The pending departure of Governor James McGreevey from New Jersey’s top political job raises a number of important questions for the direction of transportation policy in the Garden State.

First, though the McGreevey administration has recently come under strong fire from the state’s environmental activists over the "fast track" development legislation (see MTR #465) that the governor and legislators paired with measures to control development in the NJ Highlands, it is undeniable that the administration’s emphasis on stopping sprawl created important political space for the New Jersey Dept. of Transportation to develop innovative approaches to congested road corridors.

It would be a tremendous setback for the environment, economy and quality of life in New Jersey if succeeding administrations downplay McGreevey’s smart growth theme and reverse reform at NJ DOT. In the last two years, NJ DOT has scrapped or significantly scaled down a number of highway expansion projects, and launched joint planning initiatives with municipalities and other local interests with stated goals such as ending "the cycle of growth and [road] widening…" It has also taken a stronger role in developing new rail freight infrastructure and is vigorously defending the truck routing rules put in place by Governor Whitman but challenged in federal court by national trucking interests. Looking across the United States, it is tough to find a state transportation outfit that has put in place so many progressive initiatives so quickly. State transportation commissioner Jack Lettiere and his DOT leadership team should remain to continue to develop and institutionalize new methods.

New Jersey State Senate president Richard Codey, would become acting governor if McGreevey sticks to his plan to leave office this November 15. The legislature has not been deeply involved in transportation issues since Codey’s ascent to the senate’s top position after the 2001 election. He was involved in the Highlands protection/development streamlining deal. A year ago, he was a leader in moving New Jersey to adopt the federal .08 blood-alcohol level as its drunk driving threshold. The federal government had changed the standard in 1998 and New Jersey was losing some of its federal highway aid by not following suit. Codey has also recently fought for improvements along I-280 near his home district of West Orange, following  a bad crash in which a vehicle crossed into oncoming highway traffic. 

However, Codey was instrumental in introducing reform themes into New Jersey’s last major piece of transportation legislation — the 2000 transportation trust fund reauthorization. During summer, 2000, Codey was Senate Minority Leader and worked with his Republican colleagues and leaders of the Assembly to attach language directing NJ DOT to invest more in road and bridge repair and in bicycling facilities (see MTR #275). 

Some speculation suggests Codey would not be the Democratic candidate for governor in November, 2005. Discussion already centers on the possible candidacy of U.S. Senator Jon Corzine. He now sits on the Senate Banking and Urban Affairs Committee, where he has had the chance to press for policies and funding favoring mass transit. He has become a champion for the needed project to build an additional commuter rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan, helping to build a state-wide consensus for it as a top NJ Transit priority. 

Whoever becomes governor will face the daunting job of pulling New Jersey’s transportation system back from the brink of a fiscal abyss. The state’s transportation construction revenues are all completely tapped to repay debt from bond issues, and the state is only maintaining its programs for now by borrowing against future federal transportation aid. The conventional wisdom had been that this problem would be taken up in Trenton just after the 2005 election, and addressed by raising the state’s gas tax. But if Codey decides not to run in 2005, the time from that decision until the next governor takes office will be a lame duck period of sorts. That is when New Jersey has dealt with some of its tough transportation funding issues in recent years, including the Port Authority toll increase of 2000 (just before Governor Whitman left for Washington) and the NJ Transit New Year’s 2002 fare hike.

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