More Fallout From the GAO Report On ARC Tunnel and More Misleading Editorializations

Charles Stiles seems to think that Gov. Chris Christie was concerned more about the politics of looking like a fiscal conservative than doing the right thing in canceling the ARC tunnel project. He claims that the GAO report bolsters claims that Gov. Christie misled the public about who would be responsible for cost overruns.

The GAO report claims that New Jersey would be on the hook for 17% of the overruns, not 70% as Christie had claims, but let's dig a little deeper, shall we?

The possibility that taxpayers would get “stuck” with the bill seems like a long shot. New Jersey’s share of the project didn’t come from the $32 billion state budget, but from Jersey’s allotment of Port Authority project money, a smaller piece from New Jersey Turnpike toll collections, and from federal transportation dollars that flow through NJ Transit. Those sources would have been the likely targets to pay for overruns, not direct state funds financed by taxpayers through income, sales and corporate taxes.

“They definitely left the impression that it wasn’t the Port Authority, it was the state that was paying the cost of the overruns,’’ said Patrick Murray, a Monmouth University pollster and political analyst.

Overall, the GAO report reminds us of Christie’s aggressive salesmanship skills, his ability to stretch and piece together facts to make a compelling argument, and then using his bully pulpit to sell it or browbeat critics who have the temerity to challenge him.

Who exactly is paying for the cost overruns? NJ Transit, which is a state agency and receives state and federal funding, will have to divert its limited budget to cost overruns, forcing both additional fare hikes and state appropriations that will have to come from New Jersey taxpayers.

Port Authority cost overages will have to likewise be split between fare hikes, toll hikes, and that too falls on New Jersey and other taxpayers who utilize Port Authority facilities such as bridges, tunnels, and PATH system. It means that projects that the Port Authority would have otherwise considered for improvements would have been shelved shelved in order to complete the ARC project even as the Port Authority's budget is already stretched as a result of cost overruns on the PATH transit hub at the World Trade Center.

All the cost overruns would have eventually flowed back to taxpayers, despite which agency was allotted the overrun. Directly or indirectly, the cost overruns would have inured to New Jersey taxpayers and the bottom line from the GAO report and the FTA was that NJ Transit could not hold the line on cost overruns.

NJ Transit has repeatedly shown itself incapable of doing so, and it could not be expected to do so with the most ambitious and complicated project the agency has undertaken since it was established. The last time NJ Transit attempted an ambitious project of this sort, the $80 million budget on the Secaucus Transfer turned into a boondoggle of a $450 million underutilized project that would itself be obsolete and largely sidestepped if the ARC tunnel was completed because there would be no need to transfer between the Main/Bergen/Pascack lines and the NEC because everyone could take a one-seat ride to New York Penn Station.

Meanwhile, others are claiming that the ARC tunnel would have created thousands of jobs and improved the local economy. That is true, to a point. Construction jobs would have been created, but let's not forget that it was the federal government that refused to pick up the cost overruns that led Gov. Christie to kill the project. It was the feds that refused to push New York to pick up its share of the costs. The overruns would have hit New Jersey hardest, even though this was an interstate project. Ray LaHood could have picked up the cost overruns and forced NJ Transit into cost containment methodologies that would have protect New Jersey taxpayers. He didn't. Instead, he left the bulk of the overruns to be picked up through debt financing. That's not a solution. That's a punt into the future when he and other federal, state, and local politicians will be in office to deal with the financial mess left by the project.

And that doesn't even touch on just how ill-conceived the project was because of its terminus in New York and the additional costs that would inure to NJ Transit to operate that facility years and decades into the future.

That's where the Gateway Tunnel comes into play. This proposed project is superior to the ARC in every conceivable manner. It increases thru-traffic by doubling the number of trains that would run into New York Penn Station. It provides high speed rail access. It spreads the costs of construction among all the interested parties, including New York and New Jersey and puts Amtrak as the lead agency. It accomplishes everything that ARC did, without the problems associated with the lack of tail tracks and storage facilities.

The only thing that Gateway lacks is the funding mechanisms in place. That's the only thing that ARC had going for it. New Jersey's Gov. Jon Corzine, Senators Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez all managed to get the funding in place for the ill-conceived project, and it's Lautenberg who is whining loudest that the project was killed. He's taking it personally, even though it was he and Menendez who should have been burning up the phone lines to see to it that the federal government and New York pick up the overruns instead of saddling New Jersey taxpayers will the bill.

When Gov. Christie killed the ARC, the funding that was in place reverted to their sources, and that includes monies from the New Jersey transportation trust fund and Port Authority. That enables the Port Authority to go ahead with other vital projects, including raising the Bayonne Bridge for super Panamax shipping traffic to keep the New Jersey ports competitive and bridge and tunnel projects like replacing the stringers on the George Washington Bridge and replacing the helix at the Lincoln tunnel. The Transportation Trust Fund monies will be made available to rebuild deficient roads across the state.

It's not like that the money is going to waste - they're being used to fix and replace existing infrastructure, but it means that new sources have to be devoted to building the new Gateway project.

That's where Lautenberg and the other politicians have to get together and put together a fiscally prudent financial package that gets the project done in a timely and efficient manner.

Mayor Bloomberg Pushing Ahead With 7 Line Expansion To Secaucus

While New York is looking at the replacement of the Tappan Zee bridge and Amtrak is contemplating the Gateway tunnel project, New York City's Mayor Mike Bloomberg is forging ahead with a proposal to expand the 7 Line to Secaucus along much of the right of way that would have been utilized by the cancelled ARC tunnel.

In fact, Gov. Chris Christie, who killed the ARC project, appears to be for the project and is letting Bloomberg take the lead.

The cross-Hudson tunnel would connect to the 7 train, which is being extended from Time Square to a new terminal at 11th Avenue and 34th Street. The current project will be completed in 14 months.
The next steps in the process are a full business plan and environmental-impact study, which have not yet been commissioned.
During his weekly radio appearance on WOR Friday, Bloomberg didn’t reveal his enthusiasm for the project, saying only, “If there’s money for it and it makes sense, I’d certainly support it.”
But yesterday, Bloomberg spokeswoman Julie Wood sounded a more optimistic note: “Since we began exploring this idea, we continue to think it has a lot of potential as a way to cost-effectively improve regional transportation and also create thousands of jobs.”
Officials in the Christie administration and the Port Authority are working with City Hall on the No. 7 concept, but insist that the mayor take the lead.
Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said yesterday, “We have been intrigued all along by this as a potential alternative.”

