s not possible depending where you are going.
Personally I would not live in Jersey City or Manhattan if I lived a lifestyle that required a car. Way too much stress, costs, and other BS to worry about. Living car free in a highly dense area makes life so much easier.
Would love to go carless again, did it for a few years with a different job. But I work is a 40-60 drive to a major NJ office park, that does have a bus stop but would become a 3 hour multi seat commute each way. Also family and friends are a 45-60 minute drive, where best public transit could do is a multi-seat 2.5 hour trip that lines up only a couple times a day that would oils drop me off 25+ minutes drive away from them with essentially no taxi infrastructure
Just to point out I would also love to vote for better intra NJ public transit infrastructure.
I hear ya. I lived car free in JC for 11 years while commuting to NYC. Now I live with a partner who uses a car bc they in NJ outside this area. Definitely not necessary to own a car here, but it’s nice to have. Especially if you have a parking spot with your living situation.
Or you have a driveway/parking garage.
Edit: cares = cars.
Probably spillover from the road closures for the New York City Marathon, the VZ was closed part of the day so that may have been people flocking to cut through Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn instead of going across the SIE and VZ as they normally would.
badquarter t1_ivbj2zj wrote
I think it’s all backed up because of people cutting across downtown for the tunnel. I’m guessing it’s tough getting through the tunnel because of the marathon.