The move came on the heels of NJDOT's request to the Legislature, a week earlier, to remove $46 million from the bill implementing the $500 million November bond issue. $17 million of money is all of the bond's rail freight, bicycle and pedestrian projects. Now, none of the bond money for these areas will be used for projects in 2000. At the urging of Tri-State Campaign director Janine Bauer, DOT Commissioner Jim Weinstein promised the committee that all of rest of the bond money would all be used in 2001. Now, even that development looks unclear. Also unraveling over the last two weeks was DOT's promise in the fall that the $500 million bond monies, even if spent over 2000 and 2001, would be additive to the Transportation Trust Fund, not used to replace Trust Fund or federal dollars.

NJ's draft TIP for 2001 (beginning in July, 2000) has been released and clearly shows that bond monies are being used, partially or in full, to replace funds previously programmed in the TIP for particular projects and programs. And officials at this week's DOT Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting confirmed that the bond monies would not be added to Trust Fund and other sources, but would replace them in certain instances ¾ though at least one official indicated that there was dissent within the department regarding this course.

Unless corrected in further legislative hearings or at the MPOs, DOT's maneuver will cause a net loss for the projects and programs the Tri-State Campaign fought for last year ¾ $18 million for rail freight will fall to $15 million; $12 million for cycling projects reduced to $7 million, and $9 million for pedestrian safety cut to $5 million. The lesser figures are exactly the amounts programmed in last year's TIP, before the bond bill even passed the Legislature. A rumor is circulating that rail freight will be further cut back to $10 million. Even roadway repair projects could be endangered.

Critics of the bond issue last year claimed that getting a program and project list from DOT as to where the bond monies would be spent was not enough, because DOT would use the appeal of sustainable projects to obtain voter approval, and then use Trust Fund monies to continue to widen highways. And a few controversial projects seem to be gaining momentum. A resolution endorsing the construction of Rt. 55 in southern NJ, a 20-mile new alignment highway that would cut right through two state forests, is moving in the state legislature next week. Maybe the critics were right. If so, spending controls are an absolute must in the renewal and reform of the Trust Fund.