Newark Activists Count Truck Traffic, Worry About Air Pollution

NEWARK, NJ — The sheer number of major highways that enter New Jersey’s largest city make it one of the state’s busiest commerce corridors, and are one of its greatest strengths. But the vast network of roadways that cross Newark – and the thousands of trucks that rumble across them every day – are also one of its biggest vulnerabilities, too, some activists say.

On Wednesday, members of the South Ward Environmental Alliance set up posts at five busy intersections in the South Ward of Newark near the airport. Taking shifts, residents counted more than 3,000 garbage trucks, buses, car carriers and tractor-trailers that passed through the area – with more than 400 trucks crossing Meeker and Frelinghuysen avenues during a single afternoon hour, the New Jersey Monitor reported.

It isn’t the first time the South Ward Environmental Alliance has taken to the streets to keep tabs on truck traffic.

On two days in April, the group partnered with the Ironbound Community Corporation to hold a Truck Count and Air Monitoring project in the South Ward and Ironbound sections of Newark. According to the alliance, their goal was to highlight the extensive amount of truck traffic and diesel pollution that comes through the Ironbound and Dayton Street neighborhoods every day, including Port Newark – one of the busiest in the nation.

“The South Ward of Newark is negatively impacted by the diesel pollution from the Port of NY/NJ,” the group states on its website. “The South Ward is the backyard of the third-largest port with 20,000 trucks trips per day and 4,500 of them stay on the local roads of the South Ward … this is an environmental health injustice.”

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Environmental pollution – especially airborne pollutants – has been a rising concern in New Jersey’s largest city in the past few years.

In 2020, Mayor Ras Baraka said the city has begun embarking on a planning process to create a shared vision for the Port-Industrial District.

“Our port area is essential to Newark’s economy,” Baraka said. “It provides thousands of jobs for residents, but it is also a major source of pollution causing serious illness in the nearby community. We are creating a comprehensive planning process that brings together residents, businesses, environmental leaders, city officials and other stakeholders to chart the future of the Doremus area.”

“We can plan a future for the Port-Industrial District that is healthy, clean, and environmentally sustainable while strengthening economic vitality and preserving community values,” Baraka said.

• See related article: Newark Starts Planning For Future Of Port-Industrial District

In July 2021, federal officials released details about a $44 million construction project that will “modernize” a busy roadway connecting Port Newark and the Elizabeth Port Authority Marine Terminal. Read More: $44M Upgrade For Busy Roadway Between Port Newark, Elizabeth

According to Sen. Bob Menendez, the project includes improvements to the Corbin Street ramp, the main point of access to Port Street, which sees approximately 3,600 vehicles an hour during peak times – 40 percent of which are trucks.

Menendez said that Newark’s nearby Ironbound and South Ward neighborhoods have disproportionately high rates of asthma and related respiratory diseases, which are a major factor in the “chronic absenteeism” that many Newark schools have been seeing, according to a 2016 report from Advocates for Children of New Jersey.

Concerns over traffic pollution were also a major reason that advocates objected to a proposed Amazon mega-hub at Newark Airport. The company’s proposed deal with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was scrapped in July, sources reported. Read More: Deal To Bring Amazon Cargo Hub To Newark Airport Falls Apart

Other recent environmental protests in Newark have taken place over proposals to build a new power plant and a wastewater treatment plant, as well as an existing trash incinerator that burns 2,800 tons of garbage per day from 22 municipalities in Essex County and New York City.

• See related article: NJ Activists Fight 2 Proposed Plants: 'Stop Dumping On Newark'
• See related article: The Big Poop Debate: Proposed Waste Plant Causes Outcry In Newark
• See related article: The Color Purple: Newark Residents Fed Up With Incinerator Smoke

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