Transportation watchdogs and environmentalists took Governor Whitman's proposed 5-cent increase in the state gas tax to task Wednesday in Trenton.

Legislative opposition has cut the 2-cent open space fund out of Whitman's gas tax proposal. As a result, environmental opposition to the gas tax hike, which the state says is needed to support the NJ Transportation Trust Fund, is mounting. Though green groups traditionally favor higher gas taxes as a driving disincentive, New Jersey groups concerned about sprawl note that the additional gas tax revenues would end up with NJ DOT, which aims to spend 39% of Trust Fund monies on highway expansion and only 17% on road maintenance in 1999.

A coalition including NJPIRG Citizen Lobby, NJ Environmental Federation, NJ Environmental Lobby, Sierra Club NJ Chapter, the NJ Transit Employees Coalition, the NJ Association of Rail Passengers and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign said: "We cannot support an increase in transportation spending. Too much of NJ taxpayers' money has been spent on wasteful new road construction projects, like the Atlantic City Tunnel. These road projects have siphoned money away from critical transportation needs, such as road and bridge repair, safety programs and better transit."

The groups released analyses of NJ DOT's plans for spending the Transportation Trust Fund in 1998 and 1999 to underscore the Department's predilection for road building versus maintenance. The analysis was accompanied by a list of the "Wasteful Five," of recent or pending road projects, including Route 29 (see left), Route 31 widening, I-287 HOV lanes, the Hightstown Bypass and the new Atlantic City highway/tunnel. The "Ignored Seven" presented a sample of "deferred" road maintenance projects, including the Route 1&9 Elizabeth River Bridge.

A DOT spokesperson responded to reporters by citing Governor Whitman's transportation policy speech this spring, which used phrases like "Fix it First." However, the program released along with the speech left plenty of room for highway expansion and proposed maintenance targets that will not come due until Governor Whitman has been out of office for nine years.

Newspapers reported today that some Republicans in the NJ Legislature remain uncomfortable with the gas tax hike and would rather use the state's budget surplus for transportation projects.