The Shrinking Gas Tax
All three states that make up the metropolitan region
are desperate for money to invest in transportation.
Six Decades of Route 92 Debt
In an exclusive report in August, WNBC News said the
debt brought on by the construction of Route 92 in Middlesex
County would take the NJ Turnpike almost 60 years to
pay off. The estimate does not include any major repairs
or re-paving of the road that will be necessary during
that time.
Transportation an Issue for Farrell
Dianne Farrell, First Selectwoman of Westport, is in
a close match for Congress against Republican incumbent
Christopher Shays (Rep) in Connecticut’s western
district. Farrell says Shays has not sufficiently won
federal transit funds in his 17 years in Congress, and
has even put up billboards on I-95 blaming Shays for
the route’s chronic gridlock. As a municipal leader,
Farrell has been outspoken about the need for mass transit
investment and the futility of various highway expansion
plans.
MTA Sitting on Plan to Fix Verrazano Toll
The Staten Island Advance recently received a draft of
a consultant study for the MTA that outlines a major
overhaul for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge toll plaza.
The newspaper’s publication of the study’s
recommendations may be significant because the MTA’s
draft capital program does not include any work on the
plaza, not even an environmental impact statement that
could ensure that the overhaul is ready to go in the
MTA capital program beginning in 2010.
Connecticut Looks to Jersey
The Transportation Strategy Board is moving ahead with
the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail study,
which would launch frequent train service in CT’s
major north-south corridor. The board will seek public
input on the project this fall. It still has many hurdles
to cross before construction: ConnDOT aims to have federal
New Starts money and $250 million in state funds for
the work. Elected officials have strongly supported the
project, touting it as a job engine.
Brooklyn Rumble
OUTRAGE, a Williamsburg-based civic group in Brooklyn,
staged another truck action event last week to call attention
to trucks driving illegally on residential city streets.
