The Hudson River train tunnel, a dream of many New Jersey commuters, politicians and planners for decades, will die a second death today.
And this time, there will be no reprieve.
Gov. Chris Christie today is expected to again terminate the multi-billion dollar project, arguing that New Jersey cannot afford it and that the federal government is unwilling to increase its share of the costs, four officials close to the project said.
The governor canceled the project Oct. 7, but gave it a two-week grace period after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited Trenton the next day to ask for more time to offer alternatives. That deadline expired Friday, but Christie has pondered the decision an additional five days.
As he walked into an event in Indianapolis last night, Christie said, “I’ll make this decision when I believe is the right time to make it. The decision I make will be in the best interest of the taxpayers of the state.”
The project, which was to double rail capacity between New Jersey and New York City, was America’s largest public works initiative.
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6 Responses
If it was such a dream – why not pay for it? Many public projects in the past (e.g. the Statute of Liberty) were paid for by “subscription” (people sent in their money and when enough came in, the project was carried out). Note that in the 19th century there was no income tax, whereas today such contributions would be tax deductible. Another alternative is to offer to charge for use of the tunnel – and see (before, hopefully) if a private company is willing to “buy” the idea that in users are willing to pay extra for the improvement.
Even though this is expensive, but would such a lengthy project create jobs? If yes, it may be a good idea.
#2: The state (any state nowadays) cannot afford to create jobs by simply adding more wokers to their payroll. The private sector will have to create the jobs…
What a courageous decision. WE taxpayers have had enough of open-ended funding on public projects. Those people have never heard the word “budget” and wouldn’t be able to follow one if they tried! Thank you, Governor Christie (who I am happy to have voted for) for standing up for us regular guys!
are the path tubes beyond redemption?
The long term benefits of projected for this project, in terms of jobs, reduced commuting, commercial development and reduced air pollution, were so enormous that I think Christie will (B”H) pay a heavy political price for this blunder.
It appears to me that Governor Christie projects anger much of the time, and that he acts as if absolutely everyone and everything in pre Lord Christie governmental, political, labor, and judicial establishmements are no more than incompetent and wasteful fools. Such hubris