I wouldn't be surprised if he canceled it - he seems to be a short-term thinker. If the project is needed for NJ's long term growth, then at some point it will be needed to meet rising traffic and if its $5 billion over costs now it will be $15 billion over costs in five or 10 years going forward. There is also no guarantee that the federal government or Port Authority will re-provide financings. Finally, NJ will also be fined.

how far did they get after breaking ground? and how come they didn't think of this last year before wasting money on what's been constructed so far?

Good. Let New York build it.

WNYC News
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Sources Say New Jersey Gov. Christie to Pull Plug on Hudson River Tunnel
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
By Andrea Bernstein

http://beta.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-ne ... ll-plug-on-hudson-tunnel/


The $8.7 billion trans-Hudson river transit tunnel project is expected to be killed later this week by Gov. Chris Christie, according to several sources familiar with the project. Barring any last minute reprieve, Gov. Christie will announce later this week that he's pulling the plug on the transit tunnel, known as the ARC project, which would have connected New Jersey to Manhattan.

New Jersey has already committed $2.7 billion towards the project, with the rest coming from the federal government and the Port Authority. Construction got underway in June 2009, but last month, Christie halted the project, saying he wanted to review costs.

Now several sources say Christie has made up his mind that it's just too risky -- and that he needs the money for roads.

Speaking at a campaign event for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Brady of Illinois, Christie says he's made no decision -- but he made his thinking clear.

"I was alerted to the fact that there were potential for significant cost overruns, and New Jersey's broke. And the federal government made it clear that New Jersey will be on the hook for any cost overruns on the project," Christie says.

NJ Transit, the Port Authority, and the Federal Transit Administration declined to comment.

On Monday, New Jersey's top transportation official said the state might divert money from the ARC project to Garden State roadways. Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson told legislators that the state could reallocate more than $2 billion from the project.

"You've got that billion coming in, $100 million a year, that is rededicated, flexed to ARC," he said. "So if ARC didn't happen, there's a billion dollars, a pot of money, for roads and bridges and things like that."

But the region could lose $6 billion from the federal government and the Port Authority says those allocated funds are specific to the project. Simpson said the decision to continue or cancel the ARC tunnel would be made on its own merits.

Simpson made his comments before a legislative committee. The committee approved a $1.7 billion financing package, allowing work to resume on other road and bridge projects around the state after a one-day moratorium.

Lets hope they include bicycle access so individuals can ride through the tunnel and even a pedestrian access.

More likely just a gimmick for a certain guy in Trenton to say he is making sure his administration isn't wasting taxpayer money.

Work moratorium. Maybe an opportunity to connect the trains to the east side?


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/nyr ... ?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/nyregion/08tunnel.html?hpw

Fundamentally, the problem with transportation in our region is best summed up by this:

"And some property owners in the city have sounded off about the prospect of losing their land because an out-of-state transit agency has designs on it."

Regional transportation needs a holistic approach, not a piecemeal pissing contest between agencies, states, and municipalities.

Work set to begin on $8.7B trans-Hudson tunnel

Monday, June 08, 2009

NORTH BERGEN - New Jersey officials are set to sink the first shovel into the nation's largest transportation project, another tunnel linking the state to New York City.

Today's groundbreaking ceremony will kick off construction of a third tunnel under the Hudson River, an $8.7 billion project that's expected to be completed in 2017.

The new link will be dedicated to carrying commuter rail traffic between northern New Jersey and Manhattan, permitting an exponential expansion in direct rail routes and doubling commuter rail capacity.

Gov. Jon Corzine headlines the group of state, local and regional officials who are expected to attend the ceremony, which will be held next to the tunnel's future entrance in North Bergen.

Quote:

A local arachnid concurred. "We're all trying to build a better fly trap, but it ain't easy. A good web is a tricky thing. You may think you can just spin an extra line, but you have no idea what's gonna happen. It's very much like railroads in that respect."

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pb ... S03/711300405/1029/NEWS13

NJ Transit commuters could get another train option

By KHURRAM SAEED
THE JOURNAL NEWS
November 30, 2007

Residents in southern Orangetown could ditch the bus or their cars and take the train to their jobs in Manhattan or New Jersey if a proposed passenger rail line in northern New Jersey is built.

NJ Transit is looking to transform a freight line and put either diesel-powered trains or electric light rail on 16 miles of track between Tenafly and North Bergen with hopes of opening the Northern Branch Line within five years.

