New Jersey says no to FTA money. What would you build?

Transit

New Jersey says no to FTA money. What would you build?

by Matt Johnson • October 6, 2010 1:23 pm

It was reported yesterday that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, is expected to kill the ARC Tunnel project. The tunnel would double rail capacity under the Hudson River, and would allow more trains to enter Manhattan each day.

Photo by Rrrodrigo on Flickr.

Christie, it seems, plans to take the state's share of the project and devote it to building roads. This means that New Jersey will lose some $3 billion in federal funding for the project while furthering its sprawl. That money will end up going to other transit projects in other cities.

If the governor does indeed cancel the project, it will be a big loss for the region, and for the Northeast as a whole.

Currently, the only railroad access from New Jersey into Manhattan is through the North River Tunnels, each with one track, which were built in 1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad. This bottleneck means that all Amtrak and NJ Transit trains operating along the Northeast Corridor into Penn Station fight for space in the tunnels, which are operating at about 100% capacity.

While the ARC Project isn't perfect, it's still an essential project. New Hudson River tunnels will need to be built eventually, and it's unfortunate that the taxpayers of New Jersey are losing out on this opportunity for a federal partnership.

But without the local match, those federal dollars will go elsewhere. While there's no indication that a project in this region would be likely to receive this funding, it is an interesting thought exercise to wonder what we could do with $3 billion.

Considering that we'd need a local match of at least $3 billion, that would mean $6 billion in funding for transit projects in our region. I asked the contributors what they'd spend that on. Here are some of the ideas they suggested (ordered by overall cost):

Metro capital upgrades: WMATA estimates $11 billion in unfunded capital needs over the next decade. Spending this money toward keeping Metro in a state of good repair would be an excellent use of these funds, even if maintenance isn't as "sexy" as a shiny new rail extension.

Separated Blue Line: With congestion on the rise in the Blue/Orange subway, it's only a matter of time before we'll need a separated Blue Line in Downtown DC. Some estimates show this project costing upwards of $6 billion.

Image by David Alpert.

DC Streetcars: At about $25 million per mile, $6 billion could build about 240 miles of streetcar. That would certainly finish off DC's planned 37-mile system and those planned in Northern Virginia, with plenty of room for expansion.

Image from NCPC.

Washington freight bypass: NCPC studied ideas to reroute freight rail traffic around the Washington region. These concepts are estimated to cost between $3.2 and $5.3 billion, depending on the alternative. A freight bypass would speed commuter and inter-city trains (and add capacity). It would also move hazardous rail cargoes outside of the central business district.

MARC investment and expansion: In September 2007, Governor O'Malley put forth a plan to quadruple MARC capacity by 2035. Doing so would cost about $3.8 billion, with the majority ($2.9 billion) going toward the Penn Line. It would include through-running of MARC trains into Northern Virginia by 2020. But the recession has meant the plan is unfunded.

Baltimore-Washington Maglev: In 2002, this project was estimated to cost $3.2 billion. It would provide a very high-speed link between Washington, BWI Airport, and Baltimore.

100% 8-car operation: It would cost about $600 million to buy enough railcars to allow the system to operate all 8-car trains during peak periods. This is essential to increasing capacity on the system.

Metro station pedestrian connections: With congestion at the downtown transfer stations growing, many have called for connections between the Farraguts (around $72M) and between Metro Center and Gallery Place (around $100M). Both of those could be constructed for well under $6 billion.

Image from DDOT.

K Street Transitway: In February, DC was turned down for a TIGER grant to fund this project. The $140 million busway would've increased travel speeds and added improved stops for many of the buses serving Downtown DC. Whenever it's constructed, it will also be home to the K Street streetcar line.

Water taxi docking stations: With water taxis starting to troll the Potomac between Alexandria, National Harbor, and the Waterfront, one wonders if money couldn't be spent to build stations along the Potomac to encourage small-scale ferry service between Virginia and Washington.

If we could get New Jersey's transit money, what would you suggest we spend it on?

Update, October 7: Governor Christie has officially killed the ARC Tunnel.

