N.J. Governor Rejects Tunnel Project
NEW YORK (
) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that his state won't participate in a project to build another rail tunnel under the Hudson River into New York City.
Christie was expected to withdraw his support for the proposed $8.7 billion project. The
Wall Street Journal
, citing officials with knowledge of the matter,
that Christie was going to scrap the project, despite efforts by the federal government and other groups to reach a compromise to let the tunnel be built.
Christie
announced a similar decision on Oct. 7
but later agreed to take another two weeks to consider other options after consulting with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the
Journal
said.
Christie's grounds for rejecting the ARC, or
, were that it would cost much more than originally expected, and that New Jersey is on the hook for cost overruns. Federal estimates have put the cost of the project as high as $12.7 billion, according to the
TheStreet Recommends
Journal
report. As originally planned, the ARC project was supposed to cost around $8.7 billion, with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the federal government putting in $3 billion each, and New Jersey covering the rest.
According to the
WSJ
, a number of potential scenarios were rejected by Christie's administration, including low-cost financing from the federal government and stripping out parts of the project to hold down costs. Of late, the debate has taken on a partisan edge with Christie, a Republican, being criticized for leaving the state to stump for GOP candidates in midterm election races, and New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, reportedly saying the federal government had offered to take responsibility for cost overruns.
Work on the tunnel was halted on Sept. 10. Roughly $500 million has already been spent on the project, according to the
AP
, which said the tunnel was the largest transportation project in the country and that completion was expected in 2018.
--
Written by Ross Tucker in New York.
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