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Underpass woes in Ridgewood

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Letter to the Editor published in The Record, Sunday, June 8, 2014

Underpass woes in Ridgewood

Ridgewood’s underpass brouhaha won’t be over until it’s over.

Meanwhile, the question is how to go under.

We’re assured that a full complement of staff professionals worked on this plan for years and the council approved it unanimously. Responding to public outcry, however, the council quickly agreed to demolish 800 to 900 feet of just-poured curbing to halve the center divider’s width from eight feet to four feet. Previously it was 3.5 feet. That enables two driving lanes to be restored later, if desired.

Good, but what a waste. And aren’t the bicycle lanes the basis of a $146,500 grant under the state’s “Complete Streets” program? Would removing them forfeit the grant?

Since a narrow median can’t support trees, wood chips or gardeners, it will be “hardscaped,” not landscaped. That’s okay, said new Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, because the median plantings on Grove Street have gone to weeds anyway. Moreover, the $5,000 “saved” on trees and $20,000 “saved” on an irrigation system can go toward the $45,000 needed to replace the new curbing.

Communications were inadequate, admitted Sonenfeld. Residents who instantly saw the plan as untenable would have weighed in long ago had they been informed.

During World War II, my father worked with Army traffic in Europe. Pins were stuck into road maps with different pin colors representing the number and extent of accidents at intersections. Where “too many” deaths were tallied, someone was sent to direct traffic.

Is that what will happen at the underpass?

Marcia Ringel
Ridgewood, June 5

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/the-record-letters-sunday-june-8-1.1031360?page=all#sthash.tHmAVDFU.dpuf

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Congestion, conditions and safety shortfalls cost NJ drivers $1,951 a year, says report

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Route_17_Glen062_theridgewoodblog.net

file photo by Boyd Loving

Congestion, conditions and safety shortfalls cost NJ drivers $1,951 a year, says report

EDISON – Advocates for a long-term transportation funding plan in New Jersey have gained a new argument: You’re already spending the money, even without a gas tax hike.

You spend it on mechanics, due to repairs triggered by subpar roads. You pay it to gas stations, filling up more often after sitting in traffic. And you’re forking it over to insurance companies through higher rates that result from crashes on roads lacking modern safety measures.

The tab for such deficiencies, according to a report issued last week by Washington-based transportation research group called TRIP, is $11.8 billion a year. That comes to a sticker-shock average of $1,951 a year per New Jersey driver.

“The total number in New Jersey is a little bit higher than other states, and it’s basically because of congestion costs,” said Will Wilkins, TRIP’s executive director, as the report was issued last week at the NJ Carpenters Funds offices. “New Jersey’s one of the most densely populated states, so the cost goes up when you’re sitting in traffic congestion both for your time and also the motor fuel that’s wasted as you sit there in traffic.”

https://www.app.com/story/news/politics/new-jersey/2015/01/25/report-says-drivers-pay-big-even-without-gas-tax-hike/22239687/

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Road Warrior: Route 4 bridge in Teaneck gets no respect

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PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB LEAFE
Bob Leafe, a reader from of Hackensack, recently spotted this large crack on the bridge near River Road in Teaneck.

Road Warrior: Route 4 bridge in Teaneck gets no respect

JANUARY 25, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 2015, 2:49 PM
BY JOHN CICHOWSKI
RECORD COLUMNIST |
THE RECORD

During a stroll along the Hackensack River walkway on the day after Christmas, Bob Leafe became intrigued by the geese taking shelter under the Route 4 bridge in Teaneck, so he pulled out his camera and started shooting.

But when he looked closely at his work, Bob realized he had shot something a bit less idyllic than wildlife. His photo, as shown here, depicts what appears to be a vertical gash that extends along one of the giant pillars holding up part of the span that carries more than 100,000 vehicles each day, according to the state Department of Transportation.

“I’m no engineer, but that does NOT look good,” he wrote in an email. “Pretty scary,” he said later on the phone, adding that he would look for other ways to cross the Hackensack River from Teaneck to his home in Hackensack.

DOT engineers insist the span is safe enough for traffic — safer certainly than the Route 3 bridge over the same river between East Rutherford and Secaucus, whose left eastbound lane had to be closed last week for at least a month to repair persistent deterioration. Such road conditions rarely attract much attention from Trenton policymakers. But the Route 3 one attracted reporters and photographers to a DOT yard about a half-mile from the bridge, where Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox again made his pitch for a “revenue enhancer.”

This term is code for some sort of additional levy that Fox believes is necessary to replenish the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which has reached its bonding capacity. But the commissioner again avoided endorsing any hike to the hated 10.5-cent-a-gallon motor-fuels tax, which has always fueled most of the fund.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/bridge-gets-no-respect-1.1251241

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NJ transportation fund or NJ transportation Slush fund?