38 comments

Tags: ARC tunnel, Chris Christie, FTA, K Street Transitway, MARC, Metro, New Jersey, New York, streetcars, transit, WMATA

How should the region's transit grow? (Oct 12, 2010)
Metro isn't always the best option for transit expansion (Sep 21, 2010)
Washington's rails, part 5: Unbottlenecking Baltimore (Sep 14, 2009)
A cheaper route to Metro core capacity? (Jun 29, 2009)
Metro ponders new tunnels and connections (Jan 24, 2011)

Matt Johnson has lived in the Washington region since mid-2007. He has a Master's degree in Community Planning from the University of Maryland and a BS in Public Policy from Georgia Tech. He has worked in the planning field since 2006 and lives in Greenbelt, where he serves on the city's Advisory Planning Board.

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Could it not go to the upgrades on the rail tunnels in DC and Baltimore? I know some of the funding is already set on it, but it could be sped up with an infusion of capital.

by Cassidy on Oct 6, 2010 1:28 pm • link • report

Currently, the only railroad access from New Jersey into Manhattan is through the North River Tunnels,

Just checking... doesn't the PATH tunnels between Hoboken and downtown Manhattan qualify?

by Michael on Oct 6, 2010 1:35 pm • link • report

@Michael:
Well, since we can't route Northeast Regionals, Acela's, national network Amtrak trains, or NJ Transit commuter trains through those tunnels, no, I wouldn't count them.

The 4 PATH tubes (2 between Exchange Place and Downtown Manhattan and 2 between Hoboken and Midtown) are transit tunnels, and require commuter rail and inter-city passengers to transfer.

When someone says VRE only has two tracks across the Potomac, do you count the Yellow Line?

by Matt Johnson on Oct 6, 2010 1:39 pm • link • report

Matt: In fairness to Michael, you said "railroad," not "New Jersey Transit." Depending how technical your definition, "railroad" could exclude PATH (since it's a transit service), or could count it (because it involves running train cars on rails).

by David Alpert on Oct 6, 2010 1:41 pm • link • report

The PATH tubes have an extremely narrow loading gauge making them unsuitable for normal railcars, but yes, there are two sets of PATH tubes under the Hudson, although they serve a very different function from the Amtrak and NJT services at Penn Station, and also operate very close to their design capacity.

(Oh, and the PATH tunnels are in fact metal TUBES sitting on the riverbed, which is all sorts of scary and dangerous. If NYC was serious about antiterrorism, they would have been drafting plans to replace them with a deep bore tunnel on September 12.)

IMO, the system could be made more efficient by extending PATH all the way up to the Times Square subway station at 42nd St (providing an easy one-transfer ride to Grand Central), and south to Newark Airport (which is currently difficult to get to from NYC, even though it is technically transit-accessible).

There's also a partially-inactive rail link from NJ to Staten Island that connects up to the SIRR, and a few other roundabout freight routes. I don't believe it's ever seen passenger service.

by andrew on Oct 6, 2010 1:48 pm • link • report

The author means mainline railroad access, i.e. by the standard-size passenger cars (if not necessarily high double-deckers and the like) operated by Amtrak and NJT. PATH's tunnels can only accomodate PATH's cars, which are specifically configured to fit them.

by davidj on Oct 6, 2010 2:04 pm • link • report

In Portland, TriMet has had to make substantial cuts to its Portland-Milwaukie light rail project since FTA only gave a 50% match instead of 60% as was predicted by some. I would like to see the federal share for the project increased to that 60% mark so that the pedestrian and bicycle amenities that were cut can be restored.

by Reza on Oct 6, 2010 2:09 pm • link • report

I kind of wish Christie's name was instead "Jones". That way the subject line of blog posts could be a spectacular "Governor Jones and the Tunnel of Doom" ... but no, he just had to ruin it by having a different name. The nerve.

by Bossi on Oct 6, 2010 2:12 pm • link • report

Alternative Heading:

NJ Governor saves US Taxpayers $3 billion + associated borrowing costs (interest).

by Angela on Oct 6, 2010 2:16 pm • link • report

With a magic wand and $6B, I'd prioritize the following: Frieght bypass (in addition to the safety reasons, this opens up significant space on both sides of the Anacostia for development), 100% 8-car operations (I have a suspicion that is you make the commute more enjoyable, more people would use transit), Metro pedestrian connections (needs to be done) and K St Transitway.

by SE Mark on Oct 6, 2010 2:18 pm • link • report

@David Alpert, @Michael:
I apologize if I came off snarky. That was not my intent.

