If you want to understand America’s infrastructure problem, just look at New Jersey

[M II A II R II K]

If you want to understand America’s infrastructure problem, just look at New Jersey


05/05/17

BY DOUG SINGLETERRY AND ZENON CHRISTODOULOU

Read More: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blo...ucture-problem

The mass transit system has not been kind to New Jersey commuters. The last two months have seen two derailments at Penn Station and a train carrying 1,200 passengers stranded for three hours in a Hudson River Tunnel. Due to chronic delays, NJ Transit now offers “late passes” for commuters who as a result arrive late for work. Unfortunately this is nothing new.

- From January 2011 through July 2016, NJ Transit experienced 157 accidents — more than any other commuter railroad in the nation. On top of this, President Trump’s proposed budget threatens to derail the Gateway Tunnel project designed to upgrade the Hudson River tunnels and double much needed rail capacity. The recent budget agreement to provide funding for the federal government through September does include extra funds for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which is an encouraging sign. But the Hudson rail drama illustrates how poor planning, chronic underfunding and fractured governance have compromised the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

- The rail tunnels that carry Amtrak and NJ Transit lines between New Jersey and New York have been operating since 1910. In fact, much of the region’s transportation system — the NYC subway and PATH, the rail tunnels and major bridges — were constructed before 1940. Since the mid-1980s, the percentage of New Jersey out-of-state commuters using transit has increased from 39 percent to 52 percent, making NJ Transit the country’s third busiest transit system. According to the Regional Plan Association, Hudson rail travel increased 140 percent in over 25 years, and is projected to double even more by 2040.

- As infrastructure deteriorates, the cost of maintenance and repair only gets more expensive. Yet the Department of Transportation estimates that the nation’s mass transit systems have a backlog of over $90 billion in maintenance costs. But the problem isn’t just one of maintenance. We need smarter planning to meet the demands of changing demographics. This includes expanding mass transit to better connect different regions, absorb population growth, and ease overall congestion and pollution. Well-designed transportation systems are essential to economic vitality and urban renewal.

- As the ARC and Gateway plans demonstrate, launching new projects is often frustrated by a lack of coordination and bickering over who pays for what due to divided governance and special interests. There are a myriad of separate and often competing agencies, each responsible for different modes of transport. For example, NJ Transit manages intrastate public transportation; the Port Authority of NY and NJ operates bridges, tunnels, airports, seaports and the PATH transit system; and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is responsible for public transport in New York and southwestern Connecticut.

- The Tri-State region also needs to upgrade transportation governance and coordination to create a truly integrated regional system. This could include finally connecting Newark Penn Station to the Grand Central terminal. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg innovatively proposed connecting the NYC subway to the Secaucus Junction. There are also accountability issues with Amtrak operating Penn Station when less than 13 percent of the daily trains carry Amtrak passengers. One viable solution would be to merge the operation into a single entity called “One Penn Station” to govern the facility and better address local needs.

.....

[BrownTown]

Also worth noting that due to all the regulations and union labor the same project takes twice as long as 10x as much money as it did 100 years ago. Let that sink in for a second. We're actually so bad with transit in this region that things have gotten significantly WORSE than a Century ago. It's beyond absurd. Of course the roads are no better, they're doing an interchange near me that would take 18 months in Texas but takes 8 years here.

[Crawford]

The transit problems in NJ are almost 100% the fault of Chris Christie. There were a TON of expansion projects on the boards when he assumed office, and he froze them all, and then diverted almost 100% of state transit funding to other uses.

NJ was possibly the most progressive state in the country in terms of transit until he assumed office. Thankfully, he'll be gone in a few months. The next governor will have a HUGE list of projects that need restarting.

[The North One]

Why the hell did Jersey vote for Christie in the first place? He's done nothing but set back the state about 50 years.

[ChargerCarl]

NJ and NY are basically giant lessons of how to not to build new infrastructure.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

NJ and NY are basically giant lessons of how to not to build new infrastructure.

Not true at all for NY. The Tappen Zee bridge replacement is a national model for on-time project delivery and the LGA terminal modernization and other enhancements is also a successful public/private partnership.

