Trash on Route 139 Jersey City

It was February 1994. I’d been elected to my first term in the New Jersey Assembly, and sworn into office a week earlier. That morning at work everyone was buzzing about the terrible tragedy that had taken place the night before.

A teenager had thrown a bowling ball over the railing down onto the lower level of Route139 in Jersey City, unfondly called the Depressed Highway. The ball hit the back fender of a moving truck, bounced up and over the hood of the car behind, crashed through its windshield and killed the toddler strapped in her car seat in the rear of the vehicle.

The situation was horrible, awful, heart-breaking, everyone said. Quite a few remarked on how easy it was for someone to drop anything down onto the moving traffic and it was a miracle no one had been killed earlier.

I agreed with them and said, “Someone really ought to do something about it.” My assistant looked at me meaningfully and said, “Yeah, Assemblywoman, somebody should.”

It hit me that the area was within my legislative district and maybe I did have the power to do something about it. But, newbie that I was, I didn’t know how.

This was before Google made directory assistance obsolete, so I dialed 411 and got the phone number for the Department of Transportation in Trenton. I’d looked up the department’s details and learned Jeanne Fox had recently been appointed interim director. So I identified myself as an assemblywoman and asked for Jeanne Fox.

Somewhat to my surprise, she got on the phone immediately. And when I explained the situation, she was as appalled as I was. She said although she, too, was new in her role, she was certain the department would have some unallocated money somewhere and she’d find it. She called back an hour later and said she’d found a million dollars or whatever it took.

The next day engineers were on Route 139 determining what was needed, and by the end of the month heavy netting was in place over the lower highway.

Of course, it had to be removed when Route 139 had its multimillion-dollar overhaul in the past few years, and it’s been replaced with stronger grating.

But the opportunity for serious damage still exists. A small stretch of that highway is as dangerous now as in 1994.

There’s a pedestrian walkway along the south side of the upper roadway from Kennedy Boulevard to Collard Street where any malicious or merely mischievous person could drop any object onto vehicles passing below.

And running alongside the roadway are acres of untamed foliage slanting down to the road below. It’s littered with junk, including rocks and slabs of concrete, and what appears to be a squatters camp. Anything or anyone could tumble down that craggy slope onto the road beneath. It’s unsafe. Dangerous.

And lower 139 is certainly one of the ugliest stretches of road in New Jersey, beating out some really tough competition right here in Hudson alone. It’s got crumbling concrete, peeling graffiti, potholes, constantly swirling litter, and several unworking overhead lights.

If you are driving east on it, it’s the entry to New York City. If you are driving west, it confirms all those late-night jokes about New Jersey.

The teen who threw the bowling ball years ago was emotionally disturbed, according to reports, and probably did not realize the harm he could cause.

But I do know the State of New Jersey must be aware – or certainly should be – of the dangers of Route 139.

Someone in the state Department of Transportation ought to be able to dig up another few bucks today, eliminate the possibility of malicious or unintended harm, and save lives.

A former assemblywoman from Jersey City, Joan Quigley is the president and CEO of North Hudson Community Action Corp.

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