NY/NJ: Pallisades Pkwy ETX

Ken Philmus, director tunnels, bridges and terminals at the Port Authority (PANYNJ) told us his agency has decided that it will build its first “toll plaza of the future” on the Pallisades Pwy toll plaza. Like most other toll plazas in the New York area dedicated-ET lanes are presently signed for 5mph roll-through with enforcement to keep actual speeds below 10 to 15mph.

This summer, Philmus says, the first steps will be taken to improve traffic flows by removing three toll booths, though the concrete curbs will probably remain for now keeping traffic in separate lanes under the canopy. No toll collectors need to cross these lanes, so Philmus expects it will be possible to raise the posted speed limit:

“We’re discussing that right now. We haven’t decided anything yet.”

In Illinois and Dallas similar dedicated ET-lanes without toll collectors crossing are typically posted for 30mph and operate safely at that speed.

Later this year the PANYNJ hopes to begin design and permitting work on completely rebuilding the Pallisades Parkway toll plaza to provide full highway speed ET in an open road configuration with shoulders, as well as some cash toll lanes. It is negotiating with the borough of Fort Lee, the local government, for a swap of land to enable the new Pallisades plaza to have a gentler entry taper or ‘belly-out’ on the plaza approach, and to provide space for an extra ramp.

Philmus says the local authority likes the idea of an ETX plaza because it may reduce traffic on local Fort Lee streets. At present when traffic at the plaza backs up some motorists ‘bail out’ and take an exit onto local streets.

Second ‘helix’

The most expensive part of the rebuild will be an additional 270deg loop ramp or ‘helix’ to allow traffic to enter the lower deck of the bridge. The present loop leads to the upper deck only.

“We need the extra flexibility of being able to send traffic to either the upper deck or the lower deck, depending on traffic conditions,” Philmus says.

The Pallisades Pwy toll plaza already has the highest ET-usage in the PA crossings with 70% weekday rush-hours and 60% overall. The parkway is heavily used by daily commuters, whereas the other two plazas cater to a far greater mix of traffic, some from far afield lacking a compatible trnasponder.

The tolling for the Geo Washington bridge is conducted eastbound over the Hudson River for traffic that totals about 300k veh/day on the double deck bridge linking northern NJ and upper Manhattan NY, making it perhaps the most heavily trafficked major bridge in the world. There are effectively three separate toll plazas located on the Fort Lee NJ side. Two staggered plazas of 12 toll lanes each take traffic coming eastward off the end of the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95), I-80, Garden St Pwy, and NJ-4, the first leading to the lower deck. The second toll plaza leading to the upper deck also takes local traffic, and beyond it collects traffic off the loop immediately downstream of the third, the Pallisades Pwy plaza which has 7 toll lanes.

The two main 12-lane plazas are extremely tight and modernization would be difficult and expensive. Moreover speeding traffic through all the plazas is of limited value without removal of bottlenecks downstream.

Philmus says the Pallisades Parkway plaza is the logical first for electronic toll express lanes because it is a straight shot in, making segregation of ET and cash-paying traffic simpler than at several other plazas. The parkway is also a cars-only facility so there are no large trucks and fewer vehicle classification issues. And for operational reasons the toll authority wants the second loop ramp going to the lower deck, so construction is needed in the area anyway.

Our guess is that they’ll probably post these ETX lanes at 40mph to 45mph speed limit because of the downstream weaving associated with the merge and the loops.

In the rebuild of the Pallisades plaza and ETX lanes Philmus says it will be possible to improve safety with good design. A new bridge operations center may be built along with the Pallisades plaza rebuild. In any case an extensive surveillance and traffic management ITS system is being installed on the GW bridge, so it makes sense to integrate this with new toll arrangements. (Ken Philmus 212 435 4400 kphilmus@panynj.gov)