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Christie slams door on tunnel project

TRENTON - Gov. Christie announced Wednesday that he was sticking to his decision to shut down the nation's largest public works project, a second rail tunnel to connect New Jersey and New York City.

TRENTON - Gov. Christie announced Wednesday that he was sticking to his decision to shut down the nation's largest public works project, a second rail tunnel to connect New Jersey and New York City.

The governor first announced his decision to cancel the tunnel on Oct. 7, but was persuaded by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who traveled to Trenton for a personal meeting, to reconsider. Christie said he would take two weeks to review his decision.

Since then, federal officials have offered New Jersey $358 million in new funding, on top of $3 billion already committed, as well as a host of options to lower costs, including trimming the scale of the project and low-interest federal loans.

But Christie said Wednesday none of that was enough to change his mind, given that New Jersey would have been forced to pick up any cost overruns.

"I cannot place upon the citizens of New Jersey an open-ended letter of credit, and that's what this project represented," the governor said. "Nothing in the last two weeks changed that."

Christie argued that although the tunnel would benefit the entire region, New Jersey would have borne the largest burden in paying for it.

The decision is likely to bring even more attention to Christie, a freshman Republican governor, when his star is rising within conservative circles around the country. The former federal prosecutor has been touring the country in recent weeks in support of fellow Republicans seeking office. He has won unstinting praise from some Republicans for his tough talk of smaller government and accountability.

Christie said Wednesday that his opposition to the tunnel, to be known as ARC, for Access to the Region's Core, was not philosophical, but merely a matter of dollar and cents.

"We are changing the way we do business in this state," Christie said. "We are not going to be signing blank checks."

At the start of work on the tunnel in June 2009, it was estimated that the project, which would have more than doubled train capacity between New York and New Jersey, would cost $8.7 billion. Recently, federal transportation officials have estimated the cost between $9.8 billion and $12.7 billion, but the Christie administration estimated that costs overruns could have reached $6 billion.

The Federal Transit Administration and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had each committed $3 billion to the project, but New Jersey would have been responsible for additional costs.

The governor said that this time his decision was final, with "no opportunity for reconsideration."

Republicans applauded the governor as making a difficult but necessary decision.

"I support Gov. Christie's decision that refuses to allow the liability for overruns to be shouldered by New Jersey's taxpayers and commuters," said Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce (R., Morris). "The governor recognizes that we can no longer continue to burden the people who pay the highest taxes in the country."

Federal officials, transportation advocates, and Democratic lawmakers criticized the move as short-sighted.

"I am extremely disappointed in Gov. Christie's decision to abandon the ARC tunnel project, which is a devastating blow to thousands of workers, millions of commuters, and the state's economic future," LaHood said. "The governor's decision to stop work on this project means commuters - who would have saved 45 minutes each day thanks to the ARC tunnel - will instead see no end to traffic congestion and ever-longer wait times on train platforms."

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.), one of the strongest proponents of the project, said, "The federal government demonstrated its strong commitment to building this tunnel, but it was clear from the beginning that Gov. Christie planned to kill this project no matter what."

Lautenberg also dinged Christie for taking to the campaign trail in recent weeks, saying New Jersey needed him at home.

"I was a CEO, and I know you need to be at work to do your job, and Gov. Christie is out in other states and not doing his job," Lautenberg said. "While the governor is on political missions in Indiana, California, Ohio, and other states, he is ducking the needs of people in New Jersey."

Proponents had argued that the tunnel, decades in the making, would create 6,000 construction-related jobs a year during the construction phase, through 2018, and 44,000 permanent jobs. The tunnel was expected to reduce congestion and increase air quality.

Some critics said the tunnel should have connected to existing stations, such as Penn Station, and accommodated Amtrak trains.

Christie was among those who questioned the tunnel's lack of connectivity to existing stations.

One question Christie did not answer Wednesday was whether he would use the money New Jersey had committed to the tunnel to shore up the nearly depleted Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for transportation projects across the state, including roads, bridges, and transit projects.

The governor has already ruled out raising the state's gas tax - one of the lowest in the nation - to replenish the fund. Almost all of the remaining money in the fund has been earmarked for debt service, which means the state must find a new source of funding or halt critical transportation projects.

On Wednesday, Christie said he had "no idea" whether he would reallocate money that had been slated for the tunnel to the fund.

New Jersey will likely be forced to repay the federal government the $350 million in federal funds already spent on the ARC project. New Jersey Transit has spent an additional $250 million.

Christie said he was open to the idea of partnering with Amtrak to build a new tunnel to New York City but said there were no immediate plans to do so.

Environmental advocates urged the governor not to raid the ARC tunnel money to pay for highways.

"On the heels of this unhealthy decision today, the governor should pledge that not a single dollar of funds now earmarked for the ARC tunnel will be used to expand highways and promote driving over cleaner modes of transportation," said Dena Mottola Jaborska, executive director of Environment New Jersey.

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