Jersey Avenue is a north-south artery in downtown Jersey City, that extends from Hamilton Park, near the Holland Tunnel, south to a point near the northern edge of Liberty State Park. Mayor Schundler of Jersey City and others want to extend 4-laned Jersey Avenue south across Mill Creek into the Park to connect with Philips Drive, a north-south road in front of the Liberty Science Center.

We find serious problems with the proposed Jersey Avenue extension. It would, first of all, bring more traffic congestion and air pollution into downtown Jersey City, as commuters seek new ways to the Holland Tunnel and parking lots on the waterfront.

The extension would cross paths with the new Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line at the same grade. The LRT was supposed to reduce the need for more roads in this corridor! Who gets priority? Should Jersey Avenue traffic be allowed to interfere with light rail operation?

It would endanger the safety of some 1500 school children expected to attend new schools near the corner of Jersey Ave. and Grand St.

And finally, the Jersey Avenue extension would be an likely be an important link in an unwanted new regional highway, part of the long-planned Hudson Waterfront Boulevard, better known as the Stealth Highway because of the piecemeal way it is being built by the politicians and transportation bureaucrats over many years and generations of citizen-activists. The Hudson Waterfront Boulevard is planned to extend from Route 5 near the George Washington Bridge to the Bayonne-Staten Island Bridge.

Instead of the Jersey Avenue extension, the local community prefers a new pedestrian and bicycle access to Liberty State Park, well-lit and with a single motor vehicle lane for emergency use by the new Jersey City Medical Center planned for the corner of Jersey and Grand.

(revised 10-13-98)