Meanwhile, the Campaign and four other civic and environmental groups have filed suit against the Department and the administration for failing to allocate new funds gained last year to local bridge repair. Representatives of the Campaign, the NJ Environmental Lobby, and NJPIRG Citizen Lobby, the New Jersey Environmental Federation and the Sierra Club attended the Committee meeting and were prepared to argue that the Department should not be trusted with more funds until it began following the directives of the legislature in the use of authorized monies. However, the Committee Chair called for an immediate vote, dispatching the bill in a matter of minutes.

The bond bill has been sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for posting where it should find less favor.Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Bagger has written a strong letter to Acting Governor DiFrancesco asking him to direct DOT to put more Trust Fund money into bridge repair to bring the 2002 DOT capital program into compliance with Trust Fund law.