A year ago, Bloomberg was reluctant to pony up any dough when Christie killed a New York-New Jersey tunnel project called ARC, or Access to the Region’s Core. That project called for a new tunnel for NJ Transit commuter trains to be built from Secaucus to Herald Square.

Christie said ARC’s design was flawed, and its price tag was no longer reasonable after ballooning to a range of $11 billion to $14 billion -- up from $8.7 billion.

Early estimates say a No. 7 tunnel could be built for less than $10 billion, a sum that would be split among the city, the PA and New Jersey. Officials are also planning to hit up the feds for cash.

Extending the No. 7 to New Jersey would quickly become a key talking point in the mayor’s legacy.

The 7 Line is already being extended to 11th Avenue and 34th Street from Times Square. That segment is likely to go into revenue service in less than 2 years. If the 7 Line ran from Secaucus, a New Jersey commuter could transfer at Secaucus (the first stop) and have a one-seat ride into Queens (including Citifield) for Mets games.

Critics may complain that this doesn't provide the kind of one-seat ride that commuter rail across the Hudson would do, but that's rediculous. The NYC MTA subways operate 24/7/365, and that's far better service than NJ Transit provides. It would be a tremendous increase in cross-Hudson passenger capacity; far in excess of what NJ Transit would ever hope to achieve. Further, it would make true use of the Secaucus boondoggle - turning it into a true first-class transit hub ripe for development in New Jersey. It would mean that commuters would no longer have to go into Manhattan to catch the subway; they could do so from Secaucus and not have to hassle with bridge and tunnel tolls and traffic.

It's a win-win for everyone involved, but for the costs. The MTA is still cash-strapped, and they have other projects on their plate that are oft-delayed, including East Side Access and the 2d Avenue Subway. The debt load by the MTA is particularly concerning, especially since the state and city have raided the MTA coffers and/or reduced commitments for mass transit over the years. More and more of the MTA budget is being used for debt service, rather than capital budget or operating budget purposes. That will require an infusion of money to bring the system onto solid fiscal ground.

NJ Transit Goes Off Rails In Latest Customer Survey

NJ Transit has done an incredibly poor job in the past year following rate hikes and service cuts. That double whammy, combined with a series of ongoing problems along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) snarling traffic and ruining the commutes for hundreds of thousands of people daily has meant that the agency rightfully suffered in its latest customer survey.

The problems on the Northeast Corridor aren't always within the agency's control since the tracks and power systems are shared with Amtrak. However, NJ Transit has done a poor job in communicating about delays on those NEC trains.

The rail schedules also aren't conducive to getting people out of cars and onto mass transit; the schedules simply don't provide service into the evening, even though people would be willing to take mass transit into Manhattan to avoid the hassle of finding parking and dealing with the traffic in the city. The same people who commute regularly are likely to consider using mass transit at other times, but the rail schedule is lacking in many areas and service has been cut because the agency simply lacks the operating funds because they've blown so much money on projects that have not stayed within budget (see Secaucus junction aka the boondoggle, or the Ramsey Route 17 transit station that is sorely underutilized and two nearby stations remain open despite their close proximity).

The agency needs to orient itself better to customer needs and the top priority must be to reduce problems along the NEC and better communicate when problems do occur.

I've been relatively thankful that the conductors on my trains along the Bergen Line have been good at issuing updates on problems with the NEC, but that's an exception - and the statistics bear this out.

Clearly, riders see that fares and mechanical reliability are major problems - and they have been for years. The issues with mechanical reliability should have been resolved with the purchase of hundreds of new double-decker cars and refurbished Comet IV and V cars, along with dozens of new electric and diesel locomotives, but apparently the problems are much deeper than that. The problems are institutional. That goes to top management and all down the line.

UPDATE:
The agency is set to vote on a new budget, and it will be slightly higher than last year to account for higher fuel costs. No fare hikes are proposed in the budget, and while lip service is being paid to the survey, it remains to be seen whether NJ Transit can turn things around and improve on-time performance and performance during service disruptions.

New York To Study Extending 7 Line To Secaucus

After Gov. Chris Christie killed the ARC tunnel project and riled the likes of Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, one of the alternative proposals was that the MTA should extend the 7 line to Secaucus.

Well, the MTA and New York City are going to conduct a study whether it makes sense to do so.

The city hired engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff this week to analyze how many riders the line could serve, how they would connect to the NJTransit train hub in Secaucus and - most importantly - how much it would cost.

Their study is due in three months, which Deputy Mayor Robert Steel said will help show government and transportation agencies in the region whether to go forward.

"All of [them] are focused on trying to understand, is this a good alternative?" Steel said. "It's a matter of months, not years."

Other officials in New York and New Jersey are looking at the idea, but haven't put up any cash to make it happen.

It could give New Jersey residents their first direct train line to Grand Central Terminal, as well as to see the Mets or the U.S. Open in Queens.

"City Hall really does want to explore it," said one person involved in the multiagency talks.

"They have an incredibly reluctant MTA partner, and an incredibly wary New Jersey state government," the source cautioned. "[MTA Chairman] Jay Walder doesn't have enough money to finish what they're already doing."

The city is paying $2.1 billion to extend the 7 train to 34th St. and 11th Ave., where it will serve a massive office and housing development planned for the West Side rail yards.

Schumer, along with New Jersey's Sen. Lautenberg have been hypercritical of Christie's shutdown of the ARC tunnel over expected cost overruns that would likely leave New Jersey on the hook for an excess of $1 billion (some estimates put it as high as $5 billion).

Schumer and Lautenberg were unable to find additional funding to cover potential overruns, and the federal DOT could only provide additional loans to cover potential overruns. All they could do was snipe at Christie looking at the state's financial health and seeing that the state could not afford to cover cost overruns that were beyond its control. No one else was willing to step in to cover the overruns, which should be a warning sign that Christie was right to reconsider the project since if the costs could be contained, it should have been easy to convince other entities (the federal government, or New York) to cover potential cost overruns directly.

