NYC NOW - Morning Headlines: NJ Transit Offers Discount After I-80 Closure, Advocates Unveil Plan to End Homelessness, and Grand Central Parkway Ramp Closes Overnight

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Starting Monday, NJ Transit is offering 50% off roundtrip fares from five northern New Jersey stations to relieve traffic caused by a sinkhole that closed I-80. Meanwhile, a coalition of advocacy groups has released a detailed plan for how New York City’s next mayor can end homelessness, focusing on targeted housing and mental health investments. Plus, the eastbound Grand Central Parkway ramp to the Long Island Expressway will close overnight through April for a $15 million construction project.

Welcome to NYC Now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, March 24th. Here's the morning headlines from Michael Hill. Commuters in northern New Jersey could see some relief starting today. WNMC's Tiffany Hanson explains. NJ Transit is rolling out a 50% discount on round-trip fares from select stations. The move is aimed at.

easing traffic headaches after another sinkhole forced a full closure of I-80. The discount applies to riders traveling from Hackettstown, Mount Olive, Netkong, Lake Hapetcong, and Mount Arlington. All areas affected by detours after a 15-by-15-foot hole opened up in the highway median last week. Governor Phil Murphy says the discount is meant to get more people off the roads and onto trains while repairs continue. Officials say the sinkholes are likely caused by old abandoned mines beneath the highway. A group of advocates for the homeless have released a blueprint for how New York City's next mayor can finally end homelessness. WN.R.C.'s Karen Ye reports. On any given night, 125,000 New Yorkers are sleeping in city shelters, and 41,000 of them are children.

The Coalition for the Homeless, along with other advocates, say the city's next mayor can solve homelessness by investing more deeply in affordable housing that's specifically set aside for people who have no place to live, and by boosting funding for eviction prevention programs. The Adams administration has targeted street homelessness by cleaning up encampments and sending outreach teams and police into the subways. But advocates say the next city leader should remove police and sanitation workers from those efforts, and instead invest that money in mental health services and make it easier for homeless people to get a shelter bed. Late night drivers make your plans now. The ram from the eastbound Grand Central

Parkway to the eastbound Long Island Expressway will shut down every night for a month. The exit 10E ramp will close from midnight to 5 in the morning, starting the day and continuing until the end of April. There will be detour sending drivers to exit 10W instead. Officials say the closures are necessary for a $15 million safety and mobility project at that interchange. Forty with light rain right now. Rain mainly before 5 this afternoon, a high in the 50s, gusty, then tomorrow's Sunday, 57 with a chance of rain and snow overnight into Wednesday. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives.

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