to complete projects
Freeholder director: $500M needed
to complete projects
BY CHARLES W. KIM
Staff Writer
NEW BRUNSWICK — Middlesex County officials want the state to make more money available for local road maintenance.
Middlesex County Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel last week called on the state to "reinvigorate" its troubled transportation trust fund in order to help with the anticipated $500 million worth of necessary road and bridge improvements in the county.
"Clearly there is no alternative to major funding assistance from the state’s transportation trust fund, which now appears to be at risk. There is a great deal of work to be done. The costs are very high and funding assistance is essential," Crabiel said in a statement issued Jan. 16.
The transportation fund, established in 1984, is a self-replenishing program funded with taxes on motor fuels, gross petroleum and gasoline sales, according to the state Department of Transportation.
The fund was slated to provide $1.2 billion of the state’s $2.65 billion Transportation Capital Plan for 2004. The capital plan, which started July, 1, includes 13 projects to be funded in Middlesex County.
Projects include replacing the Mae Brook Bridge in North Brunswick at a cost of $400,000, and the $5-million replacement of a deficient bridge on Route 1.
In Woodbridge, projects include changing the Routes 1 and 9 interchange, constructing a new $4-million grade-separated interchange at Route 514 and Woodbridge Center Drive, and building a $19.1-million bridge over the Conrail tracks.
"We’re in total support of that," Woodbridge Mayor Frank Pelzman said of the township’s support for keeping the trust fund alive. "It is an absolute necessity."
Pelzman listed the many roads that travel through Woodbridge, including Routes 1 and 9, and the Garden State Parkway.
"Woodbridge is really the crossroads of the state. We need to have that money available. It’s really a safety factor. The bridges and roads have to be kept and this is the way to do it," Pelzman added.
In Sayreville, the plan calls for the elimination of the Victory Circle at a cost of $6 million.
A blue ribbon panel appointed by Gov. James McGreevey last year said in a November report that the fund is facing insolvency. This, according to the panel, is because of decisions made during the last 10 years to increase reliance on bonding, extending the terms of the bonds from 10 to 20 years, and the raising of fund-spending caps without additional revenue.
The 50-page report advised the state to implement a 12.5-cent gasoline tax to increase revenues for that he would not increase the gas tax, stating, "It is not the right time."
Crabiel called on McGreevey to re-invigorate the fund before it lapses and causes the planned projects to stop.
"All these projects will also lapse to the severe detriment of the people of this county and state," Crabiel said.
Crabiel and the freeholders board made the request after reviewing a report by Middlesex County’s Infrastructure Advisory Committee. The committee, formed in June 2002 by the freeholders, presented its findings on Jan. 15.
Committee Chairman Leonard A. Tobias told the freeholders board that the county is "a vital link" in the International Intermodal Transportation Corridor and is part of the second largest industrial region in the nation.
"The corridor is the place where New Jersey dreams, conceives, designs, manufactures, markets and ships products around the world. It is vitally critical to New Jersey and the nation," Tobias said.
The committee advised the county officials to seek out federal and state funding to maintain the infrastructure.
"The key to all of it is obviously funding," Tobias said, adding that the full funding of the state trust fund is the "single most important facet of this operation."
According to Tobias, the state must fully fund its transportation account so it can provide the necessary 20 percent in matching funds for federal grants that are awarded.
"The funds available in the trust fund, as of now, are severely limited and not adequate to meet federal matching requirements, and therefore substantial federal funds could be lost to the state," Tobias said.
Staff writer Colleen Lutolf contributed to this story