Route 17 widening project
photo Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco talking to PBS New Jersey’s Brenda Flanagan today about the County’s role in working to advance the Route 17 bottleneck resolution
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hackensack NJ, This is a crucial, complex story involving a major infrastructure project, significant taxpayer money, and serious allegations of lack of transparency and potential corruption at the state level. The rewrite focuses on the “mystery” of the contract switch, the OPRA denial, and the high-stakes nature of the Route 17 widening for maximum impact.
A major contract for the long-awaited Route 17 widening project in Bergen County has landed the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) in a storm of controversy. The agency initially awarded the lucrative engineering contract to the highest-scoring firm, HNTB Corp., only to reverse the decision within an hour and give the $15.2 million job to a lower-scoring firm, Michael Baker International, citing a “clerical error.”
The lack of explanation and the subsequent refusal to release documents have fueled allegations of a severe lack of transparency at the state level.
The Flip-Flop: Highest Score Loses the Contract
The contract—which covers the preliminary engineering for the highly anticipated Route 17 bottleneck solution through Maywood, Rochelle Park, and Paramus—is critical to a project estimated to cost between $150 million and $200 million.
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Initial Award: HNTB Corp., which had extensive prior experience on Route 17 projects, was announced as the winner.
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The Switch: Within 60 minutes, the awardee was changed to Michael Baker International, which received a slightly lower score (341.833 vs. HNTB’s 341.967).
NJDOT Spokesman Stephen Schapiro claimed the initial announcement was a clerical error, saying the selection memo had listed “statistically tied” firms, and the person posting the result misread the checked box. He defended the final choice by citing federal guidelines (the Brooks Act) that allow firms within the top 5% score to be considered “statistically tied” and eligible for selection based on the committee’s “collective wisdom.”
The Transparency Wall: OPRA Denials
The most troubling aspect for government watchdogs is the state’s refusal to provide documents that could support the DOT’s claim and clarify the decision-making process. The NJDOT has denied multiple public records requests (OPRA) for crucial documents, including:
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Documents showing the selection committee’s vote and reasoning.
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Email logs related to the Route 17 project during the award period.
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Key card swipe records for officials at DOT headquarters on the day of the switch.
The agency cited new changes to the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) of 2024 and personnel privacy as reasons for the denials. Rutgers Professor Julia Sass Rubin argues this “degradation of transparency” encourages potential corruption and is a worrying sign of a “political machine state.”
The Stakes: Solving the Route 17 Bottleneck
The contract dispute overshadows a vital piece of infrastructure for Bergen County. The widening project aims to address the notorious bottleneck along less than two miles of highway—a stretch where studies show there is at least one crash per day.
While Michael Baker has negotiated a favorable $15.2 million contract (below the $19 million estimate), the cloud of secrecy surrounding the selection process raises serious questions about public accountability when hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are on the line.
Construction is slated to begin in fiscal year 2031.
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