Christie to reconsider canceling rail tunnel plan

A day after canceling a massive new rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan, Gov. Christie agreed Friday to reconsider.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood met with Christie at the statehouse in Trenton for nearly an hour Friday afternoon and persuaded Christie to give a panel of experts two weeks to evaluate ways to continue the project.

"Secretary LaHood presented several options to potentially salvage a trans-Hudson tunnel project," Christie said in a statement released after the meeting.

"At the secretary's request, I've agreed to have executive director of NJ Transit Jim Weinstein and members from his team work with U.S. Department of Transportation staff to study those options over the next two weeks."

The options could involve new financing arrangements or construction redesigns.

Christie on Thursday canceled the tunnel, which was estimated to cost $8.7 billion when work started in June 2009. He said New Jersey could not afford to pay for cost overruns his staff estimated at as much as $6 billion.

Christie said Friday that his belief that the tunnel project "is not financially viable and is expected to dramatically exceed its current budget remains unchanged."

Democratic lawmakers in Trenton and Washington, as well as environmental and transportation groups, praised the possible rescue. The tunnel, they said, would mean 6,000 construction-related jobs a year and 44,000 permanent jobs, and would reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.

State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D., Gloucester) chastised Christie for brinkmanship over the largest public works project in the nation.

"With all else that must be on his plate, the secretary should not have had to make this emergency trip," Sweeney said. "The governor should have sought Secretary LaHood's input prior to his calling a news conference yesterday. Given the governor's past criticism of the Obama administration for not having picked up a phone, it's unfortunate he didn't do it either."

The $8.7 billion price tag was to be met with $3 billion from the Federal Transit Administration, $3 billion from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and $2.7 billion from New Jersey and from other federal sources.

Money for projected cost overruns would have had to come from New Jersey, Christie said in canceling the project on Thursday.

Plans for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson have been in the works for decades. All NJ Transit and Amtrak trains between New Jersey and Manhattan share a century-old, two-track tunnel, which is at capacity.

The new "Access to the Region's Core" (ARC) tunnel, for NJ Transit trains only, would have added two tracks, more than doubling the number of NJ Transit trains that could travel to and from New York during peak commuting times.

It was scheduled to be finished by 2018.

The project's price tag grew from $5 billion in 2005 to $8.7 billion by 2009. And in recent months, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff has estimated the cost between $9 billion and $10 billion.

Christie's advisers delivered estimates Thursday between $11 billion and $14 billion.

"While a two-week extension still seems like a short period of time, we're heartened to learn the project has been granted a temporary stay of execution," said Bob Yaro, president of the New York-based Regional Plan Association. "We believe a modest gap exists and urge the state, Port Authority, and FTA to close the remaining gap to get this project back on track."

The New Jersey Sierra Club, which had criticized the tunnel project for not connecting to existing stations in New York and for not accommodating Amtrak trains, welcomed the decision by Christie to reconsider.

"The delay on the decision to kill the ARC tunnel will have no meaning unless the time is used to fix the tunnel," Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel said.

The tunnel should provide direct connections to Pennsylvania Station and the east side of Manhattan, he said.

"The tunnel may be on life support, but now is the time to resuscitate it by redesigning it to meet the needs of the commuters," he said.

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