Corzine announces $2.8 billion for infrastructure improvements

by Amy Sara Clark
The Jersey Journal
Thursday November 27, 2008


Gov. Jon Corzine announcing his $2.8 billion investment plan as Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy stands by in Jersey City on Nov., 26, 2008.

Gov. Jon Corzine announced $2.8 billion in infrastructure improvements that he said will not only beef up the state's schools, bridges and roads, but will also stimulate the economy and create as many as 26,000 new jobs.

"We are going to put a lot of people to work," Corzine said press conference yesterday in front of the aging St. Paul's Avenue Bridge in Jersey City. The state plans to spend $64.55 million on improving the bridge over the next year.

And, he said, the state would also reap long-term benefits in infrastructure improvements.

The most visible part of the improvement will be the widening of some portions of the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, Corzine said, but in all, there will be 562 projects statewide.


City mayor Jerramiah Healy introduces New Jersey governor Jon Corzine in front Saint Paul's Avenue Bridge, where plans to help rebuild the bridge is to be enacted. Gov. Corzine's Infrastructure Investment Plan will put nearly 2.9 billion dollars into sponsoring transportation, helping create 26,000 jobs, November 26, 2008.

About a dozen state and local officials - including U.S. Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Reps. Albio Sires and Donald Payne, Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, Assemblymen Vincent Prieto, L. Harvey Smith, Anthony Chiappone, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise -- stood in the near-freezing weather with Corzine to support the plan.

Of the $2.8 billion in funds slated for projects, about $700 million of it was generated by the toll hikes earlier this year, said Department of Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri. Another $235 million are funds that were going to be spent later in 2009, but instead will be used right away, he said. The rest of the money was already in the budget for 2009 infrastructure projects.

Menendez praised Corzine for moving quickly to create an infrastructure investment plan ahead of finalization of the stimulus package. "Some of that money is going to come to states that are ready to go," he said.

Lautenberg agreed, adding his own praise for the governor's leadership, "We know that transportation investment is the most efficient way to jolt the economy," he said, adding that the resulting traffic improvements will have environmental benefits in the form of less wasted gas and fewer toxins emitted by idling cars.

Corzine said the infrastructure plan was just one piece of his efforts to help improve New Jersey's economy.

"I hope the public will understand we are doing everything we can to deal with the very serious crisis we're facing," he said.
CONNER JAY / THE JERSEY JOURNALNew Jersey Sen. Robert Memendez jokes with New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Chris Kriskolluri before yesterday's press conference about Governor Corzine's Infrastructure Investment Plan. Spirits among elected officials were high as they hoped the program will generate 26,000 jobs directly, November 26, 2008.

The plan calls for the following funds to be spent in Hudson County over the next year:

? $28.35 million for improvements to the Route 7 Hackensack River Wittpenn Bridge

? $64.55 million for improvements to the St. Paul's Avenue Bridge in Jersey City

? $25 million for restoration of the Hoboken Ferry Terminal

? $8.7 million for repairs to the Pulaski Skyway

? $8.32 million for improvements to Route 1&9 from 43rd Street in North Bergen to Route 46 (Ruby Ave.) in Palisades Park

? $2.5 million to create a pedestrian pathway from Hoboken Avenue and Newark Avenue in Hoboken

? $500,000 for major bridge rehabilitation to the Upper and Lower Route 139 Roadways

? $380,000 for improvements to the North Marginal Street Bridge (Route 495) over Park Avenue in Weehawken