Gov. Christie Derails ARC Tunnel

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is making The Preservator’s blood boil. Today Gov. Christie announced that he is pulling New Jersey’s funding for the ARC (aka Access to the Region's Core) Transit Tunnel under the Hudson River.  Gov. Christie put a moratorium on the construction of new tunnels for commuter rail lines under the Hudson River, citing concerns about the project’s budget.  It has been widely reported that Gov. Christie was expected to pull state funding from the project. In doing so, Gov. Christie has made a decision that would adversely affect the entire Northeast Megaregion by choking commuter rail travel even as ridership increases.

Proposed map of ARC Tunnel project. Image via arctunnel.com, by NJ Transit and the Port Authority of NY and NJ

Despite this announcement today, Transportation Nation reports that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Gov. Christie intend to meet tomorrow to discuss alternatives so that the ARC Tunnel project may continue.

Right now Amtrak and New Jersey Transit share the two century-old rail tunnels between New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan. These tunnels are at capacity; meanwhile ridership has more than quadrupled since 1984, and has increased 150% in the last 10 years.  The ARC tunnel would double the existing commuter rail capacity between NJ and NY, carrying an additional 100,000 passengers daily.

On the Manhattan end, this tunnel is a component of the intricate planned expansion of New York Penn Station and the restoration of the old Farley Post Office, set to become the new Moynihan Station. After years in the planning, the ARC tunnel construction phase began in 2009 and tunneling began this year. Of the $8.7 billion budget, the Port Authority of NY and NJ and the Federal Transportation Authority are each putting $3 billion toward the project, and the State of New Jersey had pledged about $2.7 billion to the project. According to Gov. Christie's estimates the actual project budget is anticipated to top $11 billion.

Gov. Christie’s excuse for stalling and canceling the project is that New Jersey would be on the hook for cost overruns. He says that because New Jersey is broke, the taxpayers cannot afford any additional costs. And, by the way, Gov. Christie reportedly wants to use the $2.7 billion committed to ARC to plug the impending bankruptcy of the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which is used to maintain the state’s roads and rails. At best, transit advocates say, this funding will only solve the state’s transportation funding for a few years.

If U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has his way, New Jersey will have to reimburse the $300 million (plus interest and penalties) of federal dollars already put toward the project. Essentially, the state would be breaking its commitment to the project, in exchange for which New Jersey received Federal funding. If that weren’t enough, Lautenberg asked the Port Authority this week to commit to covering any overruns.

Gov. Christie’s decision is outrageous. While it’s true that New Jersey is struggling financially, the tunnel project is anticipated to turn a profit for the state after it is built. A report by the Regional Plan Association (RPA) this summer projected significant property value increases (and therefore property tax revenue) for homes near rail stations in New York and New Jersey.  Additionally, the same RPA report notes that because the ARC tunnel would shorten commute times, the number of commuters will increase.

The Preservator takes the long view on just about everything. When we’re forward looking, it’s to a deep future, not the next 5-10 years. Times may be hard today, but New Jersey cannot and should not make decisions out of political expedience at the expense of real long term gains. 

Many transportation advocates have suggested that New Jersey should raise its absurdly low gas tax, which has remained stable for decades and contributes to the state’s low prices at the pump. Raising the gas tax may even push more commuters out of the driver’s seat and into the state’s rail system.

In killing this project Gov. Christie would commit one of the worst decisions for the entire region of the century. America can no longer be in the business of building fossil-fuel dependent transportation. The ARC tunnel project has been 20 years in the making and is the precise sort of project that the America of the 21st Century needs. We need more efficient and sustainable ways of moving regional populations to work. Any transportation planner will tell you that you cannot build your way out of a traffic problem by increasing road capacity. It simply doesn’t work. Our nation’s rail system (freight, Amtrak, regional rail) has been woefully underfunded and the Obama administration is working hard on reversing that trend.  (It helps that Vice President Biden was an Amtrak commuter as a Senator.)

You can thank Gov. Christie for keeping the Northeast Megaregion trapped in the 20th Century, with punishing commutes on aging infrastructure. You can thank him for filling New Jersey’s potholes and robbing the region’s future to do so.