TRENTON — Gov. Christie’s decision to stop the Hudson River tunnel project is a setback for North Jersey commuters who routinely face train delays, but there are many others with something to lose, including the governor himself. Politically connected government consultants will miss out on billions of dollars in steady work. Construction workers will also lose out on the...
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pauses during a Statehouse news conference today where he announced he has killed a project to build a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River.TRENTON — Gov. Christie’s decision to stop the Hudson River tunnel project is a setback for North Jersey commuters who routinely face train delays, but there are many others with something to lose, including the governor himself.
Politically connected government consultants will miss out on billions of dollars in steady work. Construction workers will also lose out on the thousands of jobs the tunnel project was expected to create. And many homeowners in North Jersey were expecting to see their property values go up. The governor and Democratic lawmakers could also be hurt politically by the decision, which Christie announced Thursday during a State House news conference.
“In the end, this decision is a financial decision,” Christie said of the $8.7 billion tunnel project, which was to double commuter rail capacity into New York. “The state of New Jersey is broke.”
Here’s a list of some who stand to lose after Thursday’s decision:
• Government consultants: At least $9 billion was to be spent on the tunnel project through 2018, creating the type of lucrative and steady work that construction companies, lawyers and other firms that feed off government contracts — and make steady campaign contributions — dream of.
• The politically connected DeCotiis law firm, based in Teaneck, had already been awarded a contract to help NJ Transit acquire properties. The firm’s partners have contributed more than $400,000 to political campaigns in New Jersey since 2007, according to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission’s Pay-to-Play database.
• Ferreira Construction of Branchburg, which received one of the first contracts for the tunnel project last year, has also made political contributions, according to the database, including a total of $5,600 to state Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex). Wisniewski is also chairman of the state Democratic Party.
• North Jersey homeowners: Real estate experts estimated homes in North Jersey within two miles of a train station would increase in value by $19,000, and homes within walking distance of a train station would increase by an average of $29,000. The cumulative increase in home values in the region was estimated to grow by $18 billion over eight years as a result of the tunnel project.
• Construction unions: Industry experts predicted the tunnel project would create 6,000 construction jobs through 2018, with 3,000 coming from New Jersey and the remaining coming from New York.
• New Jersey Democrats: The state Legislature has been controlled by Democrats since 2004, and the Democrats also held the governor’s office for eight years before Christie’s January 2010 inauguration. But the Democrats never had the collective will to hike the state gas tax, which could have potentially generated enough revenue to fully fund the tunnel project even with the current projected overruns of up to $5 billion. They also failed to get former Gov. Jon S. Corzine — a staunch proponent of mass transit and the tunnel project — re-elected last November.
• Christie: The governor will get credit from the national conservative pundits for stopping a project that was not fully funded, but in New Jersey his decision to kill the tunnel could hurt his popularity by giving political opponents a chance to build a flip-flopper narrative.
Although Christie pledged to review all big-dollar transportation projects as a candidate against Corzine in 2008, he always said he supported the tunnel project. Later, after he won the election, Christie reaffirmed his support and a spokeswoman said he hoped the project would succeed.
The withdrawal of his support for the tunnel project this year, taken with other about-faces — including the decision to go back on a pledge to fund 2010 property tax rebates — gives his enemies some high-profile reversals to highlight.