I agree with the previous commenters-- this is fully the responsibility of Chris Christie, who the illegitimate occupier of the White House may install as the next FBI director (assuming Putin gives him approval to do so).

[electricron]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Not true at all for NY. The Tappen Zee bridge replacement is a national model for on-time project delivery and the LGA terminal modernization and other enhancements is also a successful public/private partnership.

I agree with the previous commenters-- this is fully the responsibility of Chris Christie, who the illegitimate occupier of the White House may install as the next FBI director (assuming Putin gives him approval to do so).

I believe NYDOT and NJDOT are different agencies ran under the control of each governor of their respective states, from the NY Port Authority ran under the control of both governors. The Port Authority has twice the bureaucrat mess of red tape to push any construction project through to completion.

Therefore, what happens in upstate NY or southern NJ can be different from what happens within the Port Authority.

While the Tappan Zee Bridge may be progressing on time and under budget, I'll admit I don't really know, the East Side Access project isn't. Not every project in NY is proceeding on time and under budget, it appears the closer the project is to NYC the worse the project is. From an outsiders prospective, that same closeness to NYC scenario also applies to NJ.

[mrnyc]

ridiculous, nj is one of the most progressive places for transit. it doesn't really reflect america's issues with mass transit as a whole at all. unless you want to say key personalities have too much power, because unfortunately the gov of nj put the cabash on everything. he even diverted some of that mass transit money to roadwork. when he waddles out the door nj will get back to business with transit projects and upgrades. the freight tunnel study from nj to brooklyn is already a start.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Not true at all for NY. The Tappen Zee bridge replacement is a national model for on-time project delivery and the LGA terminal modernization and other enhancements is also a successful public/private partnership.

I agree with the previous commenters-- this is fully the responsibility of Chris Christie, who the illegitimate occupier of the White House may install as the next FBI director (assuming Putin gives him approval to do so).

Tappan Zee is still not fully funded and he tried gutted the MTA and upstate agencies to fund it... Classic Cuomo...

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Tappan Zee is still not fully funded and he tried gutted the MTA and upstate agencies to fund it... Classic Cuomo...

welp, at least raising the bayonne bridge is supposed to be done six months early

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/5/3/15528...se-cargo-ships

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

welp, at least raising the bayonne bridge is supposed to be done six months early

https://ny.curbed.com/2017/5/3/15528...se-cargo-ships

After being pushed back by 2yrs...this region is toxic when it comes to building things on time and budget...

[ChargerCarl]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Not true at all for NY. The Tappen Zee bridge replacement is a national model for on-time project delivery and the LGA terminal modernization and other enhancements is also a successful public/private partnership.

NY is arguably even worse than NJ with its absurd unit costs and terrible projects like the LG air train, BQX, etc.

Both states are/were run by autocratic Governors who don't give a shit about transit.

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by The North One

Why the hell did Jersey vote for Christie in the first place? He's done nothing but set back the state about 50 years.

Yeah, I wonder why there is no mention of the main culprit, Christie, who actually axed a lot of the projects himself, and to a lesser extent Cuomo.

Aside from the disastrous LGA air train boondoggle, at least Cuomo gets some projects done, even if over budget and with delays. Christie just flat out opposes any development in New Jersey, if it doesn't involve kickbacks to his buddies. But then again, the majority of people of New Jersey do not want their state to improve and develop and don't care if the taxes rise even more, so they elect Christie. It is a state with one of the highest net domestic outflows in the nation. Christie voters are just there for a short term until they can move to Florida or w/e.

[BrownTown]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

welp, at least raising the bayonne bridge is supposed to be done six months early

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

the LGA terminal modernization and other enhancements is also a successful public/private partnership.

You people have got to be joking?!? The Massively delayed Bayonne Bridge and a project that hasn't really even started yet are the two biggest success stories you can think of? New Jersey and New York and the two worst states in the country for building transit bar none. Pretty much everything they have was build 80+ years ago and hardly anything meaningful has been added in decades (restarting old lines that were built 100+ years ago doesn't count for new in my book).

