Pulaski Skyway To Be Replaced

[JCMAN320]

Pulaski Skyway Replacement Being Designed



Wednesday, February 14, 2007
BY MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JERSEY JOURNAL

Plans are in the works to replace the 75-year-old Pulaski Skyway, the span that connects Newark and Jersey City and is considered one of the most hazardous roadways in the country, the state's top transportation official said yesterday.

Department of Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri said drivers "will get a new structure capable of handling the volume of traffic in a safe and efficient manner," and that new design features "will reflect the needs of the 21st century."

"It is a structure that is structurally and functionally obsolete," Kolluri said of the skyway. "The reality is, it has to get done."

Funding for the Pulaski Skyway "rehab and replacement" plan al lots $10 million each year through 2010 for regular maintenance and repair of the roadway that opened in 1932. In 2011, about $135 million will be allotted as a foundation for the cost of the replacement project, Kolluri said.

"At one point, construction alone was predicted to be close to $1 billion," Kolluri said, adding that he could not say when construction might start.

Kolluri said that over the next several years, the DOT will work up design options for replacing the 3.5-mile structure that cost about $20 million to build and includes two 550-feet spans over the Hackensack and Passaic rivers.

He also said the replacement would be paid from the state Transportation Trust Fund but he hoped a large part would be paid by the federal government. Colluri confirmed that design flaws which now make the skyway so dangerous will be addressed in the design process.

Flaws include entrance ramps that channel cars into the fast lane, poor visibility at entrance ramps, no shoulders, issues of glare and others.

--------------------------------

The Pulaski Skyway is on the National Register of Historic Structures.

Wikipedia article on the "Skyway": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulaski_Skyway

[JCMAN320]

The Jersey Journal

IN OUR OPINION

Replacing deadly Skyway is overdue

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The state Department of Transportation will spend the next several years drawing up design options to replace the Pulaski Skyway, an elevated roadway that many consider the most dangerous in the nation. Plans are to replace the 75-year-old structure - and it is long overdue.

Unfortunately, lives have been lost over the past several decades as motorists navigated this hazardous span connecting Jersey City and Newark. This roadway is known for its harrowing flaws that include: a scary fast lane where vehicles often exceed speed limits; no shoulders for any emergencies; poor visibility; serious sun glare; and exit and entrance ramps at several points that create dangerous traffic merges on the bridge.

Constructed at a cost of about $20 million, the Pulaski Skyway is a 3.5-mile bridge with two 550-foot spans that cross both the Hackensack and Passaic rivers. It opened in 1932.

The DOT expects to pay $10 million a year through 2010 for the Pulaski's maintenance and in 2011, the agency expects to budget $135 million for its replacement. Early cost projection for construction of a safer skyway is at $1 billion, but like everything else, one can expect the price tag to balloon as the years go by.

The latest fatal Skyway accident came on Jan. 23, when authorities said off-duty Jersey City Police Officer Kevin Freibott, 39, was driving his Jeep Cherokee while intoxicated and rammed the back of a car that had just gotten onto the Skyway from an entrance ramp. A 2-year-old boy died from his injuries and his 37-year-old mother remains in critical condition.

Many of Hudson County's roads and bridges are a danger to its residents and anyone driving through the county. This is why the state is replacing another major death trap, an aging H. Otto Wittpenn Bridge that spans Jersey City and Kearny, located alongside the Pulaski Skyway.

The Wittpenn complements the Pulaski Skyway as a corridor of death. Earlier last month, a 35-year-old man was the latest killed on the outdated Wittpenn when he drove into oncoming traffic to pass a truck and lost control of his vehicle. In 2000, four former Dickinson High School students died when their car apparently veered into an oncoming tractor trailer on the approach to the smaller bridge in Jersey City. In the 1980s, four nuns died on the bridge in a fiery crash.

The quicker the state acts on these two projects, the more lives will likely be saved.

[Ninjahedge]

I agree that the road is not the best, but siting a drunk driving accident as proof of it being so is not the best.

The main problem with the road is that it was designed as a 2 lane 45mph roadway, and everyone flies along it at 70!

If they could get people to slow down somehow, it would not be that bad.

I think they should still build another higher-speed roadway for commuters and the like. Hell, maybe find a way to make it a commuter rail transport as well! But it all depends on how much $$ it would take to keep the old one running. Maybe designate it as only commercial transport? Make it a bus-route? Who knows.

[NYatKNIGHT]

I hope it gets replaced, but not demolished. It is unnerving and dangerous to drive on, but it's one of the coolest looking structures anywhere.

[Dagrecco82]

It really is a beautiful structure. So, since it's under the National Register of Historic Structures, does that not allow the bridge to be demolished or is it Landmark Statues that does that?

[lofter1]

The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Listing in the National Register honors a historic place by recognizing its importance to its community, State or the Nation. Under Federal law, owners of private property listed in the National Register are free to maintain, manage, or dispose of their property as they choose provided that there is no Federal involvement. Owners have no obligation to open their properties to the public, to restore them or even to maintain them, if they choose not to do so.

Some States and communities have enacted preservation laws or ordinances that apply to National Register listed properties. To find out about historic preservation laws that may apply to your historic property, follow these links for the address and phone number of your State Historic Preservation Office, Tribal Preservation Office, or Federal Preservation Office.

In addition to honorific recognition, listing in the National Register results in the following for historic properties:

• Consideration in planning for Federal, federally licensed, and federally assisted projects;

[millertime83]

Pulaski Skyway Replacement Being Designed

. . . He also said the replacement would be paid from the state Transportation Trust Fund . . .

What Transportation Trust Fund, lol

[JCMAN320]

News Flash:

It has been reported that they will not be replacing the Skyway. It was rumored that it would eb replaced, but it was later found that they will just be doing extensive renovation and repairs to it but said there are no plans for the immediate future to replace the Skyway whatsoever. The Skyway stays!!!!

[Radiohead]

Below are some recent stories concerning the skyway. The Minnesota bridge collapse has put a renewed focus of the safety of this old bridge. The Minneapolis I-35 bridge was rated a 50 out of 100. The Pulaski skyway is rated a 2.



http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?.../20102713/&fg=

http://clydestuff.blogspot.com/2007/...nt-bridge.html

[antinimby]

Scary.

[ablarc]

All that beautiful trusswork...

[JCMAN320]

Pulaski Skyway will undergo a 10 year repair plan.

By the way the Brooklyn Bridge was rated as one of the most unsafe bridges in the country and got a big fat zero!!!!

[ramvid01]

Pulaski Skyway will undergo a 10 year repair plan.

By the way the Brooklyn Bridge was rated as one of the most unsafe bridges in the country and got a big fat zero!!!!

The ramps onto the bridge were rated poor. The bridge itself is fine.

[JCMAN320]

Not what I read the anchors on both sides of the river are in poor condition as well. The Brooklyn Bridge as whole got a zero.

[NewYorkDoc]

Not what I read the anchors on both sides of the river are in poor condition as well. The Brooklyn Bridge as whole got a zero.

This is scary.