Description

Hi

I would like to follow-up on my below request especially given the fact that the two lane traffic going Jersey City downtown has now been converted to one lane traffic. So instead of solving the problem, the problem has become worse.

Due to Covid-19, most of offices/schools are operating in remote mode and there isn't much traffic on streets. So we are not noticing any traffic problems now.

However, we will see the worsening effect, once life is back to regular mode. How do you plan to address it then?

Thanks,
Umesh

On Sunday, April 21, 2019, 02:08:26 PM EDT, Umesh Gunjati wrote:

Joe

The wait has been consistently 6 minutes and 9 minutes at times for the last two months. Hopefully next week should be Ok as Hudson County Prep school is closed.

Why do the intersecting streets have lights green for 130 seconds? The motorists also use this as an opportunity to enter city and then NYC through Holland Tunnel thus increasing traffic in busy downtown of Jersey City.

You need to do something to fix wait time of 6-9 mins in short term.

Thanks,
Umesh

On Tuesday, February 5, 2019, 6:22:10 AM EST, Joe Cunha wrote:

Good morning Umesh.

As previously noted, the Montgomery Street corridor is under study and design for a reconstruction project. However, upon receipt of your initial email in Fall 2018 we immediately advanced a detailed traffic study update to understand if conditions along the corridor had changed since they were previously studied in 2016 for the previously mentioned project.

In 2016, our study revealed that queues along Montgomery Street in the eastbound direction were significantly longer in the morning peak hour compared to the evening peak hour. During the 8am to 9am peak hour, queues along Montgomery Street in the eastbound direction consistently extended to Ristaino Drive. On very few occasions (approximately once or twice a day), queues extended past Ristaino Drive to Florence Street.

For the 2018 study, detailed queuing data was collected on Montgomery Street on Wednesday December 12, 2018 and Thursday December 13, 2018. The findings of that study confirmed that queuing conditions along Montgomery Street had remained generally consistent for the past two years. Some additional details:

1. The maximum number of vehicles queued in the eastbound direction over the course of two days was 63 vehicles, or approximately were Ristaino Drive is located. A graph showing the queues during the peak period is attached.

2. On two occasions on Wednesday December 12, 2018, the eastbound queue extended past Ristaino Drive to Florence Street due to a number of factors including inefficient spacing and reduced throughput at Merseles Street. More specifically, this occurred for two cycle lengths or a total of approximately 6 minutes over the course of two days. That scenario did not occur on the Thursday that was observed.

Although we found that queuing conditions had remained generally consistent, we certainly agree with you that between 8am and 9am most motorists have to wait two signal cycles to travel through the intersection. That is a relatively long delay (approximately 6 minutes) comparatively Citywide.

It is very challenging to adjust the traffic signal timing of an intersection that is already at capacity at all approaches. However, we are exploring more significant, geometric changes to the intersection that would allow us to use a different, more efficient traffic signal phasing. The drawback in that scenario is the elimination of certain turning movements. As that is a complex proposal which would change the way the signal has operated for quite some time, we need to study the traffic benefits and drawbacks very carefully. Considering much more data needs to be collected and analyzed, we estimate that we will be able to provide recommendations within 6 months.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Thank you,

JOSE R. CUNHA, P.E.,

C.M.E., C.P.W.M., C.R.P.

DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING

DIVISION OF ENGINEERING,

TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION

CITY OF JERSEY CITY

MUNICIPAL SERVICES COMPLEX

13-15 LINDEN AVE EAST

JERSEY CITY, NJ 07305

| P: 201 547 4411 | C: 908 692 5624

On Feb 4, 2019, at 8:38 AM, Umesh wrote:

Joe

The situation has been getting worse.

Could you please update us on it?

Thanks
Umesh

On October 22, 2018 8:53:25 AM EDT, Joe Cunha wrote:
Umesh thank you for this information, we are on it. The entire corridor from Bergen Avenue to Marin Boulevard is under study and design for a future major reconstruction project.

In the meantime we will definitely look at the signalization in and around the extension to see what if any optimization can be done.

On Oct 22, 2018, at 8:28 AM, Steve Fulop wrote:

I’m looping in joe and Andrew here.

Steven M. Fulop
Mayor
Jersey City, NJ

On Oct 22, 2018, at 7:30 AM, Umesh Gunjati wrote:

It's more than a month and nothing has been done till now.

Thanks,
Umesh

On Wednesday, September 12, 2018, 6:17:18 AM EDT, Steve Fulop wrote:

Absolutely. I’ll pass this note over to traffic and engineering.

Steven M. Fulop
Mayor
Jersey City, NJ

On Sep 11, 2018, at 8:48 PM, Umesh Gunjati wrote:

Hello Mr Mayor

I am writing to you about a traffic situation on Montgomery Street while going downtown. The traffic gets backed up on Montgomery Street from Merseles Street till Baldwin Ave. The traffic light at Merseles Street takes about 2 mins 10 secs (130 secs) to turn green from red. One has to wait 3-4 cycles of lights changing from green to red and back to green to cross Merseles street at about 8:15 in the morning on weekdays. This is a wait time of 8-10 mins which is too much.

Secondly, the traffic on cross streets of Merseles street and Center street is actually real time and at times the light is green for too long without any vehicles in vicinity. Most of these vehicles are coming from exit 14c of Turnpike and most of them are Jersey City non residents unlike the traffic on Montgomery Street where most of them are residents. It looks like non-residents get an advantage over residents. This is unfair.

Can someone please do a practical study/observation of this situation and fix this?

Thanks
Umesh