Corzine: Borrow to Fund Transportation
New Jersey newspapers report that Governor Corzine has
floated a new trial balloon for the soon-to-be-bankrupt
Transportation Trust Fund.
NYC Streets Renaissance
At a crowded, boisterous event last Tuesday evening,
Transportation Alternatives, Project for Public Spaces
and a new organization known as The Open Planning Project
launched the NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign, which
argues that the city is not making the most of its pedestrian-oriented
streets.
Connecticut Dems Court Road Lobby
Connecticut's Democratic leaders seem determined to drive smart growth advocates
and transportation reformers to embrace the Rell administration.
LIRR Track PAC
On February 8th, business leaders and labor groups said tat they would only endorse
and financially support political candidates if they back the Long Island Rail
Road's third track project.
NJ Toll Roads: No Help for State Fund
The NJ Turnpike Authority, the umbrella agency that oversees the Garden State
Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike, passed its fiscal year 2006 budget in January.
Where in the World is the #7 Extension?
Little has been publicly said about the status of the No. 7 subway extension
project, from Times Square to West 34th Street and 11th Avenue.
Stronger City Role at MTA?
NYC Congressman Anthony Weiner has called on Governor Pataki to transfer one
of his appointments to the MTA board to Mayor Bloomberg, arguing that the current
distribution of MTA board seats is unjust, according to the NY Sun.
New York's Clean Bus Fleets
NYC Transit will soon have the nation's largest fleet of hybrid electric buses,
according to a recent American City and Country report.
Independent Perspective on T-Z Transit
Last week, The Journal News spotlighted the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's
outreach work around the Tappan Zee Bright project.
Conflicting Visions for Highlands Town
A recent public meeting between Byram Township and the DOT on the proposed widening
of Route 206 from two to five lanes was supposed to be about "Context Sensitive
Design."
Corzine: Borrow to Fund Transportation
New Jersey newspapers report that Governor Corzine
has floated a new trial balloon for the soon-to-be-bankrupt
Transportation Trust Fund. If it refinances existing
transportation debt, and spreads payments out over
a longer time, the state can head off its funding crisis
for another four years, but at great long-term cost
to the state.
The easy analogy is a person on a fixed income applying
for a new credit card to make big payments due to an
existing credit account.
Part of the plan would apparently launch a new round
of long term bonds backed by the savings from refinancing
and rescheduling payments on existing debt.
Such a plan would do nothing to resolve the causes
of the state’s funding crisis, reduce the large
operating deficit at NJ Transit or direct new resources
to major needs such as a new commuter rail tunnel between
New Jersey and Manhattan. To make matters worse, the
state will be faced with a transportation funding crisis
again in four short years. More public money will pay
for debt service, with less available for road and
rail infrastructure.
Fortunately, the plan does not yet appear set in
stone. The Trenton Times quotes Corzine as saying, “Everything
is on the table on what we have to do to assure ourselves
that we have the resources to continue to build out
and to reconstruct and renew our transportation system.” To
be fair to the new administration, it is possible it
is looking in this direction because it detects next
to no stomach for dealing with the crisis in a straightforward
way among state lawmakers.
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NYC Streets Renaissance
At a crowded, boisterous event last Tuesday evening,
Transportation Alternatives, Project for Public Spaces
and a new organization known as The Open Planning Project
launched the NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign, which
argues that the city is not making the most of its
pedestrian-oriented nature.
“Instead, our streets are being managed almost
entirely for traffic flow, with neighborhoods and business
districts buckling under increasing amounts of dangerous
car and truck traffic. If we continue planning our
streets for cars and traffic we will get more cars
and traffic; conversely, if we start planning our cities
for people and places, we will get more people and
places,” says their platform.
The campaign lays out these general goals:
- Educate New Yorkers about potential transportation
policy changes that will improve quality of life
across New York City.
- Promote a rebalancing of this public space away
from private vehicles and toward community needs.
