Former U.S. House transportation committee chair Robert Roe warned recently that New Jersey would jeopardize economic growth if it goes too long without adequate transportation resources. "It puzzles me how people don’t identify the transportation system as being their job and economic base," Roe told the Middlesex County Infrastructure Advisory Committee, a group for whom he consults, according to the Star-Ledger.

The county infrastructure committee criticized Governor Jim McGreevey for backing away from an increase in the state gas tax to re-fuel New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund. NJ DOT, and presumably, NJ Transit, are now paring back capital programs for the coming year.

The state transportation commissioner presents the annual transportation capital program to the state legislature each spring. Commissioner Jack Lettiere recently told reporters that he is working to shrink transportation capital spending, delaying or canceling a variety of projects. 

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