New Jersey:
Bridgegate: I live one mile south of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee where the notorious three-tollbooth lanes designated for local traffic were restricted to only one for a few days in early September. Traffic in Fort Lee was horrendous. Gov. Christie asserted that these three tollbooths were used only for Fort Lee residents. This is a gross mischaracterization of the traffic going to the bridge during rush hour. Motorists from Fort Lee, Cliffside Park, Fairview, Edgewater, Guttenberg and probably other communities use that particular entrance to the GW.
What were Port Authority officials thinking when they restricted access to the bridge claiming they were conducting a traffic study to see the impact of closing two lanes?
Transportation studies can be conducted using a computer simulation to determine the effects of the lane closures without disrupting the actual traffic of an area being analyzed. In short, there was no need to close two of the lanes. Whatever the motives were of Messrs. Wildstein and Baroni, two smart Christie appointed officials who resigned in the wake of this brouhaha, the fact is politicians should not run key sectors of the economy. Why? Because their motives and goals are much different than managers of businesses who have to satisfy shareholders or risk their own capital.
The bottom line is very simple government should get out of the transportation business. At the very least, transportation professionals not political appointees should be making decisions about the use of bridges, tunnels and highways.
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