This article is in reference to the cancellation of the ARC Tunnel, which would, in fact, only serve NJ Transit trains. It would not serve Amtrak trains directly, although it would relieve congestion for those trains continuing to operate in the North River Tunnels.

I could have mentioned the PATH tubes, but I chose not to because they were beyond the scope of the article. Which, incidentally, really doesn't have anything to do with New Jersey or New York.

Plenty of articles go out without mentioning everything they aren't mentioning. It helps keep them from morphing from blog posts into dissertations.

The point of this article is to have us talk about what we would spend money on here in the DC area. So let's not get bogged down in the loading gauge of the PATH tubes, or whether those trains qualify.

I only included the reference to the North River Tunnels to give people context. If there was some substantive confusion in my omission of the PATH tubes, I apologize. My intent was not to mislead, but to be brief.

I initially had a paragraph on the East River Tunnels, for instance. There are four of those linking Penn Station to Long Island. (There are also several NYCT Subway tunnels under the river: 63rd Street, 60th Street, 53rd Street, Steinway, 14th Street, Rutgers Street, Cranberry Street, Clark Street, Montague Street, & Joralemon Street which I was not planning on mentioning for the sake of brevity.) I deleted that reference because I didn't think it was important to mention, even though it has double the capacity of the North River Tunnels.

by Matt Johnson on Oct 6, 2010 2:20 pm • link • report

Its a shame that governor Christie is most likely going to nix the project, however if DC could get at least a share of the money I would most like to see the DC Streetcar system built out and integrated with current transit options.

After that I would most like to see the separate Blue line built mostly for the additional connection across the potomac river that would most likely come out of that project. Building connections across the river is a must for Metro at least in my opinion.

Additionally, I haven't seen it anywhere recently but does anybody remember how those plans metro released about adding connections between the lines to facilitate interline movements at major intersections? If so how much would that cost? I think included in that plan were the pedestrian walkways between Farragut North and Farragut west and Gallery Place and Metro Center. Let me know what your opinions on those would be (those being the connections and the walkways) because I may be one of the odd people out on that issue.

by Dan on Oct 6, 2010 2:26 pm • link • report

Just occurred to me... the Purple Line & Corridor Cities Transitway might make decent additions to this list (though I'm not a particular fan of the latter's alignment). Baltimore has several good projects, though I suppose those are all outside the GGW scope.

by Bossi on Oct 6, 2010 2:31 pm • link • report

It would be interesting to see whether the FTA decides to fund entirely new projects, provide a bit more money to projects already committed, or both.

I suspect the only DC projects that are realistically going to be helped are the ones that are in the pipeline for New Starts. So Baltimore Red Line, Purple Line, Silver Line Phase II, CCT, Crystal City Transitway and maybe the DC streetcars (as part of Small Starts funding) are my guesses.

by Reza on Oct 6, 2010 3:08 pm • link • report

I would like to see half the money go to metro maintenance, and half towards the street cars. This way you help both the old system and the new system.

by Thomas on Oct 6, 2010 3:13 pm • link • report

Is it really dead?

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/10/christie_denies_reports_hes_de.html

Can we think about this is two ways? First, as a federal matching grant, and second, as an extra $3 billion in the infrastructure bank?

In terms of matching grants, I think you'd have to look at something multiple jurisdictions could kick into. DC streetcars, out. Separate blue line, maybe. Given where all three are, I don't see anybody spending much money, although if the liquor things go through VA might have some spare change.

