TRENTON, N.J. — Under pressure from the Obama administration, Republican Gov. Chris Christie agreed Friday to rethink his decision to cancel construction of a $9 billion rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City.
Christie, a rising star in the GOP with a reputation as a fearless protector of the taxpayers’ money, announced Thursday that he was pulling the plug on the project because of runaway costs. Democrats said the decision would cost the state thousands of badly needed construction jobs and cripple New Jersey’s long-term economy.
But after meeting for nearly an hour Friday with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the governor agreed to listen to ideas for pressing ahead with the project, known as ARC, for Access to the Region’s Core. It is the biggest public transit project underway in the nation.
“The fact that the ARC project is not financially viable and is expected to dramatically exceed its current budget remains unchanged,” Christie said in a statement. He added, though, that LaHood “presented several options to potentially salvage a trans-Hudson tunnel project.”
LaHood said a working group from the Transportation Department and NJ Transit — the commuter railroad that is overseeing the project — will review the options and report back to Christie within two weeks.
Neither Christie nor LaHood would disclose any of the ideas under discussion.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who led the effort to secure federal funding for the project, welcomed the reprieve.
The tunnel, which has been in the works for about 20 years, would run underneath the Hudson River, connecting New Jersey with Manhattan. Currently, NJ Transit and Amtrak share a century-old two-track tunnel that is operating at close to capacity.
Numbers
$9 billion Projected cost of the rail tunnel. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie this week estimated the cost at $11 billion to $14 billion.
6,000 Construction jobs that would be created by the tunnel project