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NJ transportation fund or NJ transportation Slush fund

Readers Demand A Full Accounting of the NJ transportation fund before any New Revenue Sources are Sought

“The Federal Highway Administration tracks all revenues collected by states for use on transportation. The two main sources are the gas tax and tolls. NJ gasoline taxes are low, but the state’s toll collections rank second in the nation behind only the much larger New York. The result is that NJ actually has, according to the Feds, the eighth highest annual revenues to devote to roads and bridges of any state. And yet the NJ Transportation Fund is bust? Why you ask? According to a 2013 study by the Reason Foundation, NJ spends 8.4 TIMES the national average for every mile of road it maintains or builds… it’s not because of the low gas tax, it’s because of inflated union wage rates to build & maintain roads at 8X the national average.

Reader says , We all know that the transportation fund is a black hole of graft an corruption. Why else do the unions want it fully funded? Also gotta love how Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo sees no alternative other than raising the gas tax, but then in the next breath he proposes lowering or doing away with taxes on pension benefits!!! How are the two related you ask? Good question, but probably too difficult for our union hacks to answer because they love riding this gravy train.

No kidding, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo is strongly in favor of raising gasoline taxes, but he also wants to do away with taxes on pension benefits. Wonder whose pocket he’s in ?
https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/11/potential_nj_gas_tax_increase_comes_up_against_christie_2016_prospects.html

He is sometimes referred to as “Senator Sanzari’ since his employer (Sanzari) benefits as a major road builder if the gas taxes are raised..and actually spent on road projects instead of just going into the general fund.

N.J. transportation chief orders immediate review of state’s bridges

JANUARY 20, 2015, 4:39 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015, 11:09 PM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The fight over New Jersey’s nearly-broke transportation fund ratcheted up two notches Tuesday when Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox called for immediate safety inspections on every bridge in the state and local officials were warned not to count on $200 million in state transportation aid this year.

If the transportation fund is empty on July 1, that could throw into limbo an additional $100 million in matching federal aid for towns, endanger scores of road and bridge projects, and cause fiscal headaches for local officials. It also might increase pressure on the Legislature and Governor Christie to fix the transportation fund quickly, some politicians said.

Fox’s inspection order came hours after the collapse of an interstate bridge in Cincinnati, and after the department closed a smaller bridge in New Jersey that engineers discovered was unsafe.

“I’ve ordered an expedited review of all our bridges, state and local,” Fox said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry, so we know definitively whether we have any unsafe bridges.”

Fox’s move illustrates how depleted the transportation fund has become. Officially called the Transportation Trust Fund, it raises $1.2 billion a year, mostly from highway tolls and motor fuels taxes. After years of state borrowing against the fund’s revenues, however, nearly all of the money raised goes to paying the fund’s $18.2-billion debt, and little remains for repair or construction work.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-transportation-chief-orders-immediate-review-of-state-s-bridges-1.1228720

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FDU Poll: 68% oppose a gas tax hike

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FDU Poll: 68% oppose a gas tax hike

With gas prices below $2 a gallon in some parts of the state, policymakers are considering raising the gas tax. Legislators say the additional revenue would go to fund much-needed bridge and road repairs in the state. However, the public isn’t buying it. The most recent statewide survey from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds respondents oppose the idea of additional taxes by a more than two-to-one margin, with many (31%) saying their opposition is driven by skepticism that the funds would be used as intended, and the belief that residents are already overburdened by taxes (45%). (PolitickerNJ)

FDU Poll: 68% oppose a gas tax hike | New Jersey News, Politics, Opinion, and Analysis

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Reader Says No to the Gas Tax Increase : NJ actually has, according to the Feds, the eighth highest annual revenues to devote to roads and bridges of any state.

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District 36. Senator Paul A. Sarlo (D)

Reader Says No to the Gas Tax Increase : NJ actually has, according to the Feds, the eighth highest annual revenues to devote to roads and bridges of any state.

