In the aftermath of Governor Jim McGreevey’s December declaration that he would not seek an increase in the state gas tax, voices are already being raised decrying New Jersey’s dwindling transportation resources.

A Trenton Times editorial last Wednesday recounted a proposal to improve conditions along Route 1 in Mercer and Middlesex Counties, including measures to accommodate and protect cyclists and pedestrians. But the piece pointed out that any work on the recommendations will be impossible without money in the state’s transportation bank — the NJ Transportation Trust Fund — to pay for it. The paper hoped the governor would revisit the transportation finance issue in his state of the state speech, but was disappointed.

Instead, New Jersey transportation commissioner Jack Lettiere told reporters he is about a month away from issuing a plan to delay and cancel transportation projects that the state’s pinched transport budget can’t afford. It is not clear whether the cuts will also extend to NJ Transit projects.

Transportation funding in the Garden State is apparently stretched so thin, with operating and capital budgets increasingly blended, that Lettiere is scrambling to maintain sufficient capital spending to keep the state qualified for the full share of federal money allotted to it, according to the Bergen Record. Federal transportation aid, which is all for construction projects or equipment purchases, requires a certain amount of state or local matching funds (generally 20% of a project’s cost).

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