UPDATE: Sinkholes Close Key NJ Interstate-80 As Officials Seek Solutions, Funding

ENR’s article goes into the history, the root causes of the sink holes, the solutions and funding for properly stabilizing the area of impacted to restore traffic for I-80 in Wharton, NJ. NJDOT explains it will be approximately seven weeks from the time of the update (March 28, 2025) until traffic is restored.

Engineering News Record (ENR), 03/26/2025: https://www.enr.com/articles/60506-update-sinkholes-close-key-nj-interstate-80-as-officials-seek-solutions-funding

Low-budget equipment facilitating skid coefficient extraction for traffic accident analysis

This paper dives into a new technique for identifying the skid coefficient at recent vehicular crash sites. The skid coefficient coupled with the length of the skid provide data to deter-mine vehicular speeds at the time of the crash. The new technology/tool is a more cost-effective and reliable methodology for determining skid coefficients.

ScienceDirect, 01/17/2025: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666691X25000053

ACROW bridges are used to facilitate maintenance and protection of traffic on one of NJ’s major arterials.

“Acrow, a leading international bridge engineering and supply company, announced it has designed and supplied a modular steel bridge to maintain three lanes of traffic during a lengthy construction project on the Garden State Parkway in northern New Jersey. The Garden State Parkway bridge over the Passaic River, U.S. Route 46 and River Drive was completed in 1955 and carries three lanes each of bidirectional traffic between the City of Clifton and the Borough of Elmwood Park. In recent years, as the bridge approached the end of its useful life, deterioration of the superstructure and deck had led to the need for priority repair projects.

The Acrow 700XS® bridge was selected for the project by contractor IEW Construction Group and will maintain southbound traffic for the duration of the construction. It has an overall length of 980 feet, which includes 18 spans of 40 feet each as well as north and south approach spans of 120 and 140 feet, respectively. The structure is 36 feet wide to accommodate three lanes of traffic and has an asphalt surface with an AASHTO HL-93 load rating.”

Highways Today, 4/10/2024: https://highways.today/2024/04/10/acrow-steel-bridge-new-jersey/

Supercharge your community’s quick-build safety demonstration projects with Safe Streets for All

“40 percent of the new $1 billion-per-year Safe Streets for All program must be directed to planning rather than constructing tangible infrastructure projects. A clarification that the planning grants can support quick-build safety demonstration projects presents an enormous opportunity for cities and towns to directly tap the available $400 million and experiment with low-cost temporary street safety projects.”

The new Safe Streets for All (SS4A) is crucial to providing local cities, towns, and counties with access to federal funds for creating safety action plans and implementing safety improvements. The SS4A planning grants are now eligible to support demonstration projects, in hopes of helping make up the gap between planning and implementation funding. Quick build demonstration projects are temporary, low-cost improvements used to test new street design and safety countermeasure options. They allow for community and public involvement and are supported, in general, by FHWA to obtain buy-in prior to permanent project implementation or expenditures on design.

Transportation for America,  02/13/2024: https://t4america.org/2024/02/13/supercharge-your-communitys-quick-build-safety-demonstration-projects-with-safe-streets-for-all/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=644dc34b-7ecf-4174-956e-c7986cf606fa

A new online tool available from the NJTPA  will give municipalities and other agencies access to detailed travel data for hundreds of locations, helping them conduct feasibility studies for projects to improve safety and address traffic problems.

The Vulnerable User (VU) and Vehicle Traffic Counts Viewer is an online database of traffic counts collected by the NJTPA available for public access.

The focus is on vulnerable users, like pedestrians, cyclists, and micromobility users, though many vehicle-focused counts are also available. The viewer primarily has been used to conduct Level Of Service (LOS) evaluations for Local Safety Programs and other highway safety and manual analysis.

The tool is available here: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/59859b87d3bf470a99f1e84dc6889126/

NJTPA, 02/21/2024: https://www.njtpa.org/Newsroom/NJTPA-News/NJPTA-Update-Blog/2024/February-2024-(1)/Vulnerable-User-Database-Tool-Now-Available.aspx

Protected bicycle lanes marked with simple traffic cones and plastic delineators were associated with a reduction in average maximum speeds of 20 to 30 percent.

The findings come from an analysis of almost 10,000 cars during a temporary pilot demonstration project in Asbury Park, N.J., where bike lanes were both painted and delineated with traffic cones. The study incorporated 24-hour video footage of the intersection for 10 dates in March and April 2022.

Journal of Urban Mobility, 2/16/2024: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667091724000013?via%3Dihub

Here's how Passaic County will use a $15 million grant to fix Valley Road in Wayne

"A group of transportation planners on Monday awarded a $15 million grant to Passaic County to fund safety improvements along Valley Road”

NJTPA approved 19 projects as part of $188.3 million Highway Safety Improvement Program package. Valley Road, a county road in Wayne, will receive $15 million to address recent pedestrian deaths throughout the 3.2-mile corridor. The improvements will focus on the routes intersections but also includes a road diet, converting the four lanes to one in each direction with a two way left turn lane in the center. Improvements include bicycle lanes and sidewalks, backplates with retroreflective borders and the replacement of six traffic signals to allow for protected left turns.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/connected-vehicle-vision-new-jersey-transportation-tim-herlihy-aesfc

To learn more about how NJDOT evaluated and prepared for connected vehicle technology, including coordination with others within the Region.