It's inexcusable on their part to not find the funding or ways to enable New York to pony up the overruns. New York state finances are in shambles as I've repeatedly warned and argued, but a new rail connection was critical to reducing congestion and improving service along the Northeast Corridor. Further, the new tunnels could support additional traffic that could be generated by a link to Stewart Airport in Newburgh. The Port Authority bought the airport in an attempt to reduce congestion at the other area airports but hasn't found a way to integrate it into the long term airport strategy. It needs a high speed rail link to make that a credible option, but no one has the money to make it happen.

That's where the federal stimulus funds should have come into play - using the federal government's funding to build major infrastructure that would help bring relief to the millions of commuters and travelers who rely on an aged and decrepit system.

The 7 line extension would be less costly than the ARC tunnel project, and would bring a more direct routing for commuters looking to get to the East Side of Manhattan and the rest of the City and it's an option worth seriously considering, even if a portion of the ill-conceived Xanadu looks like it will collapse under the strain of the latest snowstorm.

Moreover, the 7 line extension would likely be able to use much of the real estate procured for the ARC tunnel and the engineering expenditures and other work on the tunnel before it was cancelled. That will further reduce the New Jersey tab that it would owe to the federal government for canceling the project.

NYC Floats Tunnel Plan To Secaucus

This is a plan I can definitely get behind. Not only would this result in a more than doubling of mass transit capacity across the Hudson River, but it would inject a real purpose and utility to the Secaucus Transfer. Mayor Mike Bloomberg has floated a plan to further extend the 7 line from its current planned terminus at 11th Avenue and 34th Street to the Secaucus Transfer using some of the right of way previously allocated to the ARC tunnel.

Like the project scuttled by Mr. Christie, this proposed tunnel would expand a regional transportation system already operating at capacity and would double the number of trains traveling between the two states during peak hours. It would do so at about half the cost, an estimated $5.3 billion, according to a closely guarded, four-page memorandum circulated by the city’s Hudson Yards Development Corporation.

Unlike the old project, the new plan does not require costly condemnation proceedings or extensive tunneling in Manhattan, because the city is already building a No. 7 station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, roughly one block from the waterfront. In July, a massive 110-ton tunnel boring machine completed drilling for the city’s $2.1 billion extension of the No. 7 line from Times Square to the new station.

Still, the proposal faces a number of daunting political, financial and logistical hurdles in an era of diminishing public resources. Mr. Christie, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Governor-elect Andrew M. Cuomo of New York would have to agree to make the tunnel a high priority and work in lock step to obtain the city, state and federal money needed to make it happen.

“Extending the 7 line to New Jersey could address many of the region’s transportation capacity issues at a fraction of the original tunnel’s cost, but the idea is still in its earliest stages,” said Andrew Brent, a spokesman for the deputy mayor for economic development, Robert K. Steel. “Like others, we’re looking at — and open to discussing — any creative, fiscally responsible alternatives.”

Mr. Christie had not yet received a formal briefing on the idea, but his office said it was curious to hear more. “We’ve been open to ideas for solving the trans-Hudson dilemma, ideas that are affordable and fair amongst the interested jurisdictions,” said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for Mr. Christie.

Last month, Mr. Christie, a Republican, put an end to the long-planned Hudson rail tunnel project after the estimated cost climbed to at least $11 billion, from an initial $8.7 billion. The project would have created two new tracks for New Jersey Transit from Secaucus to a new station deep under 34th Street, near Pennsylvania Station. The federal Transportation Department had pledged $3 billion, as had the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. New Jersey was responsible for the rest.

Consider the possibilities: a sports fan from Queens would no longer have to drive to the Meadowlands to see a Jets or Giants game. They could simply hop on their local 7 train for the ride out. Commuters would have access to the entire MTA subway system via the 7 train connections at Times Square.

This proposal would have tremendous political and bureaucratic hurdles to overcome since it would extend the MTA's subway presence into territory normally serviced by NJ Transit (MTA trains on Metro North operate to Port Jervis, NJ on NJ Transit's Main/Bergen Line from Suffern to Hoboken). I think Gov. Chris Christie would be receptive to the project since its cost is nearly half the cost of the ARC tunnel project he killed, and it would vastly enhance the purpose and necessity of the Secaucus Transfer - in fact it would breath new life into the surrounding areas, which would have the potential of being a boom town of residential and commercial properties that are linked via the Transfer to the heart of Manhattan.

Not only would New York and New Jersey commuters benefit, but this would be a much more effective use of mass transit funds than the killed ARC tunnel project since it would potentially service far more people at a much lower cost. The cost savings are largely achieved because the MTA would not need to engage in costly condemnations in Manhattan, and the rights of way have largely been allocated.

Benjamin Kabab at 2d Ave. Sagas is wary of the plan and focuses on the one-seat ride aspect of the project, which is a consideration only if you think that the sunk costs of the Secaucus Transfer being made obsolete in the process isn't something that should be ignored. However, he thinks it is a plan that thinks big and outside the box when it comes to mass transit in the region. I think more people would use a MTA stop at Secaucus than trying to catch an already packed subway at Penn Station, and it gives the added benefit of direct access to the East Side and the rest of the City for New Jersey residents.

The benefits of a one-seat ride are overblown when factoring in the reality that the 7 line would potentially operate far more regularly than the NJ Transit service - giving 24-7 rides which is something that NJ Transit doesn't do - particularly for North Jersey.

Gov. Christie may want to tack the $3 billion originally designated for the ARC tunnel to other infrastructure projects in New Jersey, but he might be open to this proposal since it is more cost effective than the project he killed. Getting NJ Transit would be a tougher task, although I think the Port Authority would go along with the plan. Getting the feds to kick in the balance would be the trick since it isn't clear whether the 7 train plan would get the funding for the project.

Moreover, it isn't clear whether the 7 train plan would need to start from scratch on its environmental impact statement or whether the ARC tunnel plan could be rejiggered to match the repurposing.

UPDATE:
The Record reports on the proposal, and like several other outlets and critics, complains that this would not create a one-seat ride for commuters. This is a non-argument for most people considering that unless your destination is Penn Station, you are going to have to transfer to another mode of transportation if you're taking NJ Transit into Manhattan. You have to switch to PATH in Hoboken to reach Lower Manhattan. You most certainly have to switch to the subways to reach anywhere else in Manhattan or the outer boroughs. Not everyone works at Penn Station.