Funny how some on this blog want to raise gasoline taxes. The Federal Highway Administration tracks all revenues collected by states for use on transportation. The two main sources are the gas tax and tolls. NJ gasoline taxes are low, but the state’s toll collections rank second in the nation behind only the much larger New York. The result is that NJ actually has, according to the Feds, the eighth highest annual revenues to devote to roads and bridges of any state. And yet the NJ Transportation Fund is bust? Why you ask? According to a 2013 study by the Reason Foundation, NJ spends 8.4 TIMES the national average for every mile of road it maintains or builds… it’s not because of the low gas tax, it’s because of inflated union wage rates to build & maintain roads at 8X the national average. No wonder Senator Sanzari, I mean Sarlo, wants to raise gas taxes. Vote him out, recall him, whatever, the guy is a pure thug

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PSE&G Cuts Residential Gas Bills This Winter With Three Months of Bill Credits

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file photo Boyd Loving

PSE&G Cuts Residential Gas Bills This Winter With Three Months of Bill Credits
October 23, 2014

Bill credits are in addition to 9 percent reduction on Oct. 1

(Newark, NJ – October 23, 2014) Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) announced today that it is providing a bill credit for the next three months for its residential gas supply customers that will cut the average bill for the typical residential gas heating customer by about 31 percent.  The company will provide its residential customers who purchase gas supply from PSE&G a 28-cents per therm bill credit for usage during November, December and January.

A typical residential gas heating customer using 91 therms in November, 165 therms in December and 165 therms in January would see a total bill credit of approximately $118. Depending on meter reading schedules, many customers will see some of the credit in November, December and January with the remainder in February.

These bill credits are in addition to the reduction the utility has already put into effect on October 1, 2014, which reduced its gas supply rate to 45 cents per therm from 54 cents – its lowest rate in 14 years.

“Since 2009, PSE&G’s residential gas customers have benefitted from steady reductions in the cost of natural gas,” said Jorge Cardenas, PSE&G vice president of asset management and centralized services. “We’re able to provide additional savings this winter given the continued availability of low-cost gas from the nearby Marcellus Shale Formation in Pennsylvania. In addition, our transportation and storage capabilities and the way we manage our pipeline contracts have enabled us to seize this opportunity to once again reduce costs for our customers.

“While there’s no guarantee that these savings will be available in future years, we are pleased to pass them on to our customers as temperatures are dropping and they strive to keep their winter heating bills affordable,” Cardenas said.

PSE&G makes no profit on the sale of natural gas. The utility passes along what it pays for the gas to customers. Costs of natural gas supply account for about half of the customer’s monthly bill.

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Overnight Milling Project at Garber Square in Ridgewood

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photos by Boyd Loving

Overnight Milling Project at Garber Square 
October 21,2104
Boyd A. Loving

Ridgewood NJ, Garber Square, Ridgewood was closed in both directions (eastbound and westbound) to all vehicular traffic from 2000 hours on Monday, 10/20/2014, through 0600 hours on Tuesday, 10/21/2014 to allow for milling of the road surface in preparation for paving.  This work was performed in connection with a major streetscape project approved by the Ridgewood Village Council.  In addition to paving, the project will include the addition of bike lanes in both directions, the reduction of traffic lanes from two lanes to one lane, and a median island.

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photos by Boyd Loving

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Village Notice : Garber Square Complete Streets Projects

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Village Notice : Garber Square Complete Streets Projects

Village of Ridgewood E-Notice

Re: Garber Square Complete Streets Projects

Dear Residents and Businesses,

All that is remaining for the completion of the Garber Square Project is the actual milling, paving and striping of the road.   This is currently planned to be done overnight, with the possible exception of striping, so there will be no more planned lane closures during the daytime.

Milling is currently scheduled for Monday, October 20th between the hours of 8 P.M. through 6 A.M.  We will do our utmost to choreograph the parts of the road we close during this time period, mindful of both the restaurant traffic and morning commuter traffic.   As I have mentioned to you before, this plan is weather dependent.

I would like to thank you again for your patience and understanding.   I believe that the area is looking great and more importantly, we will have enhanced the safety for pedestrians, vehicles and bicycles.  Please check our website for future updates on the status of the milling, paving and striping.

Best and Thanks,

Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager

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No Surprise Here Past League of Muncipalities Prez: ‘ I would support a rise in the gas tax’

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No Surprise Here Past League of Muncipalities Prez: ‘ I would support a rise in the gas tax’

Wretched, abysmal traffic and worn out roads pockmarked with potholes characterize New Jersey’s quality of life, lawmakers grimly confirmed this morning as the Assembly Transportation Committee kicked around the possibility of a hike in the gas tax to replenish the state Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), with several local voices signifying support. (Pizarro/PolitickerNJ)

https://www.politickernj.com/82546/league-muncipalities-prez-i-would-support-rise-gas-tax

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Remember all that “Stimulus Money”…..

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Remember all that “Stimulus Money”…..

Are You Out There, Stimulus? It’s Me, The Taxpayer.
Nick Gillespie|Mar. 28, 2013 8:39 am

Columnist Ron Hart asks a question that’s answered by the cover story of the current issue of Reason (and perfectly summarized by the cover image of same): Where did all that sweet stimulus money go?

