As motorists have surely noticed, last year’s prediction from the state Department of Transportation that the Tonnelle Avenue road-widening project would be completed in July 2010 isn’t even close to coming true.
And North Bergen Township officials are upset for a number of reasons. They say that on top of the need for some of the work to be redone, the state has stopped paying for a police detail at the construction sites, even though, they say, the work has allegedly caused an increase in accidents and traffic congestion. They also say that the state has refused to consider their suggestions about how to wind up the project.
“It just seems like it’s a never-ending battle and they are still working on it now,” said North Bergen Police Chief William Galvin.
Mayor Nicholas Sacco agreed, stating that it was “going on and on. It has been a nightmare of incompetence, that a job like this was supposed to be done in 2009 and we’re still stretching it now,” he said.
“This is an absolute nightmare.” – Christopher Pianese
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“This is an absolute nightmare,” said Township Administrator Christopher Pianese. “The contractor is just grinding through what has become the largest job we’ve ever witnessed.”
Won’t budge for town
Galvin said when the DOT first began widening and repaving the road, as well as replacing sewers, drainage, sidewalks and traffic lights in the beginning of 2006, it was slated to be completed in April 2009.
Also known as State Route 1&9, last year the state said that widening of the highway further north had been completed for the most part, while construction on it through North Bergen into Jersey City would continue. In North Bergen, the road spans from 91st Street to Secaucus Road.
He also said the state paid the township for around six officers to control traffic during the day, six at night, and five overnight. However, because the state capped funding for the police detail, they have not paid since January 2009. A New Jersey State Trooper is on site, but he said that officer is only making sure that work is completed according to state protocol.
“When our [police officers] say to us, ‘the DOT isn’t going to fund it, and it’s an unsafe condition,’ we’ll put them out there on their own, but we’re running into big dollars as long as this job continues,” said Pianese.
The township initially projected that construction would be complete before the Vornado Realty Trust mall opened, where big box stores like Walmart now exist at 88th Street and Tonnelle Avenue. They also believed that they would be able to match the developer’s $3 million promise to fund a left-hand turning lane on 91st Street with state Urban Enterprise Zone dollars.
UEZ zones allow municipalities to collect a reduced sales tax which is given back to them for UEZ zone salaries and beautification, but since Gov. Christopher Christie has taken office, the funds have been frozen.
Pianese said that North Bergen will borrow funds through a bond in order to get the job done, but that finishing the turn lane, along with the DOT’s remaining construction, will not be finished until at least the middle of next year.
“This is after pressuring the state to get it done quickly,” said Pianese. “Every time we have an issue, we’re on the phone with the DOT. [Sacco], the senators, have put pressure on the DOT. It’s basically out of our hands at this point.”
Sacco, who is the chairperson to the Senate Transportation Committee, said that he has staff working on the issue to no avail.
Galvin said that he has asked the DOT to hold a meeting for the public and to create flyers explaining the project, but that they haven’t done it.
Traffic woes
Galvin said the DOT has been unwilling to remove certain traffic cones and barricades that the township considers unnecessary and confusing for motorists.
“We have a lot more accidents because people are unaware of the way the cones are set up,” said Galvin.
He said that the state has refused to remove the cones barricading the turning lanes until electricians set up the lights, but he feels motorists are smart enough to observe the lights and know when to turn. Removing them would decrease the traffic in the area, which is often at its worst over the weekend, when shoppers visit the area, Galvin said.
These barricades have forced drivers into local neighborhoods, where residents have complained about traffic and fumes. Police often close these side streets down in an effort to control this, but it happens nonetheless.
Galvin said that the increased traffic has led to car accidents.
“The amount of car accidents are up and you know what, to us, a minor fender bender [between two cars] is still [often] $5,000 worth of damage,” said Galvin.
He said that by talking to other police departments, it appears that funding for cops across the state has “dried up.”
No response from state
Last summer DOT Spokeswoman Erin Phalon told the North Bergen Reporter that the project would be finished in July 2009 and that delays were due to a “change of plans,” rather than utility and construction problems.
She said the only work remaining was southbound lanes of Tonnelle Avenue, paving from 61st to 83rd Streets, and utility and drainage work from 83rd to 91st Streets.
Numerous phone calls made to the DOT’s press office were not returned in time for publication.
Sacco said that Tarheel was also awarded the bid to the state’s 69th Street overpass project and that officials are concerned that its construction may take “many years” as well.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.
(Poll closes Thursday, Sept. 9.)