(The following story by Larry Higgs appeared on the Asbury Park Press website on September 21, 2010.)
TRENTON — NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein said the Christie administration is considering using up to $2 billion in state funds earmarked for the $8.7 billion Second Hudson River Tunnel project to reauthorize the state Transportation Trust Fund, which runs out of money next year.
Weinstein also issued a warning, after an Assembly transportation committee hearing on the tunnel Monday, that Federal Transit Administration officials will not bail the state out if the tunnel project goes over budget. The project is on a 30-day hiatus while a financial review is conducted by NJ Transit and the FTA.
“The FTA is in for $3 billion and not a penny more,” Weinstein said in response to suggestions that state transportation officials negotiate with the FTA to obtain additional federal money to cover cost overruns.
During the hearing, Weinstein confirmed that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration has discussed using the state’s share of tunnel funding toward the trust fund, which runs out of cash next year to do anything except pay off past debt, without a new revenue source.
“There have been discussions, but no decisions,” Weinstein said in response to a question by Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, chairman of the transportation committee.
After the hearing, Weinstein said such policy discussions include all options.
“Just because we talk about something doesn’t mean any decisions have been made,” he said.
The Christie administration has said it plans to announce a trust fund reauthorization plan this fall, while others have said it could come as soon as the end of the month.
“The most alarming testimony was Weinstein’s acknowledgment that among the considerations is cannibalizing hard-earned money for the tunnel project,” Wisniewski said after the hearing. “We need to address the trust fund, but not by cannibalizing the tunnel.”
The committee hearing was about last week’s decision by NJ Transit to stop issuing new contracts for the tunnel project until a detailed financial review can be conducted to determine if the project will stay on budget.
Weinstein said that two tunnel-related real estate contracts have been tabled while the review is conducted.
“They (the FTA) have their views on the project, not so much on the cost, but on the risk of the project,” Weinstein said.
Representatives of the Regional Working Rail Group that supports routing the tunnel into Penn Station, said the state would save $3 billion by not building a deep cavern station under 34th Street. They told the committee that the project could at least hit the $10.7 billion mark because of other needed work, such as replacing the 100-year-old Portal Bridge in the Jersey Meadows and other infrastructure on the Northeast Corridor.
Weinstein said the viability of the agencies preferred tunnel alternative, including the deep cavern station, has been studied and endorsed by the FTA.
Meanwhile, others criticized the prospect of scuttling the tunnel.
“The federal government and Port Authority didn’t commit $6 billion for this critical tunnel project so that Governor Christie could turn the project into a slush fund to solve other problems,” said U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg in a statement. “It is unconscionable that the governor is considering throwing away $6 billion, thousands of jobs and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for New Jersey for a short-term political fix.”
Weinstein told the committee that, so far, the state has spent $500 million to $600 million on the project.