As part of a 50/50 infrastructure bank, clearly the railroad bypass has the best shot. The benefits to us as citizens -- as instead of consumers -- however is pretty low. Given those tracks ship Chinese crap into the country and coal out, not sure it really fits into increasing our GDP.

by charlie on Oct 6, 2010 3:14 pm • link • report

Good. NYC doesn't need more trains! First the 2nd Avenue Subway (not needed), and now this!! Governor Corzine saved the U.S. taxpayer billions on this choo-choo boondoggle. The state money that was foolishly put up for this project should be spent where it's actually needed and wantedÂ—on roads.

Hopefully, the federal money can go back to the taxpayers where it belongs. With the Dems out of control of Congress come November, I think these 19th-century train plans will go the way of the dodo.

by Rob the Man on Oct 6, 2010 3:52 pm • link • report

@Rob the Man:
The Governor of New Jersey is "Chris Christie". Corzine was the last Governor. He's one of the reasons the ARC Tunnel was going to be built in the first place.

Also, the ARC Tunnel would be electrified. Even the North River Tunnels were electrified. They never saw a steam train, and diesels are prohibited as well. So "choo-choo" might not be the best term for the project.

And the ARC Tunnel is scheduled to open in 2019. That makes it a 21st Century plan. Its companion, the North River Tunnels opened in 1910, making them a 20th Century plan.

But I understand what you mean. No technology invented in the 1800s should be allowed to be built today.

That's why I'm sure you're opposed Christie's plans to redirect the state's share to roads. After all, the
modern internal-combustion powered automobile was invented in 1885.

by Matt Johnson on Oct 6, 2010 4:00 pm • link • report

+1 Matt ... you said it better than I ever could!

by Bossi on Oct 6, 2010 4:02 pm • link • report

+! Matt, Awesome reply is Awesome.

by Mike on Oct 6, 2010 4:08 pm • link • report

Matt: the "modern internal combutian engine" is only a google search away. See US patent 194047 (1877) on the 4-stroke internal combustion engine, by Nikolaus Otto (which it is so named.)

by goldfish on Oct 6, 2010 4:13 pm • link • report

@goldfish:
See: Benz, Karl: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz

by Matt Johnson on Oct 6, 2010 4:23 pm • link • report

I would use at least some of the money to buy out the Tourmobile contract so that we can have actual transit on the Mall

by andy on Oct 6, 2010 4:31 pm • link • report

What would Jasper fund? All of the above.
The list shows how inadequate transit funding is.

by Jasper on Oct 6, 2010 4:50 pm • link • report

The Bossi fund: solely the transiting of me. I don't have a basement; it'd be nice to get one and tie it into the fantasy Blue Line, where I'd have my own train and I can put my feet up on as many seats as I want without fear of ending up on Unsuck DC Metro. And two Lamborghinis (one for parts, of course) for those occasional moments where I need a car for field work and visiting construction sites.

by Bossi on Oct 6, 2010 5:25 pm • link • report

We'll take it in SoCal! $6 billion could fund the purple line extension to Santa Monica (the so-called "Subway to the Sea") as well as the pink line through West Hollywood.

I wonder how much this is being publicized in New Jersey. Jerseyans have a right to know that their governor is turning away $3 billion in federal help during these tough times.

by Chris L on Oct 6, 2010 5:27 pm • link • report

I would say the money would best be spent on other projects to improve the NEC. Of those, the two most important are replacing the Baltimore tunnels and the catenary, though the latter would still involve New Jersey. For projects in the DC area, I would choose Metro state of good repair, new cars, and completing the currently planned light rail system.

by PeakVT on Oct 6, 2010 7:54 pm • link • report

Sure, go ahead Christie, just pave over more of the "Garden State". When will people finally understand that congestion issues cannot be solved by just adding more lanes at the expense of other forms of transit?

by chris on Oct 6, 2010 9:00 pm • link • report

Gov. Flounder is pandering to his rich, car-dependent Republican supporters who want road projects funded without a gas tax increase. He is anti-transit and an idiot.

by Garden Stater on Oct 6, 2010 9:12 pm • link • report

Here's a question...is this $3B really money that would go elsewhere, and not remain in New Jersey? (i.e. is it an earmark or is part of it that which NJ would get anyway?) Reason I'm asking is because if Christie does this to replenish the state's transportation fund, that money still funds NJ Transit projects, which theoretically would still tap into Federal transit dollars.