An added bonus would be that the cost of traveling into Manhattan would be significantly reduced - because the MTA allows free transfers within its system, so someone coming to Secaucus could go anywhere in the City after paying the fare at Secaucus. It would also be significantly cheaper for commuters coming from North Jersey than taking NJ Transit all the way into New York. You have to believe that this is going to factor into the potential opposition to the project.

NJ Transit Touts Capital Budget But Instead Shows Commuters Lack of Understanding

NJ Transit Director Jim Weinstein tried his best to spin a positive message about NJ Transit in the wake of Gov. Chris Christie killing the agency's pet ARC tunnel project. Weinstein claimed that the agency was spending $2.7 billion on capital projects.

He included the purchase of new railcars, upgrades at several stations, and other amenities.

That's nothing other than a rehash of the agency's master plan and budget proposals that have been previously published.

Was there anything new in this presentation?

No.

The ARC tunnel was a flawed program that was destined to cost the state billions more in cost overruns at a time when NJ Transit and the state could not afford them. The federal government wasn't willing to pick up the tab on the cost overruns which tells you all you need to know about the Obama Administration's willingness to match his words of support for mass transit and Amtrak with the actual deed of making sure that what would have become the nation's largest mass transit infrastructure project was funded. If the federal government wasn't willing to absorb the costs for overruns on an interstate project, why should New Jersey be forced to do so when the project was interstate?

The presentation further ignores the massive amounts of waste that NJ Transit has spent on projects of dubious benefit to riders. Building Secaucus Transfer was supposed to cut travel times and increase connectivity between NJ Transit lines, but anyone riding from North Jersey into Hoboken has had a longer commute. Since Secaucus opened, the average commute to Hoboken has increased by several minutes each way. I figure that my commute has lengthened by 5 minutes each way. That adds up. The billion dollar project meant that the agency could not spend that money on other more pressing needs, like upgrading rails or overhead power lines in conjunction with Amtrak. Indeed, a billion dollars for Secaucus could have gone to fully replace the Portal Bridge (located south of Secaucus Transfer over the Hackensack River), which remains one of the worst rail bottlenecks on the entire Northeast Corridor and is a frequent cause of delays for thousands of riders.

It's about priorities, and NJ Transit was about pushing an agenda that diverges tremendously from what the commuters in New Jersey actually need. Secaucus may eventually turn into a useful hub, but even the ARC tunnel would have made that impossible since the ARC tunnel would have eliminated the need to transfer to the Northeast Corridor since the ARC tunnel proposed a 1-seat ride into Manhattan from North Jersey. Given that Secaucus already sees a fraction of the ridership that NJ Transit used in its estimates to get that project approved - and that's with the increase in riders since the park-n-ride was built and the Meadowlands connector operating - the ARC tunnel would have turned this into an even greater boondoggle than it already is.

Of course, no one at NJ Transit said how they would fund the additional operations into and out of Manhattan with its operational budget, when the agency had to raise fares significantly this past July in conjunction with service cuts.

The agency has been more interested in building infrastructure where it isn't needed, and ignoring the dire need for parking and maintenance at its already existing facilities. This is most pronounced on the Northeast Corridor lines, but is present at other NJ Transit lines. Yet, it was only within the last 18 months that Secaucus had a proper parking lot built nearby to service the station, and that has contributed greatly to the increased ridership out of the station. That goes to the lack of foresight, planning, or understanding of mass transit utilization and needs by riders.

The ARC tunnel speaks greatly to this, and its cancellation should lead to a general reevaluation of all NJ Transit projects that put riders and the state on the hook for projects when the agency can barely handle its existing infrastructure. Of course, this is how public authorities and government agencies and politicians work - it's far more glamorous to have a ribbon cutting or groundbreaking for a new facility than to ensure that existing infrastructure is properly maintained. New projects are somewhat easier to fund than infrastructure maintenance and replacement, even though it is more critical to the ongoing function and operation of the transit system.

Revisiting the Secaucus Boondoggle

Alfred Doblin at the Record continues to savage the ARC tunnel proposal and its various machinations. He's late in coming to the argument that the one-seat ride into Manhattan eliminates the rationale for the billion dollar boondoggle, the Secaucus Transfer (which is named after current US Senator Frank Lautenberg).

I've been pointing out the faulty NJ Transit rationale for the Secaucus Transfer, the failure to handle cost overruns on that project that sent costs from $80 million when first proposed to more than $1 billion counting debt payments. By building Secaucus, the agency put itself in a fiscal bind because it has to pay off those obligations and utilization of the station is still well below projections and that's with the late-in-coming parking lot and Meadowlands train service that operates only for a few hours before and after events at the Meadowlands.

Doblin makes a good point to seek Amtrak service at Secaucus, which would provide additional benefits for North Jersey commuters and enhance the utility of the facility that remains sorely under-utilized.

Now, the agency wants to essentially circumvent the station altogether with a one-seat ride to Manhattan. To get a one-seat ride means either electrifying more than 120 miles of track, which would cost more than $240 million, or buying dual-powered locomotives.

NJ Transit has committed to the latter path, and have contracted to purchase $300 million worth of ALP-45DM locomotives from Bombardier.

Even if the ARC tunnel isn't built, those dual-powered locomotives would actually represent an emissions reduction path for Hoboken, since the area just west of the twin tunnels into Hoboken are electrified. Diesel locomotives spew all manner of compounds and particulates into the air, and a day doesn't go by when you can't see the emissions from the rail yard. Electric locomotives would be able to significantly reduce the pollution in and around the Hoboken terminal, as well as reduce the energy consumption.

It would allow the agency to eliminate older diesel powered locomotives and run cleaner and more efficient locomotives.

Still, proponents can't quite get past the fact that this is a flawed design and that cost overruns will affect New Jersey's bottom line. Addressing the fiscal problems is one part. The other is dealing with a design that will not solve the design woes in Manhattan where the new tunnel terminates without adequate space for excess trains after disembarking passengers and which does not truly produce the kind of additional capacity that the proponents claim.

ARC Tunnel Proponents Use Misleading Statistics

Proponents of the ARC Tunnel are claiming that someone from Rutherford could save 20 minutes every day commuting into Manhattan if the ARC tunnel is built. That's assuming that the person is going to commute to Penn Station and not Lower Manhattan via PATH (which is a longer commute thanks to the construction of Secaucus and the additional stop made there).

