This seems like such a simple solution: Stop your car when you see a pedestrian in a crosswalk. That the state Legislature had to require drivers to do this says a lot about how impatient and inconsiderate we are when we get behind the wheel.
As Barack Obama said during his speech yesterday, government spending has to work or the money shouldn’t be spent. And while we need a massive economic stimulus both to prevent economic freefall and to begin the hardwork of rebuilding our economy, we shouldn’t assume that all spending is good spending.
That’s why some in the environmental community are ready to do battle over plans currently being crafted.
According to The Washington Independent,
a growing chorus of environmental groups says it falls short of those goals, providing too much funding for new roads and too little for public transportation and other green initiatives.
Under the current proposal, new construction could consume three times as much funding as public transportation. The environmental groups hope more public transit money will be added when lawmakers make changes to the proposal in committee, an amendment process which began Wednesday afternoon.
“At a time of erratic energy prices, Congress should use this opportunity to move
America away from highways and toward railways and mass transit,” said Karen Wayland, legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. “The transportation component of the stimulus package underfunds mass transit in deference to highways and bridges.”
They say there is
plenty of room to improve the Democrats’ blueprint. At the forefront of their criticism, the proposal includes $30 billion for highway construction but dedicates only $10 billion to public transit and rail — a discrepancy prioritizing new roads at the expense of public transportation.
Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth, says the spending on new roads will only act to increase pollution and fuel consumption — two problems the Democrats’ proposal was designed to alleviate.
“It is particularly disappointing to see that, unlike highway funds, public transportation and passenger rail funds have been cut below the levels suggested by the House Transportation Committee, limiting job creation in these areas,” Blackwelder said in a statement. “Public transportation investments create 19 percent more jobs per dollar spent than investments in new highways.”
Daniel Becker, head of the Safe Climate Campaign, said the proposal is a significant step in the direction of cutting pollution and increasing energy efficiency, but there are notable holes that could use plugging. “There’s a lot of new asphalt-laying [in the bill],” Becker said, “and that will undercut a lot of the green efforts.”
Marchant Wentworth, legislative representative for clean energy with the Union of Concerned Scientists, agreed that the $10 billion for public transit is insufficient to accomplish the Democrats’ goals. “You could triple that and still have needs out there for relieving congestion,” he said.
I’m not saying that a good chunk of the road money is not needed — some of it definitely is. But road money would be best spent on repairs and upgrades to existing infrastructure, rather than carving out new thoroughfares that will just lead to sprawl and more congestion down the road. If some of the money were shifted from asphalt to mass transit, that would go a long way toward greening the stimulus.
And if the tax cuts were to be scrapped, that money could then go toward other green projects — or “to provide further relief to Americans in distress — enhanced unemployment benefits, expanded Medicaid and more.”
Gov. Jon S. Corzine announced a $2.8 billion plan for transportation projects that he views as “supporting or creating an estimated 26,000 jobs.”
“If we are going to provide relief from the national recession, we need to keep New Jerseyans working and keep local economies strong,” Gov. Corzine said. “We need boots on the ground. We need shovels in the dirt. These are the projects we need to get under way to help bridge the recession while providing the long-term benefits of an improved transportation infrastructure.”
Some of the projects — like the Alexander Road Bridge in West Windsor — are near completion, while others have yet to start. But all are part of an attempted “acceleration of previously-planned public works projects” that the governor considers “a key component” of his “economic stimulus and recovery initiative.”
All department heads, particularly the commissioners and directors of the Department of Transportation, New Jersey Transit, Toll Authorities, Schools Development Authority, Board of Public Utilities, and the Department of Environmental Protection have been instructed to expedite projects currently on the drawing board, as to create and preserve New Jersey jobs in the midst of the current national recession.
According to the Department of Transportation, the $2.8 billion will be spent over the next year, with about $1 billion going toward “projects which were previously unfunded” or “projects that have been accelerated.”
These projects are expected to create or support 26,000 jobs directly, but up to 45,000 positions when indirect jobs by suppliers and induced jobs from economic activity is considered.
The governor says that an additional “$1.2 billion in transportation projects have been identified, and will be funded if federal economic stimulus assistance becomes available.”
Local projects include:
Projects in Planning
This should make getting around a bit easier. The newly constructed bridge over the Amtrak rail line in West Windsor is just about ready to go and is expected to open on Thursday. The Alexander Road bridge, which replaces the older, structurally deficient span that had been in place for 67 years.
The bridge (pictured above in a Packet photo by Mark Czajkowski) also brings with it a new traffic pattern:
The new bridge and roadway features a roundabout at the intersection of Alexander Road and North Post Road. Planners believe it will allow traffic to flow more freely, especially during peak traffic times associated with the nearby Princeton Junction train station.
In the middle of the roundabout, cobblestone circles an open area. Decoration for the area has not been decided, but it may feature, according to the mayor, a monument honoring the U.S. Olympic rowing team, which practices at Mercer County Lake in the township, or the “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast, which included the landing of Martians at Grovers Mill Pond.
The old bridge still needs to be demolished.
I took this picture this morning with my cell phone (I pulled over to the side of the road) before I came into work and then made a quick call to the Middlesex County Engineering Department to find out what was happening with the bridge replacement. I take this route everyday — like so many in town — and thought it was time to offer an update. Here is the update, which will run in Thursday’s paper:
Drivers on Ridge Road in Monmouth Junction will face another three months of detours while Middlesex County finishes work on the bridge over a small stream.
Ron Sensor, of the county Engineering Department, said Lucas Bros. of Manalapan is making progress on the $580,980 project that began during the summer.
The project includes replacing brick arch, widening the roadway from 27 feet to 32 feet and adding a sidewalk across the span.
Hank Kalet 
