A shutdown of maintenance and construction on hundreds of
roads and bridges throughout New Jersey will commence Friday night as a result
of a funding crisis that Gov. Christie says threatens the "health, safety,
and welfare" of state residents.
Christie last week issued an executive order calling for
an "orderly shutdown" of nonessential projects funded by the
Transportation Trust Fund Authority, which will run out of money in August. The
trust fund is the state's primary financing mechanism for road, bridge, and
rail projects.
On Wednesday, the governor's office said the shutdown
would take effect 11:59 p.m. Friday and run for at least seven days.
Over that time period, contractors will stop hundreds of projects
in an "orderly and safe manner," said Stephen Schapiro, a spokesman
for the state Department of Transportation.
"I don't think the average motorist will notice much
of a difference," he said.
State officials identified hundreds of projects - most of
them local - that will be left untouched for the foreseeable future. The
contracts total hundreds of millions of dollars.
In South Jersey, that includes Route 70 in Camden and
Burlington Counties, where a multimillion-dollar construction project began
recently.
Federally funded projects and those deemed essential for
the "health, safety, and welfare" of the state's residents are exempt
from the shutdown, according to the governor's office.
Funding will be allocated to address emergencies such as
sinkholes, but routine potholes are likely to remain unrepaired until the
Democratic-controlled Legislature acts.
Christie's five-year transportation-funding plan expired
last week at the end of fiscal 2016. Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent
Prieto (D., Hudson) struck a deal to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund
for eight years by raising the state's tax on gasoline to 37.5 cents per
gallon, more than double the current tax of 14.5 cents.
The Assembly also passed legislation that would gradually
reduce the state's sales tax from 7 to 6 percent by the time Christie's term
expires in January 2018.
That plan hit a wall in the Senate, however, where
lawmakers said they were concerned about revenue shortfalls caused by the sales
tax cut.
Senators had proposed a different set of tax cuts to
accompany the gas-tax hike, including a phase-out of the estate tax. However,
Christie said he didn't think the plan was fair to taxpayers, and at the
eleventh hour brokered the sales-tax plan with Prieto.
Prieto and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D.,
Gloucester) last week said they hoped to negotiate a new deal with Christie.
Source: Philly.com
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