About 100 construction projects will halt on Monday
All state-funded road construction projects will be halted Monday because of a dispute between Gov. Chris Christie and Democrats over funding for transportation.TRENTON — All state-funded transportation construction projects will be halted on Monday, as a high-stakes game of political chicken moves from the State House to the roads of New Jersey.
The projects, about 100 all told, were stopped by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration after Democrats in the Legislature failed to approve a $1.25 billion bond needed to cover road construction contracts through next March.
At the center of the showdown is the fate of the multi-billion Hudson River train tunnel which Democrats believe Christie is about to cancel so he can divert Jersey’s funding for the project to the nearly broke Transportation Trust Fund.
The Democratic lawmakers warned last week they would withhold approval of the funding for transportation projects until Christie explained his long-term plan to pay for them.
The Christie administration countered late Friday by ordering the stoppage of $1.7 billion worth of projects across the state, including the reconstruction of Interstate 295 in Burlington County, the Route 3 Passaic River crossing project in Passaic and Bergen counties and dozens of NJ transit projects.
"Because of the Legislature’s failure to act, thousands of engineers, planners, designers and construction workers will be put out of work and project schedules will be disrupted," state transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson said.
After the work stoppage order Thursday, Democrats quickly called for an emergency meeting 10 a.m. Monday to consider the bond.
Federally funded projects and emergency repairs are not affected by the halt order.
Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) said last week he wanted to hear Christie’s plan to fix the Transportation Trust Fund — which pays for road and bridge repairs and transit services — before allowing a committee he co-chairs to consider more borrowing that would get the state through March.
He and Assemblyman Louis D. Greenwald (D-Camden) said the Joint Budget Oversight Committee will hold the emergency meeting at 10 a.m. Monday in Trenton.
Sarlo said Christie, who vehemently opposes increasing the gas tax to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund, has failed to propose a long-term solution to the fund.
"Ever since this administration took office, we’ve been told that a long-term plan for funding the TTF is being drafted, is being finalized or is being discussed," said Sarlo, the Senate budget chairman.
Simpson’s "threat to lay off workers through a late-day press release rather than by picking up a telephone to discuss this vital matter directly is enough of a signal that administration has no plan," Sarlo said.
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the funding issue was "mutually exclusive of any other issues Sen. Sarlo and other Democratic leaders are attempting to tie it to."
"This is about current transportation projects approved by the prior administration which the Democratic leadership is now abandoning by not fulfilling its ministerial duties and obligations," Drewniak said. "Their failure is inexplicable and indefensible. All we wanted to do was pay the bills so construction workers can stay on the job come Monday. They want to obstruct and gain political points."
Raymond M. Pocino, vice president and eastern regional manager for the Laborers’ International Union of North America, which represents more than 40,000 construction workers in New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, and Delaware, said holding short-term funding hostage and shutting down active projects was "politics at its worst."
"At a time when joblessness in the construction industry nears an all-time high, I implore the Legislature and administration to refrain from political one-upmanship and work together to solve our immediate and long-term transportation infrastructure needs," he said.
"Men and women who work in construction shouldn’t be treated as political pawns. This stand-off hurts families at a time when they can least afford it."
Last week, NJ Transit executive director Jim Weinstein said there have been discussions about using money allocated for the commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River to shore up the Transportation Trust Fund.
Christie on Sept. 10 ordered a 30-day halt on new tunnel construction to review the financial viability of the project that was expected to cost $8.7 billion, but could cost up to $5 billion more.
The tunnel, known as Access to the Region’s Core, or ARC, would double the capacity of trains between New Jersey and Manhattan and drop off riders on 34th Street.
By Mike Frassinelli/The Star-Ledger and Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau