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The purpose of the Route 17 Bottleneck Project is to improve mobility, safety, and reliability of the infrastructure and operations along Route 17 between Milepost 10.19 (Essex Street interchange) and Milepost 12.04 (exit from Garden State Plaza Mall). This bottleneck section exists where the six-lane Route 17 highway (three lanes in each direction) is reduced to four lanes (two in each direction) within these limits. The Route 17 Bottleneck section is a commercial and industrial corridor centrally located in Bergen County, with residential streets abutting Route 17.

Four particular Project Needs have been identified:

1. Alleviate traffic congestion and improve operational reliability along the Route 17 corridor within the project limits
2. Restore the appropriate functional hierarchy and balance between Route 17 and parallel local and county streets
3. Improve safety in the project corridor
4. Improve the condition and reliability of the existing corridor infrastructure, including structures, pavements, drainage, and related features, that are in an advanced state of deterioration, are functionally obsolete or structurally deficient, or fail to meet current design or environmental standards

To attain the Purpose and Need for this project, a statement was prepared and finalized in March 2010 that defines the manifestations of each Project Need, as identified by various documents, statistics and studies performed in the corridor. For a PDF version of this file, click here.

A series of Goals and Objectives have been considered to address the Project Purpose and Need. These include:

• Promote complementary transportation facilities and services
• Enhance regional economic development
• Improve “Quality of Life” issues within the study corridor related to the deficiencies of the Route 17 Bottleneck Section
• Reduce exposure of local residential and commercial areas to regional Route 17 traffic
• Avoid, minimize, and mitigate environmental impacts

The Project Goals and Objectives are further discussed in the Project Purpose and Need Statement, which was finalized in March 2010. For a PDF version of this file, click here.