Report: NJ bridges need $13.5 billion in work, big toll hike suggested

New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (AP photo)

By TOM HESTER Jr.
The Associated Press

10/3/2007

TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey must spend nearly $13.6 billion in the next decade to fix deficient and obsolete bridges statewide, according to a new state report that also suggested a 45 percent increase in New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway tolls.

The report by Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri found Turnpike and Parkway bridge repairs will cost $1.7 billion and noted that $2 billion is still needed for a plan to widen the Turnpike between Exits 6 and 8A in Central Jersey.

“Repairing those bridges in addition to the unfunded Turnpike widening project would require at least a 45 percent toll increase,” Kolluri said in a letter to New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine that accompanied the report.

Kolluri on Tuesday said the report — sought by Corzine after an August Minnesota bridge collapse killed 13 people — merely lays out facts and doesn’t propose a toll increase.

“It’s just a statement of fact of what it would cost to do this,” said Kolluri, who determined the state needs to increase its annual bridge funding from $509 million to $800 million.

But the report comes as Corzine continues indicating he’ll propose increasing tolls on some of the nation’s busiest highways to try to solve fiscal woes.

The Democratic governor has been emphasizing an August Rutgers-Eagleton poll that asked voters to choose between increasing tolls, hiking taxes or cutting services. It found 44 percent of voters preferred toll increases, 28 percent service cuts and 9 percent tax increases,

Republicans aren’t swayed, noting polls find about 60 percent of voters oppose Corzine’s concept and prefer toll increases only when forced to make a choice.

“Democrats had better heed warnings from the people,” said Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, R-Morris.

Corzine insists the state needs to find a way to make more money to pay state debt and free money for other needs, but hasn’t unveiled a formal proposal.

Among the unanswered questions, Corzine said, is whether the nonprofit agency he wants to create to manage toll roads can sell cheaper tax-exempt bonds. The bonds would be paid back by increased highway tolls, a move Republicans contend would have vast consequences.

The Garden State Parkway is the nation’s busiest toll road, with the New Jersey Turnpike the nation’s fifth busiest, according to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association.

Corzine on Monday said he’s not surprised polls show dislike for his concept.

“You can ask questions about how you might do something that will be painful and almost always you will get a response that, yes, I would prefer not to have pain,” he said. “I’m going to have to take the pain until we get the information that allows us to make a solid proposal.”

New Jersey’s debt has doubled since 2000 to $30 billion and will cost the state about $3 billion this fiscal year. Unless some of the debt can be paid, it will consume more money and bar investment in education, health care, transportation and other areas, Corzine has said.

Republicans insist state spending cuts are the answer.

Assemblyman Richard Merkt, R-Morris, said Corzine, a multimillionaire, was “utterly out of touch with the average taxpayer,” and DeCroce said 46 municipalities have approved a Republican resolution opposing Corzine’s concept.

“We know we have a problem,” DeCroce said. “What we need to debate is how can we solve it sensibly without making New Jersey unaffordable for more people.”