Former New Jersey Gov. Christie has some recommendation for the way the Backyard State can combat congestion pricing: lower hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in funding for New York tasks.
Christie mentioned Gov. Phil Murphy ought to use his affect on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to dam funding for ongoing renovations at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports within the metropolis — till New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority give Jersey commuters a break.
“Those are important projects to New York,” Christie advised The Publish Thursday. “You want to have congestion pricing? We’re going to stop these projects until New Jersey gets a better deal.”
The PA is collectively run by appointees of the governors of each states and oversees the area’s airports, sea ports, Hudson River Crossings, and Midtown bus terminal.
Christie mentioned the company could possibly be used as leverage to barter a greater deal for Backyard State drivers who’re basically paying a double toll to enter Manhattan — each on the Lincoln or Holland tunnels and upon coming into the Manhattan congestion zone south of sixtieth Avenue. New Jersey motorists get a $3 credit score off the $9 congestion toll, which is able to balloon to $15 within the coming years.
“This is a much bigger problem for New Jersey,” he added, noting site visitors could also be diverted from town into the Backyard State. “New York is going to continue to raise the tolls. This is a New Jersey problem that has to be fixed.”
Christie mentioned Jersey drivers ought to a minimum of get a much bigger credit score on the toll, or Murphy may negotiate to separate a few of the revenues from the charge to profit NJ Transit. Income from the congestion pricing plan is now used to assist fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York’s buses, subways and rail traces east of the Hudson.
“I would have done it differently. I would have done it a long time ago,” Christie mentioned, outlining that he would have pulled funding for New York tasks forward of the toll’s Jan. 5 rollout.
However it’s not too late, Christie added.
“It’s a tool that’s always available to the New Jersey governor,” he mentioned. “There’s nothing that precludes him [Murphy] from doing it now.”
Christie had held up funding for a New York undertaking that was a part of the reconstruction of the World Commerce Middle website when he fought to improve the Bayonne Bridge to accommodate bigger ships crossing beneath it.
A spokesman for Democratic Hochul disregarded Christie’s instructed energy play, and referenced the Christie administration’s notorious “Bridgegate” scandal.
Allies of Christie took motion to create site visitors jams Fort Lee, NJ resulting in the George Washington Bridge — in a scheme to punish the borough’s Democratic Mayor Sokolich for refusing to endorse Christie’s 2013 re-election.
Christie, a Republican, denied figuring out in regards to the plan to shut lanes to the bridge, but it surely broken him politically when he ran for president.
“Not surprising to see Chris Christie opposing a plan to reduce traffic, given his widely-known attempts to cause some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Hochul spokesman Avi Small mentioned.
Murphy, a Democrat, declined to touch upon Christie’s recommendation.
Murphy opposes the congestion toll and has filed a federal lawsuit to dam it and even appealed to President Trump to rescind it.
He is also providing New York corporations beneficiant grants to permit Jersey commuters to work within the Backyard State as an alternative of driving into Manhattan to pay extra tolls.
Denying the discharge of funds on the PA may grow to be a divisive sport, resulting in retaliation from New York officers allied with Hochul to stall funding for Jersey tasks.
New Jersey has excessive priorities in tasks run or overseen by the PA — together with the PATH practice that connects to Manhattan, Newark Airport and development of a brand new bus terminal in Instances Sq. that largely serves New Jersey commuters.
