Jersey City is planning to declare a state of emergency for the initial weeks of the Pulaski Skyway shutdown, an action Mayor Steve Fulop said will allow city officials greater flexibility to mitigate the effects of the lane closures.

Fulop told The Jersey Journal that under a state of emergency, the city would be able to move shifts of police officers, having them start sooner or later, and to adjust the timing of traffic signals without having to get approval from the City Council.

City officials are expecting thousands of extra motorists to clog local streets starting Monday, the first weekday of the two-year Skyway shutdown. The New York-bound lanes of the 82-year-old bridge will be closed while crews replace the bridge deck on both sides of the span.

Fulop appeared today at a press conference hosted by the state Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the $1 billion rehabilitation of the Skyway. Jim Simpson, the DOT commissioner, conceded that Jersey City will experience a lot of “pain” during the shutdown.

“I understand that everyone in this corridor will be impacted,” Simpson said.