COURT HOUSE – Gov. Chris Christie’s June 30 executive order and declaration of a state of emergency halted all projects funded by the Transportation Trust Fund Authority. That followed the State Senate’s rejection of a gas-tax increase that would have restored the depleted source.
At present, the only project funded in Cape May County by the fund is the Lafayette Street Bridge repair. According to County Engineer Dale Foster, “The contractor is currently working from a barge under the bridge and is not affecting the traffic on the bridge. We will be requesting to continue with the work and not shut down the project because the work involves structural repairs.
“The work we are performing on the bridge, once completed, will allow us to remove the bridge from the “structurally deficient” list.”
If no action takes place in the Legislature that meets the governor’s approval, and funds cease, it will be left to local and county officials how to fund future projects.
“Unfortunately this Transportation Trust Fund impasse will affect our fall and winter construction program greatly if the…funds are not addressed,” Foster stated.
“We have several TTF-funded projects that we are seeking authorization to go to bid on over the next three months. NJDOT will probably not commit the TTF funds to these projects at this time.
“This will be something that has to be discussed with the freeholder board whether we proceed with bidding these much-needed improvement projects or hold off until the TTF funds are restored,” Foster added.
According to the executive order, “absent additional funding sources, the TTFA will exhaust all of its available funds in August 2016.”
The State Senate failed to act on reauthorization of the TTFA, although the Assembly passed a bill that met with Christie’s approval. Because of that rejection by the Senate, “there is no established plan for providing additional funding sources for the TTFA.
“If the TTFA runs out of funds, it would have a disastrous effect on the state’s ability to maintain the transportation infrastructure, thereby jeopardizing the health, safety, and welfare of all persons who rely on that infrastructure,” the order reads.
The DOT commissioner of DOT and the executive director of New Jersey Transit were instructed to plan an immediate and orderly the shutdown of all ongoing work that is funded by the TTFA, with the understanding that any work that is funded by federal funds may continue.
In Cape May County, the only project so funded is the Tuckahoe River Bridge linking Cape May and Atlantic counties.
Plans for orderly shutdown were to be completed no later than 11:59 p.m. July 2, 2016.
All work that was funded by the TTFA ceased according to the shutdown plans established by the commissioner and executive director, with the understanding that any work that is funded by federal funds may continue.
The DOT commissioner was to take all appropriate steps to ensure that work performed at the municipal level that was financed by the TTFA, through a grant or otherwise, ceased…with the understanding that any work funded by federal funds could continue.
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