MTR 39, Goethals Bridge Twin Reviled in Staten Island...

Mobilizing the Region
Issue 39 June 16, 1995

Goethals Bridge Twin Reviled in Staten Island...

Only one of 30-40 speakers at a Staten Island public hearing Tuesday afternoon and evening spoke in favor of the Port Authority's plan to build a second highway bridge alongside the existing NJ-Staten Island span. Staten Island elected leaders, community advocates, environmentalists and concerned citizens stepped forward to condemn the bridge proposal for promising to worsen quality of life and make the lot of S.I. commuters harder, not easier. The thrust of most comments was that while the new bridge might improve vehicle flow over the Arthur Kill, that traffic would only back up somewhere else, further burdening the island and its roads. The most progressive statements called for the development of Staten Island public transit options. Borough President Guy Molinari said he could not support the bridge project until significant infrastructure improvements for transit in Staten Island were made. Molinari said north shore commuter rail could be implemented for less than the cost of the new bridge. He called "auto-dependent commuting" a "bad habit" that would be further ingrained in island residents until investments in transit matched those for roadways improvements. City Council Members John Fusco and Vito Fossella also backed transit improvements and were harsh in their condemnation of the Port Authority's relationship to the island's commuters and economy. Staten Island Citizens for Clean Air representative Barbara Warren said the agency's main motive for constructing the bridge was to add another source of revenue to its operations. Tri-State Transportation Campaign representatives said the Port Authority was trying to solve "today's and tomorrow's problems with yesterday's solutions," and reported that the project's draft environmental impact statement showed that the bridge would have minimal impact on traffic congestion over time, in large part because of the extra traffic it would attract.

Some criticisms were more tepid, and indicated support for the project as long as the Staten Island Expressway was widened in tandem with construction of the new bridge. This was expressed consistently by state legislators, including Eric Vitaliano, Robert Straniere and Elizabeth Connelly.

...and in Elizabeth

Observers at yesterday's Goethals bridge twin hearing in Elizabeth said those speaking in opposition to the Port Authority plan outnumbered supporters by about three to one. Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage offered a very strong statement in opposition, threatening to sue the Port Authority to halt the project. A civic leader from nearby Linden declared that so-called "transportation improvements" were offered by agencies again and again, but only brought more traffic and more pollution. "No more!" he implored the panel and audience. Representatives from the NJ Association of Rail Passengers identified rail capacity that could be used for passenger service in the area. Tri-State Transportation Campaign representatives again addressed deficiencies in the DEIS, this time including criticism of the absence of bridge life-cycle cost analysis, inadequate treatment of vehicular travel induced by roadway capacity expansion and unwarranted dismissal of congestion pricing as a transportation demand management tool. The Union County Alliance conceded that the bridge project was ill-conceived, but held that something had to be done to improve transportation in the area. The Economic Development Corporation of Union County and several construction groups and citizens spoke in favor of the project.

The fate of the project -- having been so roundly condemned at this week's hearings, will be up to the organizing and political skills of its backers and opponents. Port Authority director George Marlin told the Staten Island Advance last week that despite the considerable expense of undertaking the environmental impact statement, the agency's decision about the project "is not yet made."

Star Ledger