Jersey stop & woe

Jammed Lincoln Tunnel helix is losing lanes

Long-suffering Jersey-to-Manhattan commuters: You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

The elevated highway connecting the New Jersey Turnpike to the Lincoln Tunnel — already considered the worst traffic choke point east of Chicago — is going to be rebuilt starting this month.

That means a lane in each direction will be closed — and already-glacial commutes in which vehicles sometimes take a half-hour to go a mile could worsen by hours.

“A person who’s going to try to get to work on time and use those roadways, they’re going to have to get a much, much, much earlier start in order to make it,” said Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for AAA Northeast. “I think that’s going to be cold comfort for the people using that facility.” About 10,000 vehicles an hour use the elevated expressway, known as the “helix,” during peak travel times. It’s the eighth-worst roadway in the US, according to a 2015 report by the American Highway Users Alliance. The work is set to begin Friday. The 31st Street ramp from Kennedy Boulevard to westbound Route 495 will close and traffic will be detoured onto a local road.

But the real hell is slated to start on Aug. 17, when officials shut down one lane in each direction on the four-lane viaduct. The construction is going to take place around the clock.

The express bus lane into Manhattan will remain open during rush hours, though some NJ Transit buses will be detoured.

The $90.3 million project, which began in September with local street improvements, includes the reconstruction of the 80-year-old bridge deck, the replacement of deteriorating structural steel, repainting and safety upgrades. The work is expected to keep the via- duct — currently considered structurally deficient — going for another 75 years.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the work, is offering few alternatives. The agency is advising drivers to take public transportation or use the George Washington Bridge or Holland Tunnel — though both of those routes are also frequently clogged. The DOT is also urging commuters to consider just working from home.

No additional trains will be added on either NJ Transit or PATH lines. In fact, NJ Transit is suspending off-peak direct service to Penn Station on the Raritan Valley Line in September, in order to install a Positive Train Control system.