in our Spotlight on Business Report tonight as Governor Murphy discussed he vetoed the 2024 budget approved this week by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority but toll hikes weren't the only controversial item included in that spending plan the authorities moving forward with a 10 billion doll project to widen the turnpike extension to and from the Holland Tunnel despite outcry from transportation and environmental activists Ted Goldberg reports if you you've ever thought the New Jersey Turnpike has too many cars the Turnpike Authority agrees with you at least for the 8 miles around Exit 14 and exit 14a we are at capacity we we currently cannot handle the road the lanes we have now do not handle the demand that is out there a 10 billion doll proposal to widen the turnpike along this 10 Mile Stretch moved one step closer to reality earlier this month when the Turnpike Authority released a draft of an environmental impact statement the first phase of the project would replace the two-lane Newark Bay Bridge with a new four-lane bridge as part of a plan to accommodate the growing communities in the area newk B own and Jersey City are thriving and you know their uh economic successes have um have brought in like more more people that want to live in their cities it's not necessarily one for one Ted in terms of population growth versus uh traffic growth but very much you know population employment growth Drive traffic growth Larry pesy was the task lead on the environmental impact statement before we we launched into doing the analysis we we had meetings with New Jersey D and other environmental agencies to make sure we were using the the latest and greatest sort of best practice analytical models the statement says the massive project won't make air quality notably worse peski says the project is meant to happen over a long period of time to keep animals safe and traffic flowing during conr construction some of those measures include limiting the the seasons during which construction will occur um to avoid uh those seasons and when really fishes or or marine mammals could possibly be in the bay the construction is being phased so that on the the turnpike itself on the extension uh the the existing four lanes of traffic will be maintained throughout construction the report argues that if the project goes forward the turnpike will have less dense traffic despite having more cars but not everyone agrees with these findings to release a statement that that uh assumes that there will be no environmental impact to adding a four lane overpass is ludicrous is sort of akin to treating o o uh obesity by loosening your belt John Richmond is on the steering committee for Empower NJ he's not convinced that an extra Lane will ease traffic on the turnpike and says the state should have had more public input what they're complaining about is that the congestion pricing plan will result to more vehicle miles travel to New Jersey and thus have a serious and negative impact in uh environmental impact on New Jersey residents well expanding the turnpik spur will do exactly those things it's going to lead to more cars more vehicle miles traveled before we increase uh asthma rates and uh COPD rates we should be investing in transit despite Governor Murphy rejecting their budget yesterday the Turnpike Authority is moving ahead with permitting as the project gets closer to breaking ground there will be more environmental impact statements coming out and likely more skepticism from people against widening highways for NJ Spotlight News I'm Ted Goldberg Ted Goldberg [Music]