Middlesex County officials say the Outerbridge Crossing needs to be widened for traffic safety reasons.
PERTH AMBOY -- Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz was joined Wednesday morning by Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who represents the district that includes Perth Amboy, to call on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to study expansion of the Outerbridge Crossing.
"This is a very important part of your life if you live in Perth Amboy," Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) said.
Diaz and Wisniewski, who chairs the Assembly's transportation committee, said the bridge, opened in 1928, has become a safety concern for both Perth Amboy and Staten Island -- the two locations it connects.
"We're calling on the Port Authority to commence an environmental impact study to determine what structural updates can be made to the Outerbridge Crossing," Diaz said, standing alongside Route 440, the highway that leads from and to the bridge.
"Perth Amboy is a few short minutes from the bridge, but it can take hours of traveling to get there, especially in the summer when people are returning from the Jersey Shore to their homes in Staten Island," the mayor said.
She said the first news conference calling on the Port Authority to study the traffic safety issues on the bridge was held in Staten Island in April at the behest of Staten Island officials, who were also on hand Wednesday morning but didn't speak.
Staten Island Assemblyman Ron Castorina released a statement saying "The Port Authority owes it to our families to begin (a) ...study as soon as possible and start presenting some feasible solutions to this growing transportation fiasco."
"The residents of the south shore of Staten Island, as well as our neighbors in New Jersey, are saddled with some of the worst commute times in the nation," Castorina said. "Every extra minute our commuters spend sitting in traffic on Route 440 is precious time they could instead be spending with their families."
The Port Authority, he said, collects $200 million annually in tolls from the bridge, which is used by 30 million vehicles a year.
"When this bridge generates that kind of revenue, the Port Authority can spend some money to give it some love," the assemblyman said.
Wisniewski said the Port Authority has budgeted, on average, $8.5 million a year to spend on maintenance of the bridge between 2014 and 2023.
He said what he'd like to see is somehow adding another lane so that if a vehicle breaks down on the bridge -- which has two lanes in each direction -- traffic can still move.
Port Authority spokesman Neal Buccino said the agency is "beginning the process of evaluating numerous important priorities for its 2017-2026 Capital Plan."
"We welcome input from elected officials about the future of the Outerbridge Crossing and the rest of our critical infrastructure," Buccino said.
He said the agency has recently spent $18 million to replace the pavement on the main span and approaches and the toll plaza and currently all light fixtures are being equipped with high efficiency LED fixtures. Routine projects to perform steel repairs and painting maintenance programs have also been done. The cameras on the bridge have also been upgraded.
Perth Amboy's deputy police chief, Lawrence Cattano, said emergency responders have difficulty getting around the city because Route 440 is the quickest way to move from one side of the city to the other, but when traffic is backed up, "motorists look for the same local streets that our emergency responders are using."
"It is especially difficult on Sundays," Cattano said. "Any project that starts with the word 'needs assessment' -- we've done most of it for you. The need is there, it's needed. Let's get it done."
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.