SO IT BEGINS: Cauldron of Construction Could Turn Hoboken Traffic & Transit Into a Tolkienian Hellscape

Hoboken may well become Helm’s Deep as the region falls into darkness tonight—or at least by 9:00 p.m., when the dreaded NJDOT Route 495 Rehabilitation Project begins, clogging the arteries and raising the collective blood pressure of Hudson County… until 2021.

As for detours, NJDOT basically says pick your poison. The road sees so much traffic and the impact will be so significant that the spillover onto neighboring roadways and avenues will be hard to gauge until it actually happens.

Further complicating issues in our neck of the woods is the ongoing SUEZ residency in Southwest Hoboken every weekend. In fact, the City of Hoboken is actually recommending that residents travel in and out of the northern corridor—through the heart of the Route 495 impact—to avoid the situation on the southern end.

“Assuming the project’s schedule remains in place, there may be some delays near the Willow Avenue Viaduct late Friday evening. Residents are encouraged to take the 14th Street Viaduct if possible,” the City said in a statement.

14th Street Viaduct after 9 p.m. on Friday (DRAMATIZATION)

“Saturday might see more delays on 495 East, due to traffic from NYC. However, because of the SUEZ Water project in southwest Hoboken, another outside project impacting local traffic, we recommend using the 14th Street Viaduct on Saturday as well.”

hMAG checked with the City of Hoboken to see how much longer the road work in the Southwest would last. “It’s not a City project,” said Communications Manager Santiago Melli-Huber, “so I would recommend asking SUEZ directly.”

After pressing to understand why the City of Hoboken doesn’t have an actual timeline from the water utility, Melli-Huber later added, “As I understand it now, the project is scheduled to continue at least through next weekend. After each weekend of work, they have a better estimate of what is still left to do.”

When it can’t get any worse…

Meanwhile, the miracle of mass transit is doing its part to seal our doom, with weekend PATH Train closures along the 33rd Street line until November.

At midnight on Friday, all Manhattan stations along the 33rd Street line will be closed.

At midnight on Sunday, direct service from WTC to Hoboken will also be cut off.

Full service on all lines is scheduled to resume at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning.

The logical alternative to the PATH closure was NJTransit buses, however, the 495 construction will surely complicate that option.

But hey—at least we have each other, right???