N.J. to Repay Just 35% of U.S. Funds Received for Cancelled Tunnel

State to carry out "transit-related" projects

The agreement also requires New Jersey to spend about $128 million in federal highway funds on “transit-related” projects that DOT has approved, LaHood said. That $128 million falls under the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality highway-funding category, which funds high-occupancy-vehicle highway lanes, diesel engine retrofits and other projects and programs aimed at reducing air pollution.

Christie said that the amount New Jersey will repay DOT under the new agreement “represents a fraction of the federal government’s initial claim and won’t cost New Jerseyans any additional money, which would otherwise go to infrastructure improvements.”

LaHood said that the agreement will allow DOT to recover all $51 million of its federal “New Starts” transit money that had gone to the ARC tunnel. DOT will be able to redistribute the $51 million to help fund other transit projects around the country, he added.

Lautenberg said, “The Governor’s decision to kill the ARC tunnel will hurt New Jersey in the long-term, but we were happy to work with the Dept. of Transportation to help reduce the costs of this mistake.”

LaHood said the settlement is “good for the taxpayers of New Jersey [and] also helps to improve infrastructure in the state.”

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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