Is the time savings (which likely wont be 10 minutes each way because there are routinely delays of 5 minutes built into scheduled times) worth the cost projected at $10 billion or more?

No.

Moreover, a one-seat ride virtually eliminates the need for the $1 billion transfer station that has been underutilized ever since it was built. The time savings may not materialize because of train schedules that continue to send trains to Hoboken and into Penn Station, rather than delivering all trains to Hoboken. Without a major increase in parking at stations all along the North Jersey train lines, there isn't going to be the mass of commuters necessary to justify the costs.

Of much more immediate utility is the necessity to build a replacement to the Portal Bridge. That bridge repeatedly causes major disruptions to traffic on the Northeast Corridor and is a major choke point as the 4-track system narrows to two tracks (just as it does for the Hudson River tunnels). A typical problem with the Portal Bridge can cause 30-60 minute delays, just as it did last night.

A replacement project would eliminate the movable bridge section and build a fixed span in its place that enables high speed transiting of the area leading into Secaucus. That's where the money should have been spent first and foremost, but instead the money went for the Secaucus Transfer and then to the ARC Tunnel.

It's a misplaced sense of priorities among all the concerned parties - including NJ Transit and Amtrak.

That needs to be addressed, but this latest report does nothing of the sort. Senator Lautenberg referred obliquely to the delays last night and claimed that the ARC tunnel would fix that problem, but these are two separate projects.

The ARC Tunnel is a necessity, but not at the cost of bankrupting New Jersey which lacks the ability to cover the expected cost overruns. The federal government is in a position to best make sure that the project moves ahead, but at the same time assurances that the costs can be contained (and that the costs are reasonable and accurately reflect the conditions and costs) must be delivered. This can't be a blank check, even for the federal government.

After all, other projects around the country can come in on budget and on schedule, despite daunting construction hazards and technological hurdles. Take the Hoover Dam Bypass (Highway 93 bypass). It came in on budget and on schedule, despite working in the extreme conditions of the Colorado River basis and in close proximity to a national landmark. The replacement I-35 bridge in Minneapolis came in under budget and ahead of schedule and the contractor won $27 million in performance bonuses for completing the structure ahead of schedule. The winning bid ended up being well below the expected costs.

The First Major ARC Tunnel Contracts Expected To Be Signed

The ARC Tunnel, which could double capacity on the Northeast Corridor and New Jersey Transit trains between Manhattan and New Jersey got a big boost as $583 million contract was signed for a segment under Herald Square in Manhattan.

On Wednesday morning, the directors of New Jersey Transit are scheduled to approve a $583 million contract for the digging of a train tunnel under the west side of Midtown Manhattan. The tunnel is intended to supplement the existing tunnels that carry commuters into the city from New Jersey and other points west.

The imminent construction of the tunnel is the biggest public works project under way in the country, with an estimated total cost of $8.7 billion. It will stretch from the west side of the New Jersey Palisades to a station under 34th Street, near Macy’s flagship store.

The boring of the tunnels is to be conducted in three sections, with the work under Manhattan scheduled to begin next year. That segment will curve from the west end of 28th Street to a point deep beneath Herald Square.

New Jersey Transit, the lead agency on the project, accepted bids from three prequalified bidders. The lowest of the three, $583 million, came from a joint venture of Barnard Construction, which is based in Bozeman, Mont., and Judlau Contracting, based in Queens.

The Port Authority of NY/NJ and the federal government are putting up the bulk of the funds. NJ Transit is putting up a small portion.

This is the largest contract let to date on the project.

Here's a map of the new tunnel, which includes a loop to permit one-seat rides from the Pascack Valley, Main and Bergen Lines into Manhattan. That would make the $1 billion Secaucus Transfer project obsolete because the main purpose of the station was to link all the lines together so passengers could transfer easily.

The NJ Transit Mess In the Meadowlands

This week U2 is holding concerts at Giants Stadium, with 80,000 fans. NJ Transit was running train service from the Meadowlands to Secaucus as it has since the beginning of July for major events.

When I attended the AC/DC concert in July, I didn't find any serious problems, and that NJ Transit had staff throughout Secaucus and at the Meadowlands stop to direct traffic. The size of that crowd, however, didn't compare with the U2 crowd, or the demand on NJ Transit services after the concert.

The problem is that the crowds after U2 overwhelmed the train service (HT: Mrs. Lawhawk).

A spokeswoman for NJ Transit said the service is able to transport up to 10,000 riders per hour, and that NJ Transit couldn’t have predicted that 20,000 would try to take the service to the concert, which drew 80,000.

“We had about 20,000 people,” going to the concert, compared to the 7,000 to 8,000 customers taking the rail service to football games, said Penny Bassett-Hackett, agency spokeswoman. “We experienced record crowds.”

Bruce Springsteen starts a set of shows at Giants Stadium next Wednesday and similar crowds are expected.

The new line operates between Hoboken Terminal and Meadowlands Station for major Meadowlands events, making one stop at Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Transfer Station in Secaucus. It began service in late July, providing service to the Gold Cup Soccer game, Jets and Giants games, said Bassett-Hackett.

For Wednesday’s U2 concert, trains started at 3:20 p.m. for the 7 p.m. concert. Bassett-Hackett said a six-car train could accommodate up to 800 people, and that the service can accommodate 10,000 riders an hour.

Secaucus can handle 8 and 10 car trains, and yet they're running trains with less capacity. Instead of getting more people out and back in less time, they're hoping to do more with less and that directly affects the customer experience. If they ran a 10-car train instead, they could move 1,300 per train, and 16,250 per hour, which would be more than sufficient to get nearly everyone out of the Meadowlands in an hour, which is far more important for those hoping to make connections to the Northern New Jersey lines.

Moreover, many people who were relying on trains taking them home on the Bergen and Pascack Valley lines were out of luck because they got to Secaucus long after the last trains home departed for the night.

That's precisely the mess I said would haunt the system from the outset. I warned that unless NJ Transit provides more rail service later at night, they'd run into problems - both with customers being stranded and many others simply opting not to use mass transit because it is far too inconvenient.

NJ Transit will have to respond with more cars for service to and from Secaucus, but they'll have to add additional service on the Bergen, Main, and Pascack Valley lines if they want to get people out of their cars and onto mass transit to reduce traffic.

