The new investment strategy document takes pains to avoid prominent mention of the Trust Fund law, and indicates that the DOT will seek to repudiate and defy these maintenance goals in each area of its program. Consider its statements in each key maintenance area:

National Highway System Bridges DOT projects the percentage of deficient NHS bridges, among the most heavily traveled in the state, to increase between now and 2005. DOT maintains its old goal of eliminating backlogged work by 2010, but attacks it at the same time, stating blandly that "The objective of eliminating the backlog of structural deficiency on NHS bridges by 2010 appears to be out of reach, if it was ever feasible." The section goes on to consider other goals, without ever mentioning this summer's legislative mandate.

Other State Bridges DOT projects no progress in reducing bridge deficiencies in this area, keeping the deficient share flat at 13% between now and 2006.

Local Bridges DOT cites its own old objective of reducing deficiencies in this area by 25% by 2010, without any reference to this year's legislative mandate. It says it could do more with an additional bond act, but doesn't refer to any of the funding made available by the Trust Fund renewal.

Pavement DOT projects deficient pavement to increase from 26% to 30% over the next five years. In addition to ignoring the 50% reduction goal set forth in the Trust Fund law, DOT further slaps the Legislature by complaining, in one of the document's few references to the new law, that the 2000 Trust Fund Renewal Act calls for a pavement maintenance program whose goals "are already being met."

Why can't NJ DOT meet the law's ambitious maintenance targets, given that the Legislature, Governor and voters approved a $3.8 billion four-year program, whose scale is roughly doubled to about $8 billion by federal transportation assistance? Although the numbers are not yet clear, NJ DOT recently released two memos which each describe 40 highway projects. One set is at an early stage of development, so the nature and costs of the projects are hard to clarify, but even these studies will consume some capital funding. The second set is much closer to implementation, and 10 of the 40 projects listed are explicitly to widen highways.

It is clear at least where the money is not going. In the new strategy document, DOT largely abandons its 1998 goal of investing $20 million to implement a significant set of rail freight improvement projects. DOT does not factor in any increase in local aid funding. And recent correspondence from the agency also indicates that it feels it has already met the Trust Fund law's mandate to construct 1,000 new bikeway miles within five years. That raises questions about when the DOT started counting - the law is clear that the bikeway projects are to be new mileage, starting with the Act's passage last July.

One of the main points of the Trust Fund legislation was the introduction of transportation program accountability. The law set clear goals to reduce the bureaucracy's ability to shape the program by fiat, or by manipulating slippery definitions and excuses. However, entrenched interests and cultures usually take time and ongoing vigilance to change, and NJ DOT apparently intends to do its best to ensure that this will be the case regarding transportation policy in New Jersey.