As Jersey City writes plans and signs checks to advance the Bergen Arches highway, citizens are raising questions about the project's utility and the site's legal status.

At a recent meeting of Hudson Alliance for Rational Transportation (HART), members listed inconsistencies in project promoters' plans and expressed a desire for a more transparent planning process.

A chief concern is whether the railroads that own the Bergen Arches right of way will sell it to highway authorities. The line's new owners, Norfolk Southern and CSX, have expressed a strong desire to increase Hudson waterfront rail access, and are taking a protective attitude with regard to the Arches. While Jersey City describes the line as "abandoned," it is unclear that the line has undergone formal abandonment via the US Surface Transportation Board.

HART members also note that alternative uses for the corridor are not being seriously studied. A 1991 study by EBASCO makes no mention of mass transit through the Arches, and the present HNTB Corp. design study bankrolled by Jersey City explores nothing but a highway. In the early 1990s, NJ Transit suggested that a dedicated, reversible busway be a part of the project.

Regarding public health, Jersey City is a "Severe II" ozone non-attainment area and a carbon monoxide non-attainment area, and is expected to violate the EPA's new standard for airborne particles. HART wants to know how additional waterfront traffic volumes will solve perennial pollution threats.

Historic considerations also appear to have been left out of Arches proponents' publicity materials. The railway cut over which the Arches span closely parallels NJ Rte 139, which NJDOT has proposed for major widening. Even while Jersey City engages a consultant to find funds for Route 139 and the Arches, DOT has been embroiled in a battle over Route 139's historic impacts. As of February, the NJDEP's Office of Program Co-ordination let NJDOT know that its plans threatened "substantial adverse impact" in the Routes 1 & 9/ Pulaski Skyway Historic District. DEP stated that NJDOT plans fell short in showing the level of destruction to the land above the Route 139 project and the number of lanes to be built. Local community groups in the neighboring Heights section of Jersey City have publicly attacked NJDOT for obfuscation on this point, and are concerned that the combined Route 139/Bergen Arches renovations could plow a literal chasm through the middle of the city. * * *