- Demonstrate the widespread public support for
reform on these issues
- Tap the potential of New Yorkers to re-imagine
their own streets.
Hopefully, this program can pressure Mayor Bloomberg
to do more about traffic and the low quality of street
life in much of the city. Bloomberg administration
Commissioner of City Planning Amanda Burden attended
the event but made it out of the building before being
called to the microphone, where we think she would
have had a tough time announcing the city’s commitment
to the ideals set forth in the exhibit.
Traffic calming, auto reduction and pedestrian-oriented
planning and design are all featured in an exhibit
the campaign has launched at the Municipal Art Society.
A series of presentations and forums accompanies the
exhibit during February and March. A calendar of these
events and more information is available at the campaign
web site: www.nycsr.org.
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Connecticut Dems Court Road Lobby
Connecticut’s Democratic leaders seem determined
to drive smart growth advocates and transportation
reformers to embrace the Rell administration.
In response to Governor Rell’s recent $600
million plan to build two new mass transit projects
(MTR #520), Democratic Speaker of the House James Amann
called for implementation of the big $6-7 billion construction
plan created by CT’s Transportation Strategy
Board in 2003. The Strategy Board plan was a “more
of everything” list that did not make clear choices
and included a heavy dose of road capacity expansion,
including additional lanes for I-95, I-84, I-91 and
completion of the big Route 7 road project in southwestern
CT.
Amann said a higher gas tax and new tolls could pay
for the plan, though Republicans called this unrealistic.
Rell’s mass transit plan would be paid for with
an increase in the petroleum gross receipts tax.
According to GlobeSt.com, an on-line real estate
publication, Rell also plans to create an body to deal
with coordinating transportation, housing, and jobs
initiatives, called the Connecticut Research Institute.
But it is unclear whether this new body will focus
on transit-oriented growth.
The Democrats’ support of big highway plans
appears to be an effort to win support of the construction
and road lobby. They tout new and larger highways as
job engines, but over the long term, the road projects
will encourage more traffic and sprawl and even the
most ambitious set of road projects have no serious
chance of defeating the state’s widespread traffic
congestion.
It’s unclear if both major Democratic gubernatorial
hopefuls share the lawmakers’ views. Stamford
mayor Dannel Molloy spoke at a conference held by the
Surface Transportation Policy Project in New Haven
last week and said he would build all of the projects
identified by the Strategy Board, including the new-alignment
Route 11 extension and expansion of I-95 east of New
Haven. New Haven mayor John DeStefano made less specific
remarks, but spoke about how Connecticut’s property
tax system fuels sprawling strip mall and mcmansion
construction, which aggravates traffic and degrades
the sense of place in the state’s cities and
towns.
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LIRR Track PAC
On February 8th, business leaders and labor groups
said that they would only endorse and financially support
political candidates if they back the Long Island Rail
Road’s third track project, which would construct
another track on the LIRR Main Line from Bellerose
to Hicksville, and significantly improve roadway crossings
of the rail corridor at several key points.
The Long Island Association, Long Island Federation
of Labor, AFL-CIO, and the Nassau-Suffolk Building
Trades Council will cooperate, under the guise of the
Long Island Association Action Committee, to jointly
endorse candidates based on their support for two vital
initiatives: the LIRR third track, and the Balboni-DiNapoli
Workforce Housing Bill (A. 2050/S. 3966), which requires
10% of new residential construction with more than
five units to be affordable (at or below 80% of the
median income level for Nassau and Suffolk). The groups
also require state candidates to ask the NY state legislature’s
MTA Capital Program Review Board to eliminate a second
approval for the LIRR third track project that it forced
into its approval for the MTA 2005-2009 capital program
in response to an ugly NIMBY campaign in western Nassau
County against the project.
The third track is the only MTA project will require
a second vote in the five year program to proceed to
implementation.
The Tri-State Campaign is the convener of a 14–member
coalition of environmental, civic, transportation and
business groups that support the third track project
(MTR #461), some of whom are part of the new initiative.
