NEW YORK — Sen. Frank Lautenberg says he has spoken with a large financial firm about the possibility of private financing for the endangered trans-Hudson rail tunnel. Lautenberg and other proponents of a new tunnel linking New Jersey and Manhattan are trying to seize on a two-week reprieve granted to the project Friday by Gov. Chris Christie, a day...
U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and supporters of the ARC Tunnel project including Doug O'Malley, field director for Environment New Jersey, left, holds a press conference outside of Newark Penn Station to discuss Gov. Chris Christie's decision to kill the Access to the Region's Core Tunnel project on Oct. 7.NEW YORK — Sen. Frank Lautenberg says he has spoken with a large financial firm about the possibility of private financing for the endangered trans-Hudson rail tunnel.
Lautenberg and other proponents of a new tunnel linking New Jersey and Manhattan are trying to seize on a two-week reprieve granted to the project Friday by Gov. Chris Christie, a day after he said he was killing the project due to rising costs.
A Lautenberg spokesman, Caley Gray, said the senator had discussed financing with a "major" New York firm, which he would not identify.
"It may be one way to help lighten the load," Bloomberg News quoted Lautenberg as saying today.
Lautenberg helped secure a $3 billion federal commitment to the ARC tunnel project, which is intended to double NJ Transit’s in-bound capacity of 46,000 passengers during rush hour. Proponents say the tunnel would also take cars off the road, create jobs and raise property values.
The project was initially priced at $8.7 billion, with a $3 billion commitment from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the remaining $2.7 billion pledged by New Jersey under former Gov. Jon Corzine.
Gov. Christie killed the project after saying the real cost would be at least $11 billion, and that state taxpayers would be on the hook for the rest. The next day, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood convinced Christie to wait two weeks to explore funding options.
Christie’s press secretary, Michael Drewniak, declined to comment on Lautenberg’s overture.
Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a tunnel supporter who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee, convened a hearing on the project’s cancellation scheduled for today, but postponed the hearing pending the two-week review.
Public-private partnerships on infrastructure projects are not new, and the Port Authority itself solicited private-sector proposals to replace the Goethals Bridge.
Wisniewski, who chairs the state Democratic Party, commended Lautenberg for thinking outside the box, though he said private money always comes at a cost. "Any private firm coming in is going to look for a return on their investment," he said.