A Flaw in the Plan

New Jersey Transit has begun rail service between Secaucus Transfer and the Meadowlands Sports Complex (Giants Stadium and the Izod Center). That's great news for sports fans and concert goers who want to get to the games without having to drive and deal with the traffic. Service will run prior and after games and major concerts.

It sounds great until you realize that there's a pretty serious flaw in the new plan.

There is extremely limited rail service along the Bergen or Main line after midnight. For concert goers and people attending football or hockey games in the evening, they'd be cutting it extremely close. There is service every half hour leaving from Hoboken, but half those trains do not go up the Bergen Line, which means that you have service to many destinations only once per hour. Unless NJ Transit offers additional service later at night, the Secaucus rail link will not divert drivers off the roads and onto mass transit.

It's a problem that we see repeatedly around the nation. Mass transit is touted as the solution to traffic and congestion, and yet it runs at times that aren't convenient to many potential users, and which doesn't go where people need it to go.

In order to make the service more enticing to drivers to leave their cars at home, NJ Transit has to increase service on the Bergen and Main Lines to compensate. Not everyone going to the Meadowlands takes Northeast Corridor services or wants to drive to Secaucus to pick up the rail link there. If they're going to do that, they might as well park at the Meadowlands.

Redesign In Works For Secaucus Boondoggle?

The Secaucus Transfer, a white elephant if there ever was one, is getting a renovation to resolve problems in traffic flow. This project, which John Cicowski notes costs $600 million (though I've seen estimates that push the cost closer to $1 billion - and it was originally supposed to cost $80 million), has never lived up to its expectations, and now we're going to have to spend even more money to fix problems with the station.

While this glass-roofed pachyderm might no longer be virgin white, it still seems slow, deaf and batty sometimes. It's cold and drafty in winter. Sun glare through the glass can blind you in summer. Noise makes it hard to hear announcements. And the 30 feet from the fare gates to the escalator leading to Tracks 2 and 3 are so short that the prospect of someone falling there at rush hour is too horrible to imagine.

"Yes, we have a plan for consolidating the three turnstiles in that part of the building," said NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel. "But it's not firm yet. Nothing has been decided."

Stessel didn't estimate cost. He described the job only as a "redesign proposal to better control commuter flow" — not as a safety measure.

Sure, no sense calling attention to an unanticipated design flaw, I guess. But no matter what it's called, the redesign would mark the first major renovation there since the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station was opened in 2003. Construction will likely disrupt commuter flow for weeks, perhaps starting in spring.

As currently conceived, the project would extend the Track 2 and 3 turnstiles at the mouth of the corridor about 70 feet into the rotunda where they would be anchored by several huge marble pillars now in place. Two additional turnstile locations for other tracks would be moved from within the corridor and consolidated at this location, creating a string of about 15 turnstiles.

"After you've been around for a few years, and more and more people are using your service," said Stessel, "changes are sometimes required."

No dollar amount was provided.

Nice.

It's good that NJ Transit is getting around to fixing deficiencies with the station, but you would think that after spending hundreds of millions on the project that they wouldn't have noticed that the station was poorly laid out from the outset. It made no sense to force commuters to go through multiple turnstiles to switch between the stations platforms in such a confusing manner. It again points out how confused and misguided planners were in pushing this project.

One problem that isn't being addressed is the fact that the diesel trains that operate on the Bergen/Main/Pascack Lines have to stop in locations that aren't convenient at present because the station wasn't designed with exhaust systems in place to divert the diesel exhaust from entering the station. That's not a problem with longer trains, where the engines stop under the NJ Turnpike overpass, but it does present a problem for shorter trains.

New Hudson Rail Tunnel Gets Federal Approval

A new Hudson River rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and Manhattan along the Northeast Corridor has been approved by the Federal Transit Administration.

A federal agency has approved a plan to build a second commuter rail tunnel to Manhattan, clearing the way for construction of the $8.7 billion project to begin by the end of the year, Governor Corzine announced Wednesday.

The Federal Transit Administration's "record of decision" completes the project's environmental review process and allows the tunnel to receive as much as $3 billion in federal funding, Corzine said.

The local share of the financing — $5.7 billion — includes $3 billion from the Port Authority, with the remainder coming from the state. The project is expected to be completed by 2017.

Corzine noted that the tunnel project, which is expected to generate 6,000 jobs, could be part of a nationwide transportation upgrade that could help stimulate the sour economy.

The tunnel has been a long time coming and would double the capacity along the Northeast Corridor. However, the story also reports that this would enable one-seat rides from the Bergen/Pascack/Main lines. That's great, except that it would mean that the billion dollar boondoggle, the Secaucus Transfer, would be rendered all but obsolete and utilization would be even lower than it already is.

The long term plans were always to have a one-seat ride from Northern New Jersey into Manhattan, and yet NJ Transit did nothing to reduce costs relating to the construction of Secaucus Transfer, and taxpayers and commuters have had to foot that bill and will do so for years to come.

Also, to expect that the new rail tunnel will come in on budget is laughable given the way the state and infrastructure projects have a way of seeing costs rise exponentially.

Parking For Secaucus Boondoggle in Doubt

The Secaucus Transfer, aka the Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction Station, aka the Secaucus Boondoggle, continues to live down to the boondoggle moniker.

The massive transit project, linking all but one of NJ Transit's rail lines together, cost hundreds of millions more than originally projected, and serves a mere fraction of what was hoped for. The biggest shortcoming was the project failed to include any parking.

A 4,280-space garage and a 1,094-space parking lot were finally proposed, and approvals were finally granted by the Meadowlands Commission.

Now, we've got affordable housing groups and Norfolk Southern challenging the approval. The affordable housing group wants to use that land for affordable housing, and Norfolk Southern has challenged the plan because they want the land to expand their rail operations.

What does this all mean? Taxpayers continue to get soaked because they're paying for a white elephant in the underutilized Secaucus Transfer, and drivers stuck in traffic have no other alternatives because they lack the parking to even consider taking the train into Manhattan. The entire NJ Transit system lacks parking for riders, and towns don't encourage parking for mass transit either.

Any additional parking for mass transit would be a boon to the system, but as always, NJ Transit has found a way to screw things up.