Of the money spent in swing state Wisconsin, 80 percent went to public sector unions – those with already locked-in jobs. In fact, right-to-work states got $266 less per person in stimulus money than heavily unionized states. Where Democrats had a vast majority of representatives, their states got $460 per person more.

More pointedly, Hart writes,

Remember when Obama got his trillion-odd dollars of “stimulus money” which he and the Democrats breathlessly said we needed for “shovel ready” jobs to re-build roads and infrastructure? Please e-mail me if anything of the sort got built in your town. Nothing got built in the cities where I spend time….

Peter Suderman’s article in the May issue – which you’d be reading right now if you subscribed for just $14.63 under our special Sequestration Offer – lays out exactly where stimulus spending went and why it didn’t work as advertised.

Yes, tens of millions of dollars literally went to install new toilets in parks Alaska, New Mexico, Washington state, and elsewhere. If only we could have flushed our way to recovery.

More important, Suderman writes (and this can’t be underscored enough), “The economy’s performance continues to be far worse than the White House’s worst-case projections for what might happen if there had been no stimulus at all.”

https://reason.com/blog/2013/03/28/are-you-out-there-stimulus-its-me-the-ta

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N.J. pays highest cost per mile for some of the country’s worst state roads, study finds

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file photo Boyd Loving

N.J. pays highest cost per mile for some of the country’s worst state roads, study finds

By Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on September 18, 2014 at 7:00 AM, updated September 18, 2014 at 6:05 PM

New Jersey spends by far the most money per mile on its state roads, even though they rank near the bottom in terms of their overall condition, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study by the California-based Reason Foundation concluded that New Jersey spends $2 million per mile to maintain and operate its state roads.

In terms of the cost-effectiveness of the state’s highway system, that is, the overall condtion of its roads as measured against the cost of maintaining and operating them, New Jersey ranked 48th in the nation, behind Hawaii and Alaska, according to the Reason’s 21st Annual Highway Report.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/09/study_ranks_new_jersey_roads_high_in_cost_low_in_performans.html

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Reader Gives a brief history of this money-pit debacle.

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Reader Gives a brief history of this money-pit debacle.

A brief history of this money-pit debacle.

1. The new Village manager, with the backing of her lefty base, thought it would be the right thing to do, to instal traffic-calming measures on a stretch of road that was badly in need to repair. No public discussion was invited.

2. A contractor was awarded the project and there does not appear to have been language in the contract regarding completion time.

3. Work starts and the public quickly learn of this major change to the Village’s one and only traffic link between the two sides of town. Outrage is the result and work is stopped.

4. Work eventually resumes, whereby much of the original work has to be put back the way it was and the project basically starts again.

5. The Village Manager issues a public statement regarding her displeasure at the length of time the project is taking, and talks of finding a new contractor.

Is it any wonder people don’t want the Government managing their health?

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Ridgewood insists contractor pick up pace on street project

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Ridgewood insists contractor pick up pace on street project

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014, 1:21 AM
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — Work has been slow on a controversial street improvement project that has frustrated village officials exploring their options.

Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said construction recently resumed on the Garber Square project, following a three-month gap. But things are proceeding “very, very slowly,” she said, before suggesting Ridgewood officials consider hiring another contractor to finish the job.

“We were hoping to be a lot farther” along with the project, Sonenfeld said, adding the contractor “is aware we are not happy.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-insists-contractor-pick-up-pace-on-street-project-1.1084487#sthash.pD8eGyJJ.dpuf

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Traffic Impact Study to Continue for Garber Square

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Traffic Impact Study to Continue for Garber Square

Ridgewood NJ,  Chief John M. Ward  updates residents on the process .As many of you are aware we undertook a traffic impact study from late May through the end of July. This study utilized specialized camera suits loaned to the police department at no cost by a community-policing partner Secure Watch 24. Additionally to avoid costs to our residents college interns working with the department as well as myself conducted the study. Staff from Secure Watch 24 also monitored the cameras during the period of June and July.

During the months of June and July no evidence of significant delays related to the new traffic patterns were observed. We realize that the study was conducted during the summer, and that traffic flow is generally lighter. However the study was dependent upon the availability of the camera units and interns. Unfortunately the company did need the loaned equipment to assist with event security elsewhere during the month of August.
Secure Watch 24 has again provided two camera suits (at no cost) for our continued traffic impact study. The study is scheduled to resume within the next week. We hope to gather more data now that school is back in session.

I would like to thank Secure Watch 24 for their continued assistance as well as our interns for their hard work.

Chief John M. Ward