Chris Christie not about to keep fiscally strapped New Jersey on the hook for overruns

Governor Chris Christie holds his tenth Town Hall Meeting on his Reform Agenda in Moorestown, N.J. on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010. (Governor's Office/Tim Larsen)

Further burdening New Jerseyans with unaffordable public obligations is as Governor Christie said, “how we got ourselves in to the awful fiscal mess” and is why he must “make the hard decisions” that are necessary to “return our state to fiscal health”… New York Post, “In the long run, New Jersey will be better off for that decision”: “Proving once again that he's de determined to restore fiscal sanity to New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has stuck to his guns and reaffirmed his initial decision to kill the Hudson River tunnel project. Yes, that will hurt commuters, who've long sought relief from congested rail and road traffic.

But so would a sharp increase in New Jersey's gas tax and other levies that would probably rise sky-high to pay for this bloated project…He understands that government construction projects come with automatic cost inflation. And he's not about to keep fiscally strapped New Jersey on the hook for overruns, which is ultimately what Washington proposes to do. "I cannot place upon the citizens of New Jersey an open-ended letter of credit, and that's what this project represents," he said yesterday. Good for him…In the long run, New Jersey will be better off for that decision.” (“A tunnel too far,” New York Post, 10/28/2010)

Wall Street Journal, Governor Christie affirmed that New Jersey “…must finally recognize its limits”:

"I cannot place upon the citizens of the State of New Jersey an open-ended letter of credit," said Garden State Governor Chris Christie yesterday. Mr. Christie was affirming his decision to cancel a bloated project to build a new railroad tunnel under the Hudson River to New York City. He also affirmed that a government that already taxes its citizens more heavily than any other state in the country and has still racked up more than $100 billion in unfunded liabilities must finally recognize its limits. The proposed tunnel was a joint project of the state of New Jersey, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with each contributing roughly equal amounts. The catch was that Jersey would pay for any cost overruns…It's hard to blame Mr. Christie for sparing taxpayers from such a fate. (“Christie Gets Off the Train,” Wall Street Journal, 10/28/2010)

Star-Ledger Editorial Board, “Give him this…We are paying for yesterday’s sins”:

“We just can’t afford it,” he said yesterday. Give him this: The state’s gigantic pension and health obligations make this much harder. We are paying for yesterday’s sins. (“Christie to tunnel commuters: Drop dead,” Star-Ledger Editorial Board, 10/28/2010)

Innovation News, "We believe that Governor Chris Christie was right to have terminated the trans-Hudson tunnel project as currently conceived":

“We believe that Governor Chris Christie was right to have terminated the trans-Hudson tunnel project as currently conceived. In its current state, ARC is purely a local commuter rail connection to Manhattan with a terminus adjacent to Penn Station but not even tied into its Amtrak intercity lines. An investment on this scale should be considered in a larger context of the proposed Amtrak's NE Corridor high-speed line. As such, it is properly a project of regional or even national significance and should be funded primarily by the federal government and not by New Jersey taxpayers. As we have noted earlier, if there is one corridor in this country that justifies and deserves true high-speed rail service by virtue of its urban densities, passenger flows, economic activity and sheer size and importance, it's the Boston-to-Washington corridor. More than any other transportation initiative of recent years, the Amtrak concept plan evokes the tradition of what Felix Rohatyn has called America’s "bold endeavors" — a series of grand transportation enterprises that began with the Erie Canal and the transcontinental railroad in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century with the Panama Canal and the Interstate Highway System. The Northeast Corridor High-Speed Rail Line would be a truly worthy 21st century inheritor of that tradition. And the Trans-Hudson Tunnel could be a fitting beginning to this bold venture. We agree with the N.J. Alliance for Action that the $3 billion federal commitment to the ARC tunnel should be redirected to Amtrak for construction of the trans-Hudson tunnel as an integral part and essential first element of Amtrak's plans to develop high-speed rail service in the Northeast Corridor. We further believe, along with Rep John Mica (R-FL), that any future federal high-speed rail assistance should be focused primarily on making the Amtrak vision a reality rather than dissipated among many "high-speed" rail corridors of questionable merit.” ("Governor Christie's Trans-Hudson Tunnel Decision", Innovation News, 10/27/2010) # # #

For Immediate Release: Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010 Contact: Michael Drewniak
Kevin Roberts 609-777-2600

TEXT CREDIT: Office of the Governor PO Box 001 Trenton, NJ 08625 609-292-6000