TRENTON - Gov. Christopher Christie, with a stroke of a pen here at 11:13 a.m. Oct. 27, officially ended the current Trans Hudson Express (THE)/Access to the Region's Core (ARC) tunnel project.

Christie, citing New Jersey possibly shouldering any cost overruns, withdrew $2.7 billion from the currently projected $8.7 billion project. The state, with the Federal Transit Administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were one-third partners in what would have been the largest single infrastructure project in the nation.

"Despite intense negotiations with federal and state participants," said Christie (R-Mendham) in his release, no agreement was reached on terms that would assure New Jersey's taxpayers would not pay more than $2.7 billion. Federal cost estimates range from $9.8 to $12.7 billion . . . not including $775 million that (the state) would be required to spend to build the Portal Bridge South, an integral part of the ARC project."

 

The project, whose ground was broken at North Bergen June 8, 2009, called for a single dual track rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River for NJTransit and Amtrak use. THE Tunnel, by supplementing a 100-year-old Pennsylvania Railroad double track tube, would have doubled train capacity into New York Penn Station when it would have opened in 2018.

THE, as part of a larger ARC plan, would have ended in a separate terminal one block further east of NYPS and some 200 feet below 34th Street and Sixth Avenue. ARC further called for a new Hackensack River bridge to replace the intermittently sticking Portal Bridge South and a Kearny Meadows track loop to occasionally bypass the Lautenberg Secaucus Junction transfer station.

THE/ARC, as it was currently drawn, would not have continued to Grand Central Terminal - and access to jobs in Manhattan's East Side. That part was dropped midway through the planning stage.

Nor would THE/ARC stop or end at what is now the USPS John W. Farley Post Office. Congress, New York State and New York City are pressing ahead with converting the Farley building into the Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan Station.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, N.Y. Gov. David Paterson and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer - among others - took sledge hammers to a 10-foot by four-foot brick wall by the Farley building's steps at 3:11 p.m. Oct. 21. While those three entities have pledged $761 million towards extending NYPS platforms west under the phasing out post office, none have pledged one cent towards THE/ARC.

Christie, supported by an Oct. 7 financial report by NJTransit Executive Director Jim Weinstein, said that the state would have shouldered between $2 and $5.7 billion in projected overruns. The Governor asked Weinstein to audit the project Sept. 11.

Those figures come out to either between 66 and 175 percent above the state's share. The $2 to $5.7 billion, when factoring all three partners' contributions, results in between 25 and 75 percent of $8.7 billion. Most construction contracts build in a 20 percent allowance for change orders and/or cost overruns in a project.

Christie, in his release, accepted Weinstein's recommendation "to continue the orderly and expeditious shutdown of the ARC Project." The Governor issued an Oct. 8 cancellation. He stayed that stoppage to Oct. 22, at U.S. Secretary Raymond LaHood's personal insistence, to entertain funding alternatives.

It is believed that Christie would redirect the $2.7 billion into the nearly spent state Transportation Trust Fund for other projects. The Governor had halted all TTF-funded road and transit work Oct. 4 until state Legislators passed a $1 billion bond issue 24 hours later.

Not all of that $2.7 billion will reach TTF coffers. First, some $600 million have been spent on a new U.S. Route 1-9/Tonnelle Avenue overpass and to start burrowing east into The Palisades. Second, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) said that some of the state contribution may have to be refunded to the federal government.

Lautenberg and colleague Robert Menendez (D-Union City) had held work site rallies and petition campaigns at Newark Penn Station to save THE/ARC project Oct. 15-20.

"Killing the tunnel may excite the Republican political base but it leaves families of every political persuasion here in New Jersey with a $600 Million 'Hole to Nowhere,' with a deteriorating transportation and without thousands on new local jobs," said Menendez at noon Oct. 27. "Make no mistake, (Christie's) administration had complete control over this project, which as of August was on budget and he could've easily accepted offers of Sec. LaHood and the viable alternatives that would've built it within budget."

State Assemblyman Alberto Coutinho (D-Newark) joined Menendez and other state and federal level Democrats in Christie's cancellation. Most cited the lost 6,000 construction jobs in their reaction.

"Today's ill-advised decision by Gov. Christie to cancel the ARC tunnel project is devastating to the short- and long- term economic interests of New Jersey," said Coutinho 11:30 a.m. Oct. 27. "Every single major business, industry, smart growth, environmental, transportation, labor, planning and homeland security group in the state has endorsed the need for a second commuter rail tunnel for the past 15 years. Even Christie - as the Republican gubernatorial candidate - endorsed the plan last year."