[Hamilton]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Not true at all for NY. The Tappen Zee bridge replacement is a national model for on-time project delivery

The Tappan Zee shows that "car guy" Cuomo can get things done, when it comes to car-oriented transportation projects in the burbs. Meanwhile the NYC subway, the economic engine of the state, is falling apart. Need I also mention that Cuomo eliminated the bike/ped path and the transitway from the Tappan Zee project?

the LGA terminal modernization and other enhancements is also a successful public/private partnership.

His Airtrain to LGA plan is a model of how to waste $1.5 billion on a train without improving travel time to the airport for practically anyone. And he increased the cost of the LGA terminal modernization for superficial aesthetic reasons.

Here's a good article on how Cuomo goes for style (expensive style) over substance on infrastructure projects:
http://www.politico.com/states/new-y...sthetic-111930

"After the governor inserted himself into the ongoing effort to rebuild the little-loved LaGuardia Airport a couple of years back, he insisted the new plan include a central arrivals and departures hall, according to two knowledgeable sources.

The result would be an "architecturally unified terminal," he said in 2015, as well as a $400 million addition to the project, bringing its total cost to $8 billion.

The end product may well be a better-looking LaGuardia Airport, one that starts opening to the public in 2018, just as the 2020 presidential election is getting underway. The result may also be a somewhat better functioning airport.

But critics contend the arrival hall has little actual utility, and that the overall airport plan falls seriously short of the optimal outcome, since it does nothing to increase the facility's runway capacity."

I agree with the previous commenters-- this is fully the responsibility of Chris Christie, who the illegitimate occupier of the White House may install as the next FBI director (assuming Putin gives him approval to do so).

Christie is horrible, but to think that replacing him will magically solve all of NJ's infrastructure problems is beyond a joke. It's a regional malaise with many causes. The car-obsessed suburbanites and NIMBYs, the mobbed-up unions that block any progress on work rules or design-build reform, the corrupt, mob-connected contractors and the rigged bidding process, and politicians who want to treat mass transit as a patronage and union jobs program rather than as a good in and of itself all have a role to play in blocking projects and making sure the ones that DO get built are exorbitantly expensive.

[Hamilton]

Originally Posted by ChargerCarl

NY is arguably even worse than NJ with its absurd unit costs and terrible projects like the LG air train, BQX, etc.

Both states are/were run by autocratic Governors who don't give a shit about transit.

Bingo. Christie and Cuomo are birds of a feather--self-promoting, mob-boss wannabe, Machiavellian opportunists with absolutely no moral fiber or concern for the general good.

[M II A II R II K]

If the bedrock weren't so hard, it may have been easier and more likely that things would get tunnelled.

As for not tunnelling it too bad that Triborough crosstown commuter rail line that avoids Manhattan hasn't gained enough traction.

[Hamilton]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

If the bedrock weren't so hard, it may have been easier and more likely that things would get tunnelled.

As for not tunnelling it too bad that Triborough crosstown commuter rail line that avoids Manhattan hasn't gained enough traction.

There was no problem getting tunnels built in the region back in the age of horse and buggy.

[Hamilton]

Originally Posted by electricron

The Port Authority has twice the bureaucrat mess of red tape to push any construction project through to completion.

Therefore, what happens in upstate NY or southern NJ can be different from what happens within the Port Authority.

Say what you will about the Port Authority, but PATH is the most reliable transit system in the NYC region. It has been putting the NYC Subway to shame in recent months. I never knew you could run ultra-frequent rapid transit on a reliable schedule in America until I started taking PATH. Meanwhile the MTA has been losing ridership especially on weekends due to spotty service--weekend ridership fell 3.1% last year:http://www.amny.com/transit/mta-subw...009-1.13157843 . And it's been a shitshow during rush hours with several meltdowns in the past few weeks. PATH will have a modern signal system installed systemwide by next year; the MTA might install it on one or two lines in the next 20 or 30 years. Not to mention the above-ground MTA subway lines get shut down by Cuomo everytime a snowflake falls and he needs to play dress-up for some photo-ops from his emergency command center, while PATH keeps humming along.

Of course PATH is a bigger money pit than the NYC Subway and has less frequent service than the MTA at night, but still.

[M II A II R II K]

And I guess there isn't even much of a light rail boom either that's taking place in other US cities.