New Jersey

[jeffandnicole]

given the current financial woes, what % of this proposed budget would you expect to get funded?

100%.

There's the Transportation Trust Fund...and then there's money out of the general budget. The state's been in this position before - in fact, it seems like it's in this position every year. 

[akotchi]

I read that its the merge from I-78 E B to I-287 N B they are working on.  It says those exiting at Pluckemin after merging have to cross five lanes to do so.

Yes it is.  The issue is also with the trucks on that ramp that have to weave across a number of lanes just to be in the right mainline lanes upstream.

[Alps]

I read that its the merge from I-78 E B to I-287 N B they are working on.  It says those exiting at Pluckemin after merging have to cross five lanes to do so.

Yes it is.  The issue is also with the trucks on that ramp that have to weave across a number of lanes just to be in the right mainline lanes upstream.

All they would have to do is reopen the existing loop ramp from 78E to 287N and sign it for 202/206.

[roadman65]

They actually have improved already the SB Left US 202/206 exit as before all two lanes went to the exit.  Only one lane remained for straight through traffic and that one lane merged with the outside roadway from the left. In the past it was safer to actually exit US 202/206 for Somerville than to stay on 287 as you had to be in the right lane and then have your lane drop in just less than a quarter mile.

At least I-287 maintains at least two lanes all the way through at current.

What always got me is the fact the inner roadway got two exit lanes and the outer road got only a single lane ramp.  I am guessing that has to do with I-78 westbound traffic, as most exiting Exit 29 to go south use US 202/206 than stay straight through to Somerset, Piscataway, and ultimately the Edison/ Woodbridge area.

[akotchi]

I read that its the merge from I-78 E B to I-287 N B they are working on.  It says those exiting at Pluckemin after merging have to cross five lanes to do so.

Yes it is.  The issue is also with the trucks on that ramp that have to weave across a number of lanes just to be in the right mainline lanes upstream.

All they would have to do is reopen the existing loop ramp from 78E to 287N and sign it for 202/206.

My office had this project from preliminary engineering, but I did not get involved until final design so the decisions had been made.  As memory serves, it was one of the many alternatives considered and only would have solved the I-78 EB to U.S. 202-206 weaving issue.  The I-78 EB to I-287 NB truck movements would still have been weaving from the left side of the highway to the right (slowly too up a mild upgrade), and that was viewed as the bigger safety issue.   Sending I-287 trucks to this loop ramp was considered to be confusing and difficult to enforce.  In addition, use of the loop ramp would also create a short weave section with the SB-to-EB loop ramp.

[Alps]

I read that its the merge from I-78 E B to I-287 N B they are working on.  It says those exiting at Pluckemin after merging have to cross five lanes to do so.

Yes it is.  The issue is also with the trucks on that ramp that have to weave across a number of lanes just to be in the right mainline lanes upstream.

All they would have to do is reopen the existing loop ramp from 78E to 287N and sign it for 202/206.

My office had this project from preliminary engineering, but I did not get involved until final design so the decisions had been made.  As memory serves, it was one of the many alternatives considered and only would have solved the I-78 EB to U.S. 202-206 weaving issue.  The I-78 EB to I-287 NB truck movements would still have been weaving from the left side of the highway to the right (slowly too up a mild upgrade), and that was viewed as the bigger safety issue.   Sending I-287 trucks to this loop ramp was considered to be confusing and difficult to enforce.  In addition, use of the loop ramp would also create a short weave section with the SB-to-EB loop ramp.

Those are good points, and I'm glad they were at least considered.

[NJRoadfan]

NJ-18's new north end is now signed. There is a "BEGIN SOUTH NJ-18" shield on Possumtown Rd. going south at the I-287 overpass. There is also an "END NJ-18" on Centennial Ave. heading west at the I-287 south onramp/Knightsbridge Rd. light

[jeffandnicole]

Rutgers University did a study to determine how much it costs plan, construct, operate, and maintain one mile of roadway under NJDOT jurisdiction: $183,757.  A recent study by the Reason Foundation stated that NJ roads cost $2 million a mile, that relied heavily on assumptions.  No one questions that NJ spend a lot on their roads, but the $2 million figure was ridiculously high.

