Whitman Not Ready With Transportation Trust Fund Proposal

Governor Christine Whitman has still not presented her proposal for renewal of New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund to legislative leaders or the public. Last week, the Alliance for Transportation Reform, a 21-member umbrella group organized by the Tri-State Transportation

Campaign and NJPIRG targeting renewal of the Trust Fund, wrote to Whitman with proposals for refilling the Fund with measures to contain traffic growth and boost public transit. The letter, whose contents were reported in the Dec. 13 Star Ledger, said that The users of highways should pay the

real costs of highway construction through a modest increase in the price of gasoline or other user/registration fees and a modest increase in tolls during peak hours, or parking charges. It said that pouring more general tax revenues into the state highway construction program would only subsidize

traffic congestion and add to the state's transportation costs. The letter also warned that two measures Whitman is said to be considering, increasing the Trust Fund's bonding capacity and dedicating all state gas tax revenues to the fund, could be counter-productive. Increasing transportation

bonding would ultimately require general tax revenues to pay for debt service on roadway projects, while dedicating all of the existing gas tax would open a general revenue hole that would require tax increases or other spending shifts. Presently, 7.5 cents of NJ's 10.5 cent-a-gallon gas tax is

dedicated to the Trust Fund.

NJ DOT Commissioner Frank Wilson said recently that current spending of $1.5 billion annually on NJ transportation capital projects would barely keep up with planned projects. Legislative support for Trust Fund renewal has been fairly strong, even though it is widely believed that renewal will

require increases in state taxes on gas and diesel fuel.

Alliance for Transportation Reform proposals also call for 2% of the Trust Fund to be set aside for bicycling and pedestrian projects and programs. New Jersey and regional cycling and pedestrian advocacy groups were circulating a letter to Whitman in support of this measure as this publication

went to press.