The New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s recently disclosed plan to fund a 10-year capital program with higher tolls is fatally flawed because it includes dubious widenings of the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. But it does get one thing right: it would fund New Jersey’s portion of the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project to build a second NJ-NYC rail tunnel. In doing so, the plan recognizes that ARC is vital to the region’s economy and that NJ needs to find a way to fund its portion of the project. Elected officials need to hear this message — and now you can help drive that message home from TSTC’s website.
New Jersey residents can send e-mails to their state and federal legislators, while New York residents can send e-mails to their U.S. Senators, Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, telling them to support ARC and make sure it receives funding because the project will:
- Double NJ Transit’s rush-hour capacity into and out of Manhattan, meaning more frequent, more reliable, less crowded trains on most lines in northern, central, and southern New Jersey.
- Provide one-seat rides into and out of Manhattan on the Pascack Valley Line, Port Jervis/Main/Bergen County Line, Morris & Essex Line, and Raritan Valley Line. Commuters will no longer have to transfer at Secaucus or Newark to get into and out of NYC.
- Act as an economic stimulus for New Jersey and New York. During construction, ARC will employ (directly and indirectly) almost 100,000 blue-collar, white-collar, and green-collar workers. After construction, the improved transit access will make the region more attractive to new and relocating companies.
- Lower greenhouse gas emissions. By taking cars off the road, ARC will cut more than 65,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.
Visit Tri-State’s Access to the Region’s Core advocacy page here. For background, read MTR – “Are NJ Funding Woes Threatening Access to the Region’s Core?“, April ’08.
Ed. Note: This is the first step in an expansion of TSTC’s citizen advocacy features. Interested in receiving periodic advocacy alerts? Sign up for alert e-mails here.
Tom is entirely right; the project in its current form is fatally flawed.
Amtrak and many others have started to raise red flags, by pointing out that this multi-billion-dollar effort does NOTHING to increase Amtrak redundancy (it will still be captive to two 100-year-old tunnels) and nothing to improve regional interconnections.
It’s notable that NJ-ARP, the New Jersey transit passengers association, is against the current project. They absolutely support added capacity, but it needs to benefit ALL riders, not just NJT’s riders, if it’s to be federally funded. They call the current project “deeply flawed”.
See their analysis here … http://www.nj-arp.org/arc3.html
[…] One of the tri-state area’s leading transit advocates is the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. They recently asked tri-state area residents to contact their local officials to help a bill which would help New Jersey fund its portion of the “ARC” tunnel project. The project would build a second rail tunnel below the Hudson River, connecting New Jersey & Midtown Manhattan. For more information on the project & how you could help support it, you can read their entry by clicking here. […]
[…] their blog, Mobilizing the Region, TSTC says that ARC […]
Tom B,
I would argue that it increases the effectiveness of Secaucus by allowing more trains (RVL) to access Secaucus, making transfers between it and the ex-Erie lines to take only one transfer rather than two. Combine that with the ability to decrease the headway on every line makes trips for intrastate commuters to use Secaucus a much more feasible option.
The Northern branch is currently in the DEIS/EIS process and so is MOM. Neither are as far along as ARC is. All three are necessary but ARC will increase public transit ridership the most. Moreover, MOM is still a political hot-potato whereas ARC currently has broad support (aside from a few grumpy railfans and armchair planners).
I don’t know what you mean by calling ARC as a “snake oil cure.” What exactly is it “snake oil cure? for?
One major issue I have with the ARC project is that there is no link to Grand Central Terminal, as it was in earlier proposals, NJT has recast this project to serve only NJT needs (i.e. train to macy’s basement) and not provide this important link and added Amtrak capacity. The rail capacity increase is needed, but this project needs to serve the region, not just NJDOT/NJT.
NJT continues to dangle the “one seat ride” as a magic trinket, what of the 750 million investment in Secaucus?. They need to focus on the lack of rail service across the most densely populated counties (Bergen – Hudson), the lack of usable intra-state connections, poor off peak service on the Pascack Valley line, the forever stalled MOM project, etc.
I will stop there, NJT is selling the ARC as magic snake oil cure, there needs to be a regional solution, but that’s hoping for way too much…
In addition, we won’t have to deal with any more hour-plus delays as a result of Amtrak’s snafu’s on the Northeast Corridor trackage. At least, those who ride anything except the NEC and NJCL trains will be spared that!
[…] growth, NYC-bound ridership on most new Tappan Zee services drops. This is likely because the Access to the Region’s Core project, which would give commuters in Rockland one-seat rides into Penn Station in NYC, will make […]