in our Spotlight on Business Report State leaders are hitting the gas on a plan to expand an eight mile section of getting major push back from communities surrounding the proposed construction the New Jersey Turnpike Authority last night held a public information event to give more details on the plan but things quickly heated up with environmental Advocates protesting the expansion arguing it'll increase traffic and pollution for already disadvantaged communities Ted Goldberg was there hey hey ho ho turn has got to go a little rain didn't stop protesters from stopping by last night's open house in Newark hosted by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority The Authority is planning to widen an 8mile stretch of the turnpike between Brick City and Jersey City and experts explained why the 10 billion project is needed our number one priority is safety so replacing these 29 Bridges is our high highest priority and that is like the majority of the cost this is a Musto project this is something that has to be done construction could be a headache but the authority argues that Bridges like the Newark Bay Bridge are at the end of their lifespans even anti-expansion Advocates agree with that this is a bridge that was built in the mid-century the 75-year-old bridge that failed failed one of these support structures cracked and failed uh within the last decade our infrastructure is is crumbling but how are they going to do it are they going to do it at the expense of people of color and Frontline communities we know that those bridges need repair but not at the expense of our children lives The Authority says findings from its draft environmental impact statement are quote favorable but Advocates say increased traffic will lead to more pollution in communities that have traditionally been dumping grounds one out of four children in the city of nework suffer from asthma I'm a parent or three asmatic children right and when you talk about expansion of Highways you're increasing truck traffic we've got the airport and the seaport here second biggest port in the country the biggest source of diesel pollution biggest source of air pollution we have is diesel from the truck operations this doesn't help it's it's it's going to create more pollution in a neighborhood that's already heavily overburdened Advocates also don't buy the argument that the turnpike expansion will ease traffic another argument The Authority has used less traffic means fewer crashes less pollution it's better for the climate crisis but they seem to want to just increase traffic it's a self perpetuating Authority that's a billion dollar a mile think what you could do with that $10 billion you could invest in mass transit get cars off the street clean up our air get everybody moving faster on the highways because there's fewer cars we don't need you to expand a highway what we need is better transportation services and then we need you to spend the money to fix the bridges as opposed to expand them and then increase more pollution into our communities of black and brown individuals protesters were angry about last night's format since it wasn't a public hearing many of them didn't feel the need to stick around some told me the authorities should just fix the bridges in instead of widening the entire stretch of Turnpike supervising engineer Lisa Navaro says that's not feasible because the bridges weren't designed to accommodate the number of cars driving on them now or in the future the two lanes in each direction is Not Practical for maintenance in addition to the successes of the communities as well as the the port as as it is now in addition to its increased growth in the years to come this is a much needed um traffic engineering Marvel that's going to put a lot of good people uh in good jobs like good union jobs a Marvel that could have opponents every step of the way from now until construction starts which could be in two years in nework I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news