NJ Assembly Appropriations chairman Richard Bagger (Westfield) has refused to post two bills that would authorize NJDOT to spend more money until the dispute over the Transportation Trust Fund reauthorization law is resolved.

Bagger chairs the committee that inserted the “fix it first” mandate in the Trust Fund renewal bill last year. It requires DOT to reduce backlogs of structurally deficient bridge and pavement projects by half in five years; DOT has refused and allocated just $22 million (of $561 million) to bridges and $71 million to road preservation in its fiscal 2002 program.Assemblyman Bagger announced his position on the spending bills at a Sierra Club meeting last week.

The first bill would authorize DOT to spend $145 million remaining from the 1999 Bridge Bond issue.The other is a proposal for a 2001 bond that would authorize $250 million in new state debt to repair local bridges. If approved, the new bond resolution would present voters with a ballot question for more DOT funding for a third straight year. 

Given the controversy over DOT’s failure to abide the roadway repair priorities set by the Legislature last year and championed by the Tri-State Campaign and other groups, placement of another bridge bond on the ballot this fall seems badly timed. The Campaign has announced it will oppose new bonding until DOT produces a more responsible budget.

The Campaign has asked the Legislature to put an additional $45 million from the Transportation Trust Fund into the bridge and road preservation in the fiscal 2002 capital program now being debated.Even if NJ DOT shifts these funds, it won't be because of an internal change in policy priorities.The shift will be the result of legislators using their leverage to follow up on the mandate they established last year with courageous actions like Assemblyman Bagger’s.

Fooled Again? Another NJ Bridge Bond on the Table - May 21, 2001

NJ DOT Guts Bridge Bond Act - June 25, 1999

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