NJDOT Press Release: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/about/press/2016/051916.shtm

Rutgers study: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/publicat/2016studyconopmaint.pdf

[dgolub]

NJ-18's new north end is now signed. There is a "BEGIN SOUTH NJ-18" shield on Possumtown Rd. going south at the I-287 overpass. There is also an "END NJ-18" on Centennial Ave. heading west at the I-287 south onramp/Knightsbridge Rd. light

I was through there back in December, and those signs were up at that point.  Do they have any signs on I-287 yet?

[Roadrunner75]

Rutgers University did a study to determine how much it costs plan, construct, operate, and maintain one mile of roadway under NJDOT jurisdiction: $183,757.  A recent study by the Reason Foundation stated that NJ roads cost $2 million a mile, that relied heavily on assumptions.  No one questions that NJ spend a lot on their roads, but the $2 million figure was ridiculously high.

NJDOT Press Release: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/about/press/2016/051916.shtm

Rutgers study: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/publicat/2016studyconopmaint.pdf

The $183K number sounds really low to me when you factor in all the costs involved from planning/design to completion and maintenance, especially in this state.

[jeffandnicole]

Rutgers University did a study to determine how much it costs plan, construct, operate, and maintain one mile of roadway under NJDOT jurisdiction: $183,757.  A recent study by the Reason Foundation stated that NJ roads cost $2 million a mile, that relied heavily on assumptions.  No one questions that NJ spend a lot on their roads, but the $2 million figure was ridiculously high.

NJDOT Press Release: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/about/press/2016/051916.shtm

Rutgers study: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/publicat/2016studyconopmaint.pdf

The $183K number sounds really low to me when you factor in all the costs involved from planning/design to completion and maintenance, especially in this state.

Yeah, it does.  But it's also looking at lane miles, rather than highway miles.  A 6 lane highway equals $1.1 million.  4 lanes equal $735k.  When you start looking at those figures, then it seems to make a bit more sense.

[Mr. Matté]

Rutgers University did a study to determine how much it costs plan, construct, operate, and maintain one mile of roadway under NJDOT jurisdiction: $183,757.  A recent study by the Reason Foundation stated that NJ roads cost $2 million a mile, that relied heavily on assumptions.  No one questions that NJ spend a lot on their roads, but the $2 million figure was ridiculously high.

Who'd've thought that a libertarian think tank would try to skew numbers on public highway construction/maintenance?

[jeffandnicole]

Rutgers University did a study to determine how much it costs plan, construct, operate, and maintain one mile of roadway under NJDOT jurisdiction: $183,757.  A recent study by the Reason Foundation stated that NJ roads cost $2 million a mile, that relied heavily on assumptions.  No one questions that NJ spend a lot on their roads, but the $2 million figure was ridiculously high.

Who'd've thought that a libertarian think tank would try to skew numbers on public highway construction/maintenance?

I think their report looked at every state.  When these groups do such vast comparisons, they tend to find some generic similarity that they believe can be used across all states.  However, in some states all roads are state roads, then others are like NJ where some roads are under other jurisdictions.  NJ is even more unusual where a majority of the roads in the state aren't state highways.  NJ still helps fund those county and municipal road repairs that aren't included in the state road mileage though.  Thus, the base methodology these reports use really don't compare apples to apples.

[NJRoadfan]

NJDOT quietly rolled out public access to their interactive Straight Line Diagram system: http://www13.state.nj.us/sldweb/sldviewer.aspx

They also rolled out public access to their video log database: http://www13.state.nj.us/sldweb/VideoLog.aspx

Both of the above require Silverlight to be installed.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Even then it's barking at me for it when I have it.

[storm2k]

NJ.com: Full reopening of Pulaski Skyway lanes pushed back a year

Officials blamed delays in late 2014 and early 2015 on winter storms and the discovery of deteriorated steel beams underneath the roadway. Completion of the bridge deck replacement was to be completed by the end of this year.

(Mind you, originally it was supposed to be done right around now. I always though that timeline was a little too ambitious.)

[roadman65]

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/Bergen.pdf

I was trying to reach the SLD for NJ Route 4 and when I was navigating through NJDOT I got the Bergen County Link to give me this.

So far, at least with my computer, that what looks like a billboard shows up with only one page.  Should there be more to this?  I am just asking to see if my browser is messed up or not, as if any of you get more pages, than just the billboard with a CR 579 shield then I must be needed upgrades then.  Or if you all come up with the same, then its the wrong link.