That said, if the money does become available elsewhere, $3B would fund a good bit of Amtrak improvements. Perhaps even enough to entice me to take the train to Vermont instead of driving (which I'll be doing Friday).

by Froggie on Oct 6, 2010 10:17 pm • link • report

By "that money still funds NJ Transit projects", what I mean is that NJ Transit projects are funded in part by the state's transportation fund.

by Froggie on Oct 6, 2010 10:18 pm • link • report

If not to the tunnel, I'd put it to work building other railway infrastructure, a ferry transfer station in places such as Hoboken and Jersey City for disembarking passengers from the trains, maybe a bit of shoring up some of our state's older bridges. But what is really needed is a rise in the gas tax in NJ.

by New Jerseyan on Oct 7, 2010 3:19 am • link • report

Spend it on extending high speed rail down to Richmond such as removing grade railroad crossings and widening the main line to three tracks wide from Richmond VA to Washingtion DC. OR maybe add eletric power catenary to some of the branch lines on VRE. They could maybe use the money to expland the four track railroad main line though Baltmore. It would be very funny to have New Jersey get to watch as their earmarked money goes to Mayland or Vrginia.

by Ocean Railroader on Oct 7, 2010 8:34 am • link • report

Frankly, if Metro suddenly found itself with $6 Billion, it should spend every penny on capital needs and maintenance. All the other projects you listed are much easier to drum up political support for, but capital/maintenance is both "unsexy" and critical. Look at Chicago's deferred maintenance problems.

by Eric on Oct 7, 2010 9:37 am • link • report

Nice to think about, but that funding won't be coming to the DC region. If the Governor kills project (and I'm not convinced she will) It would go back into projects in FTA's "New Starts" pipeline, which are in their final planning stages: Houston, Orlando, Hartford Denver, Honolulu, Minneapolis and San Francisco. Unfortunately, these projects are much farther along in their planning stages than anything in DC area.

by Polly on Oct 7, 2010 11:22 am • link • report

@Polly:
We are all aware that there's little reason to believe that DC will get a dime of this money. That's why I called it a "thought exercise."

New Jersey doesn't want $3 billion from the government. They'd rather it be spent elsewhere. So, if we were to get it (which we won't), what could we build with it? What would you build with it?

This post is a statement about how little funding we have for transit, how great a need there is for that funding, and the ridiculousness of Mr. Christie.

Oh, and Chris Christie is a man, by the way.

by Matt Johnson on Oct 7, 2010 11:27 am • link • report

Let's take a different approach for a minute. Maybe not building this tunnel would reduce sprawl rather than increase it. Manhattan is crammed to the brim already. It's a peninsula to begin with making getting there more difficult than just about anywhere else. With $6 billion, NJ could build targeted transit projects and road improvements in Newark, Trenton, Camden, etc. This would increase urbanization in a more cost effective way.
Such road improvements are important to urban-ists as they include widening shoulders for bike lanes, fixing and expanding sidewalks, repainting faded lines to increase safety for all, etc.
As David pointed out in a post months ago, we are transitioning to a web-like urbanization with concentration in places like Tysons, Herndon, Columbia, and Rockville, rather than just DC. Let's let NJ do the same. You can't just keep expanding an already massive city at such a high cost.
The tunnel would be an amazing addition to the NEC but I think that a targeted use of the funds would benefit more people in New Jersey and improve quality of life.

by Pat on Oct 7, 2010 11:42 am • link • report

Can we use the money to build a really, really big wall around the Jefferson Memorial? One with no way to get in or out, except maybe for atunnel below the Tidal Basin to the Lincoln Memorial.

by M.V. Jantzen on Oct 8, 2010 11:58 am • link • report