The Secaucus Boondoggle Rolls On

Yesterday I got to experience yet another wonderful fault of the Secaucus Transfer courtesy of New Jersey Transit.

I had to pick Mrs. Lawhawk up at the station, and there is absolutely no signage pointing out to drivers where to pick up or drop off passengers. You approach the Transfer by car from Seaview Avenue, and there is no signage noting that one turn off is for buses only, whereas the second turn is for cars and taxis.

With the nearly $1 billion spent on the Transfer and the adjacent Exit 15X from the New Jersey Turnpike, you'd think that someone would plunk down a few thousand to put up the appropriate signs enabling drivers to know where to go.

That's not the only part - the signage inside the Transfer telling customers how to get to the customer pickup/dropoff area are lacking as well.

Secaucus Boondoggle Finally Getting Parking

It's been five years since the Secaucus Transfer has been open, and the severely underutilized facility (only 8,000 use it daily) may get a serious infusion of riders once new parking lots are opened. The lack of commuter parking was a huge criticism when the facility first opened since it would get thousands of cars off the roads heading into Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel and onto NJ Transit for a 10 minute ride into Manhattan. With no parking spaces at the facility, the billion dollar train station serves less than 10,000 people a day (Mrs. Lawhawk being one).

It was built without commuter parking because of community opposition, but that opposition has softened. That doesn't mean that the plan has smooth sailing because Norfolk Southern would like to use the site meant for parking for its own train operations, which it claims would remove thousands of trucks off New Jersey roads every day.

Hellish Commute

This morning's commute by NJ Transit and PATH was anything but routine. First, there were problems on the Northeast Corridor due to downed wires, which meant trains were operating 30-60 minutes late. As I take the Bergen/Main line, this shouldn't affect my commute, but the announcements meant that those who transfer at Secaucus to New York Penn (including Mrs. Lawhawk) stayed on the train to go to Hoboken so that they could take PATH into Manhattan.

Little did we know that PATH service was shut down because of a track fire. The situation was first reported on the PATH website at 7:45 AM, and reported continually throughout the rush hour, but NJ Transit didn't get the memo and didn't report it to commuters heading into Hoboken:

1/3/2008 9:34:36 AM
Concerning the earlier track condition problem, train service on the Hoboken to 33rd Street line is operating with a 15 minute delay.


1/3/2008 9:33:33 AM
Concerning the earlier track condition problem, train service on the Hoboken to World Trade Center line is operating with a 15 minute delay.


1/3/2008 8:55:54 AM
Due to police activity, train service on the Journal Square to 33rd Street line is operating with a 15 minute delay.


1/3/2008 8:54:59 AM
Due to police activity, train service on the Newark to World Trade Center line is operating with a 15 minute delay.


1/3/2008 8:32:49 AM
Passenger Alert: Due to suspended service on the Hoboken to WTC and Hoboken to 33rd Street line passengers bound for World Trade Center or 33rd Street are advised to take the Hudson Bergen Light Rail to Pavonia Newport or Exchange Place to continue their trip on PATH.


1/3/2008 7:47:19 AM
Due to a track condition, train service on the Hoboken to 33rd Street line is suspended.


1/3/2008 7:46:31 AM
Due to a track condition, train service on the Hoboken to World Trade Center line is suspended.


1/3/2008 7:45:28 AM
Due to a track condition, train service on the Hoboken to World Trade Center line is suspended.

Had Mrs. Lawhawk and I known that PATH was suspended, we would have gotten off at Secaucus and taken the NE Corridor trains into Manhattan, which were running, albeit crowded to maximum capacity. The situation in Hoboken was intolerable and the directions given to commuters did little to actually rectify the situation as the other modes of transit were strained beyond capacity. The crushing mass of commuters made it nearly impossible to navigate Hoboken Terminal and get to where you could actually take their alternative suggestions.

NJ Transit dropped the ball by not informing commuters of the problems with PATH until you actually arrived in Hoboken.

Mrs. Lawhawk and I both backtracked from Hoboken to Secaucus, where we were able to catch trains into New York Penn within minutes of arriving there. 10 minutes later, we were in Penn Station and I arrived in work 45 minutes late.

This was my first time utilizing Secaucus Transfer, and it definitely came in handy in the crisis situation, although the half billion spent on the project could have been better used in upgrading the infrastructure on the NE Corridor including better catenary towers that power the NE Corridor.

UPDATE:
There were three separate fires affecting PATH service this morning.

NJ Transit Finally Acknowledges Reality

It's about time. NJ Transit may finally add parking to the Secaucus boondoggle aka Secaucus Transfer. Well, NJ Transit has actually gone ahead with purchasing land that could be used for that purpose for $25 million. The final disposition of the land remains in the air and the developer who originally pushed for development at the Transfer remains noncommittal to building out their office space.

Parking is sorely needed and would help relieve congestion on the Turnpike and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels as long as there is capacity on the rails and parking for commuters to consider the switchover. There are some groups that think that building parking at the Transfer is a bad idea, but the benefits of building parking outweigh the supposed negatives. The fact is that the Transfer is underutilized and the Turnpike exit is even more so.

Of course, commuters still have to deal with cars hitting trains, just as one did again this morning. Trains on the Main and Bergen County Line train were operating with 15-30 minute delays in both directions due to a train striking an unoccupied car in Ho-Ho-Kus.

Thankfully no one was hurt, but this is the third time in the past quarter that cars have gotten into accidents with NJ Transit trains on the Main/Bergen line. The fact remains that when a car collides with a train, the train will always win. Commuters and the passengers of the cars will always lose.

UPDATE:
Well, there were actually a couple of minor injuries in the Ho Ho Kus incident. The train clipped a car that stalled on the tracks while it may have been attempting a U-turn or stopped to discharge passengers at the Ho Ho Kus train station.

woman hustled her infant from a stalled vehicle seconds before it was clipped by a slow-moving passenger train Tuesday morning, police said.

New Jersey Transit trains on the Main and Bergen County lines are running on schedule following the 7 a.m. incident.

The unidentified mother and her baby were being treated for minor injuries at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ Transit spokeswoman Courtney Carroll said. The driver of the vehicle – the infant’s grandmother – was uninjured.