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NJ Toll Roads: No Help for State Fund
The NJ Turnpike Authority, the umbrella agency that
oversees the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike,
passed its fiscal year 2006 budget in January. It was
approved quickly and quietly and contained no toll
increase; reducing the chance the toll roads could
add a revenue stream to the state’s beleaguered
Transportation Trust Fund.
Regular users of these toll roads often claim it
would be unfair to force them to “underwrite
the rest of the state’s transportation financing,” but
that argument ignores that there have been significant
increases in services, including high speed E-ZPass
and the elimination of some congestion-causing tolls
on both highways since the last toll Turnpike increase,
and certainly since the last, distant Parkway hike.
Additionally, despite having a steady source of funds,
there are projects in the state pipeline that directly
benefit Parkway drivers that are being paid for out
of New Jersey DOT funds. Three projects (# 67 in Ocean
County, #142 in Union and Essex counties, and #145
in Essex County) are due for major reconstruction at
a total cost of almost $150 million in the next two
years, according to a DOT statewide list of transportation
improvements projects. At present, the Turnpike Authority
is not contributing money to any of these projects.
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Where in the World is the # 7 Extension?
Little has been publicly said about the status of
the No. 7 subway extension project, from Times Square
to West 34th Street and 11th Avenue, since it was approved
as part of the Hudson Yards rezoning in 2004, along
with the ill-starred West Side football stadium.
The No. 7 extension and new development on the West
Side are linked, because big developers will not go
too far west in Midtown without subway access, and
the subway extension is supposed to be paid for with
future city revenue generated by the new development.
The financing scheme has long raised eyebrows among
fiscal watchdogs, who worry that the city will be deep
debt if revenue expectations are not reached. Is the
city going ahead with the project, despite these concerns?
Some reports say yes, a new West Side plan complete
with subway is full steam ahead. At least one consultant
has told the Campaign that the city is pressing for
planning work to be completed. Others say no, the plan
is stalled. To rundown recent news:
• In his State of the City address, Mayor Bloomberg
said construction of the #7 extension will begin this
year. Newsday said Bloomberg’s just-proposed
budget retains the earlier financing plan for the #7.
• A Crain’s NY Business story said overall
plans for the West Side, including the #7 extension,
are lagging, partly because too many agencies are overseeing
#7’s implementation. For example, the MTA is
coordinating construction of the western side of the
rail yards and the #7 tunnel, while the city-run Hudson
Yards Infrastructure Corporation is charged with building
a platform over the rail yards.
• Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff told Newsday the
#7 is on track, even though “a crucial agreement
still needs to be reached with state transit officials
over how the rail-yard development will proceed.”
• There have been vague reports of lawsuits against
eminent domain proceedings associated with the #7 extension,
though nothing has been said publicly about whether
this is the case or whether it will slow the subway
project.
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Stronger City Role at MTA?
NYC Congressman Anthony Weiner has called on Governor
Pataki to transfer one of his appointments to the MTA
board to Mayor Bloomberg, arguing that the current
distribution of MTA board seats is unjust, according
to the NY Sun. The NYC mayor now appoints four members
to the board, who each get one vote in a body that
has 14 votes overall. The governor and suburban county
executives appoint the other members. James Simpson,
a governor’s appointee, recently resigned, leading
to Weiner’s call.
As a candidate for NYC mayor in 2005, Weiner championed
greater city government control of the transit system.
Mayor Bloomberg did as well before he was elected in
2001, but has rarely involved himself in mass transit
policy since. With development in the city increasingly
straining its infrastructure, more city input in MTA
matters would certainly be a good thing. Stronger interest
and use of his bully pulpit by the mayor would probably
accomplish more than one additional vote on the MTA
board, however.
According to the Bond Buyer, Mayor Bloomberg is pushing
for creation of permanent NY Police Dept. seats on
the boards of the MTA and the Port Authority to boost
security planning. Changing the make-up of the Port
Authority board will require passage of identical legislation
in both Trenton and Albany.