NJ Transit officials note that Rockland ridership is not being counted on or factored in for the north-south line, but the project could give Rockland commuters who work in Hoboken or Jersey City another way to get there.

One plan calls for the line to start in Tenafly, N.J., which is a 10-mile, 15-minute drive from Tappan or a slightly longer drive down the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Tenafly could be a desirable alternative for residents of Piermont, Sparkill and Nyack who are looking to go south but who don't want to drive west to Pearl River for NJ Transit's Pascack Valley line.

"All of this stuff is sort of like a spider web. Once you put in a new line, you don't know what's going to happen to it," said former Palisades resident Gil Hawkins, who is currently a councilman for the borough of Leonia, N.J., which might have a stop along the line.

The line was once part of the Erie Railroad, and trains carried commuters and passengers from downtown Nyack to Jersey City, N.J., until 1966. In Orangetown, much of the line was converted into a rail trail. Freight trains run on the tracks in New Jersey's Bergen and Hudson counties.

The project is in the early stages of its environmental review.

The project was originally proposed several years ago as an extension of NJ Transit's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system. Since then, NJ Transit has introduced the idea of using diesel-powered trains, to the dismay of some who believe the trains would be noisier and create more air pollution. Eventually, the trains could provide a one-seat ride to Manhattan through NJ Transit's proposed rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

Steven Santoro, NJ Transit's assistant executive director of capital planning and programs, said the transit agency is conducting a head-to-head comparison of the benefits, liabilities, cost and potential ridership of both rail modes.

Santoro said the comparison will be part of the draft environmental impact statement, which will be published in the summer of 2008. Public hearings on both light rail and diesel trains will follow, and NJ Transit will then make a decision toward the end of next year.

The environmental review will address a number of issues, including station locations. NJ Transit's initial plans call for a park-and- ride lot in Tenafly, which might prove inviting to Rockland drivers.

"I'm not at all happy that they've chosen Tenafly to be the end of the line," said Tenafly Mayor Peter Rustin, who expressed concerns about outsiders driving in and clogging up the streets. "We have terrible traffic problems as it is."

The borough has five crossings within a mile of each other, and diesel trains, which could run as often as every 15 minutes at times, would be required to blow their horns at each crossing.

Hawkins, the Leonia councilman interested in seeing the project move ahead, said there is a brewing controversy among public officials and NJ Transit about the type of train that might travel through bedroom communities.

Hawkins favored light rail because it is less environmentally invasive and can carry more people.

NJ Transit has since introduced the idea of self-propelled diesel trains because it said they could be brought into service faster, funding for them could come quicker, they would be cheaper than light rail and could provide the valuable one-seat ride into Manhattan, although they would likely have to be dual-fitted with electric service to travel through the tunnel.

Hawkins said he had been left with the sense of being "hoodwinked" and a "bait-and-switch kind of feeling" from NJ Transit.

"We're really being steered rather than being given options," Hawkins said of NJ Transit.

Douglas John Bowen, president of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers, said his group has been largely responsible for keeping light rail in the discussion.

He said NJ Transit had pledged to bring light rail to Bergen County.

"We're holding them to it," he said.

Bowen doubted that the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel would have the extra capacity to accommodate additional trains from the Northern Branch Line, as the project is already being scaled down.

Even without the direct ride, commuters using diesel trains would be able to get to Manhattan, but it would include changing trains. People would first transfer to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Line in North Bergen, get off at Hoboken and take a PATH train to Manhattan.

Building light rail could cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than diesel. NJ Transit said the costs are being studied. Bowen said light rail was more energy efficient in the long term than diesel trains, far quieter and could carry more passengers at a lower cost.

One of the issues being considered is running freight on the line, which is owned by CSX Transportation. Freight trains would be able to run at the same time with diesel-powered trains, also known as heavy rail. But by federal law, freight trains are not allowed to operate during the same window as light rail, meaning they might be able to run only at night.

Orrin Getz, Rockland's liaison for the New Jersey Association for Railroad Passengers, said after the Northern Branch Line was built, regardless of the mode running on it, perhaps one day the line could be extended into Rockland if the market demanded it. Of course, that would mean converting trails back into rail tracks.

"Nobody has ever done that," Getz said, "but it would be a very interesting case."