Citing commuter rail and bus systems running at maximum capacity, daily backups at bridges and tunnels, and a projected doubling of ridership demand by 2040, Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Senate Democratic leaders called upon the Port Authority to make the expansion of trans-Hudson capacity its top priority over the next 20 years. New Jerseyans make up 80 percent of trans-Hudson commuters and pay a larger share of the Port Authority’s tolls, the Senate leaders said.
Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), Budget Chairman Paul Sarlo, President Pro Tem Nia H. Gill (D-Essex), and Sen. Bob Gordon (D-Bergen/Passaic) joined Sweeney in calling upon the Port Authority to put construction of a new rail tunnel and reconstruction and expansion of the Port Authority Bus Terminal – neither of which is funded in the current 10-year PA capital plan – at the top of the priority list.
“New Jerseyans make up almost 80 percent of trans-Hudson commuters, pay the lion’s share of the tolls, and bear the brunt of the failure to invest in expanding and modernizing our trans-Hudson infrastructure,” Sweeney said on the eve of a Trans-Hudson Transportation Summit hosted by the Port Authority, the Regional Plan Association and other transportation agencies.
“Demand for rail and bus ridership between New Jersey and Manhattan is projected to double by 2040, but our rail tunnels are already running trains through every two-and-a-half minutes, buses are lined up bumper to bumper at the Lincoln Tunnel, and there is no capacity at Penn Station or the Port Authority Bus Terminal to handle the increased traffic,” Sweeney said. “We need to get moving on the Gateway rail tunnel and Port Authority Bus Terminal now to create good-paying jobs, bolster the middle class, spur economic growth and improve the quality of our commuters’ lives.”
“New Jersey commuters have been hammered by the staggering bridge and tunnel toll increases rammed through so underhandedly in 2011,” Weinberg said. “They have been paying more than their fair share, but New Jersey’s priorities have taken a back seat. We need to expand trans-Hudson capacity to cut commute times for our rail, bus and auto commuters, spur economic growth on both sides of the Hudson, and not allow real estate development and other less-critical projects in the Port Authority capital plan to take precedence.”
The Senate Democratic leadership renewed its call for the Port Authority to use the billions of dollars it plans to generate from its sale of non-transportation-related real estate and other capital funds to provide a $3 billion regional match for the new Gateway Tunnel and to fully fund the reconstruction and expansion of the dilapidated Port Authority Bus Terminal.
“The core mission of the port authority should be dedicated to transportation projects that benefit the commuters of our state,” Gill said. “Expanding trans-Hudson capacity is critical and should be done by building the rail tunnel and expanding the bus terminal. These projects can no longer wait.”
The Senate Democratic leaders noted that the Port Authority’s principal mission since its creation in 1921 was supposed to be the construction, operation and maintenance of trans-Hudson infrastructure linking the New York and New Jersey regional economies.
“The Port Authority has not built or expanded a trans-Hudson crossing linking the two states in more than 50 years since the upper deck of the George Washington Bridge was built, which has paid tremendous economic dividends for Bergen County and beyond,” Sarlo said.
While Brooklyn and Queens have 20 East River auto, rail and subway crossings linking their boroughs directly with Manhattan, New Jersey has the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, the George Washington Bridge, two PATH tubes and two 1910 single-track rail tunnels shared by NJ Transit and Amtrak.
“When the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had to close the Montague Street Tunnel built in 1910 for two years for Sandy-related repairs and reconstruction, subway riders were simply diverted to other tunnels,” Sweeney said. “Our 1910 rail tunnels were also badly damaged by Sandy, and if one of them has to close for 18 months or more, we have nowhere else to go. We will have to cut from 24 rush-hour trains an hour to six, pushing as many as 75,000 commuters onto already overcrowded buses, PATH trains, bridges and tunnels. This would create a traffic nightmare for all New Jerseyans, undermine real estate values and cripple our economy.
“But it’s not just an issue of the economic catastrophe that would ensue if one of the rail tunnels needs to close before the new Gateway tunnel can be built,” he said. “The failure to expand trans-Hudson commuter capacity is already choking off the opportunity for New Jersey to fully share in the region’s economic growth.”
New Jerseyans bring home $50 billion in wages earned in New York City, and the rail tunnel project alone would generate $10 billion in new Gross Regional Product and $4 billion in new Real Personal Income annually, add 44,000 permanent and 6,000 construction jobs, and boost real estate values up to $34,000 per home in communities located along rail lines.
Construction of the new rail tunnel, expansion of the Northeast Corridor rail line from two lines to four between Newark and Secaucus, and the construction of a new Penn Station South would enable New Jersey Transit to offer one-seat rides into Manhattan on virtually all of its lines – which would rejuvenate downtowns throughout northern and central New Jersey in the same way that Midtown Direct did for towns on the Morris and Essex line.
Reconstruction and expansion of the Port Authority Bus Terminal would increase capacity to accommodate projected increases in bus ridership from New Jersey and reduce waiting times for commuters to get in and out of the terminal.
“It’s not a question of ‘Either-Or,’ It’s ‘Both,’” Weinberg said. “The Port Authority needs to reorder its priorities to replace the disgusting, deplorable Port Authority Bus Terminal with a new facility and get the Gateway rail runnel built. New Jersey commuters are already paying enough into the system to get this done. Moreover, if one of the rail tunnels is closed down for repairs, bus ridership will increase even more and will make it a new expanded terminal even more urgent. It’s time to move on these projects.”
Gordon said the Port Authority’s role in these massive trans-Hudson construction projects and the complexities involved in the divestment of up to $8 billion real estate investments make it imperative that comprehensive Port Authority legislation is enacted.
“We need legislation requiring the Port Authority to develop four-year capital plans with full public input, to require independent appraisals and public disclosure in advance of all major real estate transactions, and to mandate quarterly progress and expenditure reports on major projects,” said Gordon, who is working with both New Jersey and New York legislators on a new Port Authority reform bill.
New Jerseyans rely much more heavily on trans-Hudson infrastructure to get to jobs in New York than New Yorkers do to commute to New Jersey. For New York City and Long Island, the ratio is four New Jersey commuters for every New Yorker.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey in 2010, an estimated 360,039 New Jerseyans worked in jobs in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk counties that would have required them to cross the Hudson via one of the Port Authority’s bridges or car tunnels, by PATH or NJ Transit train, or by ferry. When Sandy crippled trans-Hudson commutation for months, it was New York City employers who complained the loudest.
Meanwhile, an estimated 93,475 New York City residents made the reverse commute to New Jersey, with Hudson, Bergen and Essex counties their leading workplace destinations – a growing number, especially on Hudson’s Gold Coast, but still making up just over 20 percent of trans-Hudson commuter traffic. Nevertheless, as the two state’s economies are increasingly linked, New York City residents will benefit increasingly from trans-Hudson infrastructure investment.
[TLS]