Christie: 'I will not allow taxpayers to fund projects that run over budget with no clear way of how these costs will be paid for'
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View of the construction site of the rail tunnel project in North Bergen Wednesday. TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today killed the controversial, multi-billion dollar Hudson River commuter train tunnel — America’s largest public works project — ending for now the two-decade-old quest to expand train capacity between New Jersey and midtown Manhattan.
“I have made a pledge to the people of New Jersey that on my watch 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 the governor. “Considering the unprecedented fiscal and economic climate our State is facing, it is completely unthinkable to borrow more money and leave taxpayers responsible for billions in cost overruns.
Christie said the tunnel project costs “far more than New Jersey taxpayers can afford and the only prudent move is to end this project.”
James Weinstein, the executive director of NJ Transit, in a statement, said while the state recognized the importance and value of a cross-Hudson transportation improvement project, “the current economic climate in New Jersey simply does not allow for this project to continue considering the substantial additional costs that are required.”
The governor said he has directed the state’s transportation officials to explore other approaches to modernize and expand rail capacity into New York. “However, any future project must recognize the regional and national scale of such an effort and work within the scope of the State’s current fiscal and economic realities,” he said.
Christie called a 30-day temporary halt in September on new tunnel construction, as behind-the-scenes cost projections suggested the tunnel project costs would swell more than $1 billion above the $8.7 million proposed price tag. He said he didn’t want the New Jersey version of Boston’s "Big Dig" — a tunnel mega-project that saw the final tally climb to nearly ten times the original $2.8 billion estimate.
At the same time, the governor was confronted with the state’s nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for road and bridge repairs and transit services. Christie had vowed not to increase the gas tax to pay for the fund, saying that drivers already had to contend with New Jersey Turnpike toll hikes and state residents already have been taxed too much, and there has been growing speculation that Christie will shift the state’s share of the tunnel project into the trust fund.
The federal government has earmarked $3 billion for the tunnel project, with another $3 billion being funded by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the final $2.7 billion coming from the state of New Jersey. Christie said the federal commitment is capped at $3 billion and required that any costs above $8.7 billion be absorbed by the State of New Jersey. According to the governor, cost overruns are estimated to be in a range from more than $2 billion to over $5 billion.
Formally known as Access to the Region’s Core, or ARC, the tunnel was to double train capacity to and from America’s largest city by the end of 2018, increasing the Garden State’s access to wealthy city jobs. Up to $600 million had already been spent on planning and construction work.
Tunnel opponents maintained the project was rushed together so then-Gov. Jon Corzine could get a re-election campaign photo opportunity at a ceremonial groundbreaking in summer 2009. They also said the tunnel, which was to end at West 34th Street in Manhattan, lacked connectivity to Penn Station and Manhattan’s prosperous east side. NJ Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel dubbed it the "tunnel to Macy’s basement."
Proponents said the project would have created 6,000 construction-related jobs annually and close to 45,000 permanent jobs once completed. It would have provided one-seat rides to Manhattan, gotten 22,000 cars off the roads every day and eliminated nearly 70,000 tons of greenhouse gasses gases every year, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said.
“Canceling the tunnel project is not just bad transportation policy – it’s bad fiscal policy,” said Lautenberg said in a statement earlier today.
By Josh Margolin and Mike Frassinelli/The Star-Ledger