About 125 passengers on the Hoboken-bound 1150 out of Suffern, N.Y., were transferred to other trains after the locomotive struck the vehicle, which had stalled on the Glenwood Road tracks, Carroll said at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

“It’s under investigation, but police are looking into the possibility the car may’ve tried to stop to discharge passengers,” Carroll said.

The Costly Secaucus Boondoggle Revisited

The Record has decided to revisit the boondoggle that is known as the Secaucus Interchange - the NJ Turnpike Exit 15X.

The $250 million exit connecting the turnpike to the Secaucus Junction train station had the lowest traffic volume of any turnpike interchange last year -- even though it serves one of the most congested sections of the 120-mile highway.

The few motorists who use it enter a vast emptiness surrounding the train station that -- despite promises to the contrary -- lacks office development, access to major highways or parking.

Two years after it opened, lawmakers, advocates and motorists now question whether Exit 15X will ever prove to be useful since plans to build development and parking have stalled, and the interchange has done little to relieve traffic congestion.

Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole, R-Wayne, said the money spent on the interchange could have been better used for bridge rehabilitation and replacement projects and other infrastructure needs.

You could have seen this coming from a mile away, and it comes as traffic at the nearby exits skyrockets despite projections that suggested that the Exit 15X would siphon off vehicles from those other exits.

This whole project is a money pit.

The Secaucus Transfer, the NJ Transit project that links all of the NJ Transit train lines save one so that riders can switch trains, is itself a boondoggle that hasn't lived up to expectations because not enough people use it to justify the exorbinant cost - which is upwards of $500 million.

The turnpike exit was another mistake, which costs taxpayers and commuters $250 million for ramps that no one is using. It doesn't lead to where people want to go, and the Transfer doesn't have a parking garage that might actually reduce congestion on the highway by taking people out of their cars and putting them onto trains (though the trains themselves are already near capacity during the rush hours anyway).

Between these two extravagant projects, this is where nearly $850 million dollars was spent - and taxpayers will continue footing the bill for years to come in debt financing.

This is money that could have been better spent elsewhere in NJ Transit, or at a minimum had costs been contained during the construction of the train project, which was originally expected to cost $50 million.

The interchange was originally expected to cost $180 million, so this latest figure shows a serious jump as well. Curious how that happens.

All that money spent, and nothing to show for it. Imagine what that money could have been used for - new buses or trains, or money that could have gone to building the THE tunnel into Manhattan, which is sorely needed to increase capacity on the NE Corridor.

UPDATE:
Seems that the boondoggles and the insanely high taxes and poor services in return are finally getting to New Jersey residents. The latest poll suggests that half of New Jersey residents are considering bailing. Of that figure, about half figure they'll actually act on the intention.

New Jersey must do something to contain costs, and of course, I fully expect voters to pass yet more debt on to taxpayers when the $450 million stem cell deficit funding resolution goes before voters in November. The state is adding to its already crushing debt load with this proposal, which is supposed to fund stem cell research that biomedical researchers have already chosen to ignore in favor of more promising research paths.

Taxpayers will be bombarded with sympathetic and heart rending stories that are supposed to convince them that the stem cell funding program is sound and good for the state, all the while ignoring the costs adding up in paying for it all. And as more taxpayers leave the state, those left behind will be forced to pay the ever higher burden.

What Will It Cost?

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine (D) announced yesterday that it would cost $7 billion to fix the structurally deficient and obsolete bridges in New Jersey. So, what programs will he cut to get to that number? What taxes will he increase to bridge the gap - literally and fundamentally?

He doesn't say, which is as any good politician would counsel. Why piss off your electorate when then answers are clear - you either have to raise taxes or you have to cut spending to shift money to infrastructure. Neither are options that would sit well with various constituencies, so everyone complains about the sad situation and little is actually done.

You could try to increase taxes significantly on stuff that doesn't affect taxpayers every day, like the sales tax on real property transfers. If you don't feel it in the pocket every day, the politicians think they can get away with it. They'll raise the sin taxes for the same reason - everyone seems to think you can simply tax alcohol or tobacco and no one would complain much. Tax toilet paper and you might get a different answer.

You could even blame the federal government for not giving more money to the states for transportation projects, but Sen. Menendez (D) and Lautenberg (D) both know that the federal governmnet significantly increased the transportation fund over the prior period significantly. Is it as much as Menendez and Lautenberg hope for? Not in the slightest - transportation budgets help provide jobs for unions and transportation budgets provide ribbon cutting for new bridges, tunnels, mass transit projects etc., in addition to the routine stuff - like painting bridges, inspections, and ongoing maintenance.

Then, there's the problem with misplaced priorities. NJ Transit built white elephants such as the Mahwah parking garage/Rt. 17 station that added more than 1,000 parking spaces, but was so underutilized that NJ Transit leased many of the spots to a car dealership since the Ramsey and Mahwah stations were more convenient and the boondoggle Secaucus Transfer, which not only remains underutilized, but lacks parking for those who would rather avoid traffic into Manhattan and would help accomplish Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing goals of reducing congestion in Manhattan and on city roads.

The Pulaski Skyway is an obsolete bridge because it was designed at a time when cars were much lighter, traffic was lighter, and safety concerns were not where they are now. Existing lanes are narrower than modern standards and more importantly, there are no breakdown lanes, which means if a car breaks down, you cause multi-mile traffic jams. It may be structurally adequate, but because it cannot handle the traffic flow, it is obsolete. Such is the case with many other bridges and roads in the state. Traffic simply has overwhelmed the capacity of the roads.

A proposal to build a new skyway would alleviate many of the problems, including more direct routing for trucks that now have to take a circuitous local route, add breakdown lanes, and three lanes in each direction. It may cost more than $1 billion to build. Maintenance costs on the existing bridge would run $100 million over the next decade.

Consider that if the state and NJ Transit were able to maintain strict cost controls on the Secaucus Transfer project, which was originally expected to run $80 million, it would have had another $350 million available for other projects, including the down payment on a new Skyway. Ponder that next time you hear about cost overruns and delays in construction projects.

We pay for all the overruns and additional costs in terms of lost opportunities to fix other necessary infrastructure, additional debt payments, and higher fares.

Then, there's the issue of dam safety. Four years after state taxpayers approved a loan program to assist in the rehabilitation and improvements to dams and flood control projects around the state, only a handful of projects have been completed. The pace is frustratingly slow because of arduous permitting requirements.