Credit: U.S. Department of Transportation New Jersey entrance to the two century-old tunnels that carry Amtrak and NJ Transit trains into New York City With the two century-old tunnels that carry Amtrak and NJ Transit trains into New York City badly damaged by superstorm Sandy and facing eventual year-long shutdowns for needed repair, Amtrak officials are… Read the rest of this entry »

Credit: Governor’s Office/Tim Larsen Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox To new Transportation Commissioner Jamie Fox, the challenge is clear, and so is the solution: After years of “taking a Band-Aid approach to everything,” New Jersey’s transportation system is in crisis. The only way out is to raise taxes to replenish the soon-to-be-empty Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and… Read the rest of this entry »

State officials looking for solutions to the state’s transportation funding crisis are increasingly considering merging the cash-starved state Department of Transportation and New Jersey Transit with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to enable $400 million in excess Turnpike and Garden State Parkway toll revenues to be used for overall state transportation needs. The merger of NJDOT’s… Read the rest of this entry »

With the Transportation Trust Fund scheduled to run out of money a year early, Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic legislative leaders are looking to reach agreement on a long-term solution to the state’s transportation funding crisis that is likely to include increased taxes on motor fuels. High-level talks involving Christie and legislative leaders, Christie’s nomination of… Read the rest of this entry »

Gov. Chris Christie and state legislative leaders are now focusing on how to refinance the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which currently provides $1.6 billion a year in state funding for highway, bridge, and mass-transit construction projects. The TTF program approved in 2011 was supposed to run five years, but four years of overborrowing by the Christie… Read the rest of this entry »