TRENTON — If New Jersey pulls out of the project to build a multi-billion commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River, it will have to repay the federal government $300 million for money already spent, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said. The state has spent around $600 million so far on the project, including $300 million in federal dollars....
Construction worker Jorge Martins prepares for the expansion of Route 1&9 at the construction site of the rail tunnel project Wednesday in North Bergen.TRENTON — If New Jersey pulls out of the project to build a multi-billion commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River, it will have to repay the federal government $300 million for money already spent, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said.
The state has spent around $600 million so far on the project, including $300 million in federal dollars. Gov. Chris Christie on Sept. 10 called for a 30-day time out on the project amid concerns that the original $8.7 billion price tag would balloon by as much as $5 billion.
He could make a decision this week on whether to resume or cancel the tunnel project. Speculation is that he will scrap the tunnel and use New Jersey’s more than $2 billion share of the project to replenish the state’s nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for road and bridge repairs and transit services.
But killing the tunnel would violate agreements between New Jersey and the federal government in which the state committed to the project in exchange for federal dollars, said Lautenberg, who has been trying to keep the train tunnel project on track. The law also allows the federal government to collect interest and penalties from the state.
“How does it make fiscal sense for the state to write a $300 million check to the federal government right now?” asked Lautenberg, who compared the amount to the $400 million New Jersey lost in the screw-up over Race to the Top education funding.
“Canceling the tunnel project is not just bad transportation policy – it’s bad fiscal policy.”
Christie on Wednesday said he will review tunnel cost estimates, meet with NJ Transit executive director Jim Weinstein and state Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson and make a decision “really soon.”
“The criteria will be the reliability of the numbers that I’m provided and the backup for that -- in terms of what they tell me the real cost of this project will be -- and then making a cold, hard analysis about whether the state of New Jersey can afford it,” Christie said.
“I got sent to Trenton to stop spending money we didn’t have. We have got a long history of spending money we didn’t have, and I’m not going to continue that long legacy. And that’s why I put a stop to the project for 30 days —so someone could give me a more reliable idea of what this project would really cost.”
The tunnel, the largest public works project in America, was to double train capacity between New Jersey and midtown Manhattan when it was completed by the end of 2018.
Lautenberg earlier this week said the Port Authority should work with New Jersey to handle potential overruns.
“Where does he think that money comes from?” Christie asked. “It comes from predominantly New Jersey toll payers who are paying the tolls to go over bridges to New York. So it’s not like that money magically comes from some tree in Sen. Lautenberg’s backyard that we pluck off and give to the Port Authority.”