New Jersey Governor Chris Christie canceled a planned commuter-rail tunnel to New York, saying the initial $8.7 billion cost might have reached $14 billion.
The state will begin an “orderly wind-down” of the project, called ARC or Access to the Region’s Core, Christie told reporters in Trenton today. The governor said he will ask the state’s U.S. senators to lobby federal officials to redirect the tunnel money toward other projects in New Jersey.
“I will not allow taxpayers to fund projects that run over budget with no clear way of how these costs will be paid for,” said Christie, a first-term Republican. “The ARC project costs far more than New Jersey taxpayers can afford and the only prudent move is to end this project.”
The 8.8-mile (14.2-kilometer) conduit under the Hudson River was meant to double the number of commuter trains to New York during peak times. Work began last year and was projected to create 6,000 construction jobs a year for a decade. New Jersey’s share of the budgeted cost was $2.7 billion, while the Federal Transit Administration and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey both committed $3 billion.
‘National Significance’
State and federal officials have been discussing the project for decades. The tunnel “would be the largest mass- transit project in the history of the FTA, and it’s of national significance,” David Longo, an agency spokesman, said in an interview before Christie’s announcement.
The cancellation “casts a dark shadow over the economic future of New Jersey,” the New York-based Regional Plan Association said in an e-mailed statement. The association calls itself America’s oldest independent urban research and advocacy group and develops infrastructure plans for the area. “ARC was desperately needed,” Bob Yaro, president of the group, said in the statement.
Christie said in September that his state might be forced to cancel the project after federal officials estimated it might cost $5 billion more than projected. The federal commitment is capped at $3 billion, and New Jersey would have had to absorb overruns, Christie said today.
Walking Away
Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Sayreville Democrat who chairs the transportation committee, said the project would have meant $18 billion in economic activity and is the only way to relieve congestion on a rail system relying on tunnels at 98 percent of capacity. He called the cancellation a “travesty.”
“Something that took 30 years to happen, this governor walks away from,” Wisniewski said. “Leadership means seeing a problem and finding the solution. Leadership’s not seeing a problem and throwing in the towel.”
The tunnel isn’t the only option for relieving congestion, Christie told reporters. He didn’t specify alternatives.
Christie and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will meet tomorrow to discuss the project’s fate, Olivia Alair, a Transportation Department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
The cancellation of the project, which was scheduled for completion in 2018, means the loss of $600 million of taxpayer money that has already been spent. New Jersey, the most densely populated U.S. state, will have to repay the federal government about $300 million plus interest and penalties for its share, said New Jersey’s U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Lautenberg, a Democrat, called Christie’s decision “one of the biggest public-policy blunders in New Jersey history.”
Even if New Jersey’s senators lobby to keep the money, the state will go to the back of the line, Lautenberg said in an interview at a Newark news conference.
“There are a lot of politicians in Washington and not one feels they have enough money to do the job,” Lautenberg said. “I’m sure other people will be happy to take the money.”
No Deep Pockets
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, said this week that although he supports a tunnel, the city can’t help pay for one.
“This is not something the city can put money into,” he said on Oct. 5 at a City Hall news conference.
New York Governor David Paterson said the states need to join with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the federal government to combat congestion.
“We face significant challenges in building transportation infrastructure,” Paterson said in a statement. “There now remains an enormous void.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton at tdopp@bloomberg.net; Dunstan McNichol in Trenton, New Jersey, at dmcnichol@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
http://jodnet.blogspot.com
“I will not allow taxpayers to fund projects that run over budget with no clear way of how these costs will be paid for,” said Christie, a first-term Republican. “The ARC project costs far more than New Jersey taxpayers can afford and the only prudent move is to end this project.”
The 8.8-mile (14.2-kilometer) conduit under the Hudson River was meant to double the number of commuter trains to New York during peak times. Work began last year and was projected to create 6,000 construction jobs a year for a decade. New Jersey’s share of the budgeted cost was $2.7 billion, while the Federal Transit Administration and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey both committed $3 billion.
‘National Significance’
State and federal officials have been discussing the project for decades. The tunnel “would be the largest mass- transit project in the history of the FTA, and it’s of national significance,” David Longo, an agency spokesman, said in an interview before Christie’s announcement.
The cancellation “casts a dark shadow over the economic future of New Jersey,” the New York-based Regional Plan Association said in an e-mailed statement. The association calls itself America’s oldest independent urban research and advocacy group and develops infrastructure plans for the area. “ARC was desperately needed,” Bob Yaro, president of the group, said in the statement.
Christie said in September that his state might be forced to cancel the project after federal officials estimated it might cost $5 billion more than projected. The federal commitment is capped at $3 billion, and New Jersey would have had to absorb overruns, Christie said today.
Walking Away
Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Sayreville Democrat who chairs the transportation committee, said the project would have meant $18 billion in economic activity and is the only way to relieve congestion on a rail system relying on tunnels at 98 percent of capacity. He called the cancellation a “travesty.”
“Something that took 30 years to happen, this governor walks away from,” Wisniewski said. “Leadership means seeing a problem and finding the solution. Leadership’s not seeing a problem and throwing in the towel.”
The tunnel isn’t the only option for relieving congestion, Christie told reporters. He didn’t specify alternatives.
Christie and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will meet tomorrow to discuss the project’s fate, Olivia Alair, a Transportation Department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
The cancellation of the project, which was scheduled for completion in 2018, means the loss of $600 million of taxpayer money that has already been spent. New Jersey, the most densely populated U.S. state, will have to repay the federal government about $300 million plus interest and penalties for its share, said New Jersey’s U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Lautenberg, a Democrat, called Christie’s decision “one of the biggest public-policy blunders in New Jersey history.”
Even if New Jersey’s senators lobby to keep the money, the state will go to the back of the line, Lautenberg said in an interview at a Newark news conference.
“There are a lot of politicians in Washington and not one feels they have enough money to do the job,” Lautenberg said. “I’m sure other people will be happy to take the money.”
No Deep Pockets
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, said this week that although he supports a tunnel, the city can’t help pay for one.
“This is not something the city can put money into,” he said on Oct. 5 at a City Hall news conference.
New York Governor David Paterson said the states need to join with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the federal government to combat congestion.
“We face significant challenges in building transportation infrastructure,” Paterson said in a statement. “There now remains an enormous void.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton at tdopp@bloomberg.net; Dunstan McNichol in Trenton, New Jersey, at dmcnichol@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
http://jodnet.blogspot.com
0 التعليقات
Post a Comment