Newark ex-CNJ Bridge's Future Still Uncertain

With the Newark Arena proposal still in some doubt, the fate of the CNJ overpass on Rt 21 is still uncertain. As noted in this Ledger article, the bridge is slated for reuse in the Arena project, although who pays for the improvements to it is open to question. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf ... 320890.xml

However, Rt 21 widening from that point south has yet to occur. North of the bridge, the highway has been widened to the point that the bridge serves as a choke point. It isn't difficult to imagine that the overpass could come down as part of the continued widening project.

I don't think it's a choke point. Looks to me like there will be narrow sidewalks to accomodate the auto lanes. Most of the other widening is for turning lanes, rather than through, no???

From the bridge north, the Rt 21 widening is supposed to be to 3 lanes each way plus turn lanes. However, under the overpass, at best 5 lanes total now fit as the contractors widened the sidewalk on the eastside under the bridge. Go figure.

Widening the sidewalk is odd. Perhaps the traffic engineers figure that the congestion occurs mostly at Market Street and to the north, so three lanes are needed, and south of Market traffic will travel faster so fewer lanes will do.

Actually, NJDOT has not finalized the plan for widening between the CNJ overpass and the new viaduct. Part of the reason for the delay is the uncertainty of the Arena plans.