Or better yet, what is the direct link to NJDOT's listing of each individual highway?

Edit:  I found out actually how to download the PDF on it, except it only has one for NJ 4 E Bound with the westbound side being considered secondary.  I am either to assume that NJDOT only does it from West to East on E-W signed routes, with the blue line WB Lanes being the mirror image way a denoting with a blue line or somewhere there is another PDF on it.  If the first assumption is correct  then NJ 4 Westbound technically starts from US 9W  on its ramp to it and not from I-95 as the download I got shows the WB blue line originating there.

[dgolub]

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/Bergen.pdf

I was trying to reach the SLD for NJ Route 4 and when I was navigating through NJDOT I got the Bergen County Link to give me this.

The per-county SLD only includes the 600 series county routes for the county.  There's a separate statewide SLD PDF for state, interstate, and toll highways at http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/State%20Routes.pdf.

[yakra]

Silverfish? Adobe reader? Bleah, NJDOT really goes out of their way to make this info inaccessible to those of us on Linux systems. Can someone take screenshots of the relevant bits of NJ18?

Edit: So this sign would now be for NJ18 proper rather than TO NJ18, then?

[jeffandnicole]

Silverfish? Adobe reader? Bleah, NJDOT really goes out of their way to make this info inaccessible to those of us on Linux systems. Can someone take screenshots of the relevant bits of NJ18?

Adobe is a very standard format used by nearly everyone.  How is that going out of their way? 

[roadman65]

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/Bergen.pdf

I was trying to reach the SLD for NJ Route 4 and when I was navigating through NJDOT I got the Bergen County Link to give me this.

The per-county SLD only includes the 600 series county routes for the county.  There's a separate statewide SLD PDF for state, interstate, and toll highways at http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/State%20Routes.pdf.

Thanks on that one. 

[roadman65]

This in from a friend of mine on Facebook.  NJ State Police is supposed to be cracking down on speeders on 9 NJ highways including the Parkway real soon with the deployment of 50 24/7 patrol cars all unmarked of course.  I cannot confirm it for sure, so basically this is just a be careful thing. 

My friend has a friend who's dad is retired from the NJ State Police, and he confirmed it to him.  The ad on FB was handwritten by the son of the retired officer and not a link from a website, otherwise I would share it here.  So its just rumor at this point and no need for panic yet.

However, if someone in NJ would research it to see if the info is correct, because if so driving all of New Jersey's interstates would be like driving US 301 in Starke, FL.  For those of you unfamiliar with Starke and some of its neighbors, those towns love making revenue off speeders even if its 5 mph over the posted speed zone. 

[jeffandnicole]

This in from a friend of mine on Facebook.  NJ State Police is supposed to be cracking down on speeders on 9 NJ highways including the Parkway real soon with the deployment of 50 24/7 patrol cars all unmarked of course.  I cannot confirm it for sure, so basically this is just a be careful thing. 

My friend has a friend who's dad is retired from the NJ State Police, and he confirmed it to him.  The ad on FB was handwritten by the son of the retired officer and not a link from a website, otherwise I would share it here.  So its just rumor at this point and no need for panic yet.

However, if someone in NJ would research it to see if the info is correct, because if so driving all of New Jersey's interstates would be like driving US 301 in Starke, FL.  For those of you unfamiliar with Starke and some of its neighbors, those towns love making revenue off speeders even if its 5 mph over the posted speed zone. 

Not this shit again...

It's an email/facebook forward that's been going out for several years now.  They simply change the month when it's supposedly going to occur.  Also, the email uses funky language...they would never say they're going to target I-95 North & South, for example...why would they target just one direction?  They would just say I-95. 

Everyone has a friend of a friend who's Mother's Uncle's Sister's Pet Dog is related to someone who could somewhat may have authority somewhere.

Trust me...it's not true.

[Mr. Matté]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/traffic/speeding.asp

Funny how many state variations include the infamous "1-xx" highways.

[PHLBOS]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/traffic/speeding.asp
Funny how many state variations include the infamous "1-xx" highways.

That Snopes posting and commentary is at least 11 years old.

One line that definitely shows its age is (emphasis added):

They have issued 30 brand new unmarked Crown Victoria cruisers

Ford stopped producing its Panther platform (that the Crown Victoria is based on) almost 5 years ago.