TRENTON, N.J. — The biggest public-works project in the U.S. — a $9 billion-plus train tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City — is dead in its tracks.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that he is sticking by a decision announced earlier this month to kill the project because of runaway costs.
He rejected a variety of financial proposals offered by the federal government to salvage the tunnel under the Hudson River, saying none of them fully relieved New Jersey of responsibility for overruns.
“It’s a dollars-and-cents issue. I cannot place upon the citizens of the state of New Jersey an open-ended letter of credit,” Christie said.
The decision to abandon construction more than a year after it began burnished the Republican governor’s reputation as a cost-cutter but was criticized as foolishly shortsighted by transportation advocates, train riders, union leaders and some Democrats. It also leaves New Jersey with nothing but a $600 million hole in the side of the hill.
Supporters of the project — an idea that has been on the drawing board for about 20 years — said it would create 6,000 construction jobs and thousands more jobs afterward, as well as ease train delays in a region with one of the nation’s longest commute times.
