Sweeney: This Thanksgiving, invest in transportation

TRENTON -- Adding a few extra lanes to the New Jersey Turnpike was a good start. But the state shouldn't stop there when it comes to investing in transportation, Senate President Stephen Sweeney said Wednesday.

Next on the agenda: replenishing New Jersey's depleted Transportation Trust Fund and building a new rail tunnel connecting New Jersey to New York City.

"Today is the busiest travel day of the year and we're going to have hundreds of thousands of drivers…taking our Turnpike," Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said at a Statehouse news conference.

"They're going to see what an investment in transportation will make in your commutes."

The state recently completed a $2.3 billion widening project over a 35-mile stretch on the Turnpike from Mansfield in Burlington County to East Brunswick in Middlesex County.

Sweeney says the Turnpike project -- praised by state officials and motorists for reducing congestion -- provides fresh evidence that spending on transportation is important for the economy and quality of life.

Overall, two-thirds of New Jersey's major roads and bridges are of poor or mediocre quality, and 36 percent of its bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Finding a way to fund long-term projects is a top priority in Trenton. The state will run out of money for transportation projects next fiscal year, which begins in July. All of the revenues from the state's 14.5-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline goes toward more than $1 billion in annual debt service.

Gov. Christie has said all options are on the table for finding new revenue, though he hasn't endorsed a specific plan. Among the solutions: raising the gas tax, applying the state's 7-cent sales tax to gasoline, and raising the wholesale tax on petroleum products.

"This administration has been here five years now," Sweeney said. "You can't blame [former Gov.] Jon Corzine anymore."

"There's only one person not saying anything," he added, referring to Christie. "One person said everything's on the table. So tell me what's on the table, and let's get going."

Sweeney also called for federal funding to build a new tunnel under the Hudson River, saying the current tunnels will be 104 years old on Thursday.

Christie scuttled the last plan for a new tunnel in 2010, citing cost overruns. He ended up using money allocated for that project to fund the Transportation Trust Fund, which is again in need of new revenue.