James Simpson, who vacated the MTA seat, was recently
nominated by President Bush to run the Federal Transit
Administration. Simpson heads a major trucking concern
based on Staten Island. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate,
Simpson will join former NY State DOT chief Joseph
Boardman as a US DOT agency administrator. Boardman
runs the Federal Railroad Administration.
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New York’s
Clean Bus Fleets
NYC Transit will soon have the nation’s largest
fleet of hybrid electric buses, according to a recent
American City and Country report.
The agency currently has 325 hybrid buses, and will
add another 500 by 2007. The hybrids’ wheels
are powered mainly by electric motors, with an on-board
diesel generator supplying electricity. The brakes
also transfer energy from the moving bus back to batteries
when the brakes are used. The magazine said hybrid
buses give the MTA a 30% increase in fuel economy over
modern diesels. Compared to traditional diesel, hybrid
electric buses emit 90% less particulate matter, 40%
less nitrogen oxides, and 30% fewer greenhouse gases.
The purchase bodes well for other bus agencies in
the country looking for clean fuel alternatives. Because
the MTA system is the largest in the country, the clean
fuel technology it uses will become more readily available
and more highly trusted by smaller purchasers.
Westchester Bee-Line, for example, will begin testing
four hybrid electric buses this spring. NYC Transit’s
luck with hybrid electric may have played a part in
Bee-Line trying out that technology.
Additionally, NYC Transit runs 642 diesel buses that
are 94% cleaner than traditional buses, and 481 compressed
natural gas buses. Since 2000, all NYC Transit diesel
buses have used ultra low sulfur fuel, which has 90%
less sulfur than traditional diesel. NYC Transit has
a total fleet of 4,489 buses. Nearby, Long Island Bus’s
entire fleet runs on compressed natural gas.
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Independent Perspectives on T-Z Transit
Last week, The Journal News spotlighted the Tri-State
Transportation Campaign’s outreach work around
the Tappan Zee Bridge project.
NYS DOT, NYS Thruway, and Metro-North are considering
various alternatives for a new bridge with transit
service. The Campaign is reaching out to local elected
officials, civic groups, and county leaders to offer
an independent, plain-English discussion of the pros
and cons of each transit option being considered.
The presentation focuses on the travel market transit
service must serve to compete with car travel and cut
chronic gridlock in the Tappan Zee corridor. Currently,
most of those using the Tappan Zee Bridge are making
an east to west trip from suburb to suburb. Only 7%
are making the suburb-to-city commute into Manhattan.
If you are interested in viewing our presentation
or talking with us more about the Tappan Zee project,
please call us at 212-268-7474 or email kates@tstc.org.
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Conflicting Visions for Highlands Town
A recent public meeting between Byram Township and
the DOT on the proposed widening of Route 206 from
two to five lanes was supposed to be about “Context
Sensitive Design” (CSD) for the project. Despite
the Township’s public repudiation of the DOT’s
plan, agreeing to a meeting was the only way to bring
the Department back to the table.
Instead of true CSD, the public was treated to a
two-hour discussion on the material that could be used
in the new crosswalks and the color of the median.
As the third hour began, the meeting livened up when
residents realized that the busiest pedestrian intersection
in Byram, between its largest residential development
which has a large senior population and a pharmacy
would not have a crosswalk in the new “five lane
highway” plan.
Before the meeting was over, Robert Orr and Associates,
a consulting firm, unveiled an alternate vision for
the town, a three lane road separated from local streets
that could serve the current businesses and a future
business center.
While DOT officials seemed put off by the proposal
and attacked its parking plans; an article that appeared
in the Star Ledger showed that the DOT is pushing a
plan similar to Orr's in a southern section of 206
by Princeton. Observers were left wondering again, “What
is so different about Byram Township that it gets the
kind of treatment the DOT deplores in the rest of the
state?”
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