Who would pay for a railroad that crossed the Hudson?
A regional rail plan reached the state legislatures. Why did the new transit district never exist?
Explore the caseRegional governance timeline
THE HISTORY OF DECISIONS NEW YORK · NEW JERSEY · CONNECTICUT
Follow the decisions that shaped a divided transportation region.
Regional transportation institutions took shape through agreements and disagreements over money, jurisdiction, representation and operating control. This chronology follows those decisions across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with links to the reporting and records behind them.
Begin with a historical conflict below, or use the complete timeline to trace events by date. The companion newspaper archive preserves the reports themselves. Event dates describe when something happened; publication dates describe when its sources appeared.
THREE PATHS INTO THE RECORD
Start with a consequential question.
Read the history, follow dated turning points, then examine the original evidence.
How did a regional planning commission lose its region?
Why could eleven affirmative votes fail to approve a regional plan—and how did the commission disappear?
Explore the caseWhat did a through train at Penn Station actually prove?
What did the football train demonstrate about coordinating railroads—and what remained untested?
Explore the caseArticles and other sources, arranged by publication date. Undated items appear separately.
106 items
1954
March 28, 1954
1955
January 14, 1955
January 16, 1955
February 21, 1955
Transit: There Is A History
Editor, Bergen Evening Record. Dear Sir: In your section entitled “Voice of the People” of the Saturday edition, February 12, there was a very interesting letter by a Mr. Walter Zullig Jr. of Maywood. In my opinion,…
February 24, 1955
August 2, 1955
Studying Rapid Transit
Governor Meyner's announcement that he will approve a $150,000 appropriation for the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission apparently clears the way at last for the completion of a well-financed study of New York-Ne…
1957
September 4, 1957
Q. And A. On Transit, The Orphan Of Growth
The man in the photograph looks impatient. Why shouldn’t he? People in Northeast New Jersey have been waiting for rapid transit – speedy mass trail transportation in modern coaches from community to community and di…
September 4, 1957
Rapid Transit: Groups Didn’t Overlook This
Rapid Transit: Groups Didn’t Overlook This The Public Just Forgot In Excitement Over New Highways The Record September 4, 1957 Thousands Spent Rapid transit has been called the forgotten plan of the New York City ar…
September 5, 1957
Geography Also Stands In Transit Riders’ Way
To Jersey commuters who must beg entry every day, Manhattan may often seem to be a citadel with a moat and too few drawbridges. The Dead End True, the Hudson River is spanned at the north end of New York by the Geor…
September 5, 1957
Funds Limit Port Authority Operation
Many a commuter leader, watching rail service deteriorate from year to year, has sometimes bitterly asked: “Why can’t the Port of New York Authority take over and give us a workable rapid-transit system? The Port Au…
September 23, 1957
Rapid Transit Plan Assailed
HARRIMAN (AP) — Robert Moses has attacked a proposal for a new bi-state agency to set up a unified rapid transit system between New York City and New Jersey. Moses told the regional conference on metropolitan areas…
October 30, 1957
Jones Labels Rapid Transit Priority Work
Hackensack – State Senator Walter H. Jones said today a positive and workable program for providing northern New Jersey with a rapid-transit system must be a priority project of the 1958 Legislative session. The Rep…
1958
March 4, 1958
March 7, 1958
May 5, 1958
June 15, 1958
Jersey Blocking Transit District
TRENTON, June 14–The proposed New York-New Jersey Transit District will not become a reality, at least until 1959, it became evident here tonight. Leaders of the State Legislature seem determined to block approval o…
September 12, 1958
September 19, 1958
October 19, 1958
Transit Plan Block Laid To Authority
The Port of New York Authority is the major blockade in the path of the type of rapid transit system that is of vital importance to the metropolitan area and New York City itself. This point was underscored again an…
October 24, 1958
November 7, 1958
Pesin Warns Transit District Means ‘Loop’ About Hudson’s Neck
When the New Jersey State Legislature reconvenes on Monday, the General Assembly will have before it a bill by Sen. Walter Jones (GOP-Bergen)--backed by the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission and passed by the Se…
November 12, 1958
New Jersey’s Careful Plans To Stop Trying
Senator Jones's (R., Bergen) comment that the public hearing is a good weapon with which to kill legislation is acceptable within his specifically intended context. He refers to the hearing scheduled in Assembly com…
November 18, 1958
Rapid Transit Bill Passage Is Urged
Paramus – North Jersey transportation problems won’t be solved with vague talk about a giant new authority or by hopes that the Port of New York Authority will take on the job, said a Metropolitan Rapid Transit Comm…
November 19, 1958
Jersey Move Urged In Bi-State Transit
PARAMUS, N. J., Nov. 18–Frank H. Simon, executive director of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission, asserted today that the Port of New York Authority would not undertake the development of interstate rapid tra…
November 25, 1958
Ask Assembly To Act On Transit Problems
Trenton – New York and New Jersey cochairman of the Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission stood side by side in the State Assembly Chamber yesterday and asked for action instead of everlasting talk on the Metropolit…
November 25, 1958
Rapid-Transit Query Posed
Trenton – Can the Port of New York Authority, the operator of tunnels, bridges, airports, and other high-priced facilities be made to plan and operate a metropolitan rapid-transit system, too? In a battle of reports…
December 1, 1958
December 4, 1958
December 5, 1958
December 8, 1958
Bi-State Rail Bill Killed In Jersey
Proposal for Transit Area Will Be Offered Again TRENTON, N.J. — Legislation to establish a New York-New Jersey transit district died tonight in an Assembly committee after being completely rewritten. Thus it finally…
December 11, 1958
December 12, 1958
Council To Study Transit
Jersey City Mayor Witkowski has called the traffic and transportation committee of the Metropolitan Regional Council into session to consider new commuter plans in the wake of Assembly failure to approve a metropoli…
1959
January 6, 1959
Bi-State Transit District Proposed Commission, in Final Report, Also Urges Commuter 'Loop'
New York — (AP) — The Metropolitan Rapid Transit Commission has recommended the creation of a bi-state Metropolitan Transit District to implement any general transit plan for the New York-New Jersey area. In its fin…
January 9, 1959
Text of Report Urging Full Legal Status for the Metropolitan Regional Council
Following is the text of a report on the future of the Metropolitan Regional Council, made public yesterday by the Special Committee on Metropolitan Governmental Affairs of the Regional Plan Association: Findings an…
January 19, 1959
Crisis in New Jersey: Improving Commuter Service A Must, But No One Wants Job
By Frederic Cassin (First of a series on the rail commuter crisis) Preserving and improving commuter transit service in New Jersey is one of the more pressing problems facing the state these days. Most everyone agre…
January 19, 1959
Lance's Proposed State Agency To Deal with Commuter Issue
By Frederic Cassin (Second of a series on the rail commuter crisis) A new approach to the transit crisis—the creation of a state railroad agency—has been proposed to the new Legislature by Senator Wesley L. Lance (R…
February 17, 1959
Two Transit Bills Get N.J. Approval
Trenton, Feb. 17 — State Highway Commissioner Dwight R. G. Palmer announced yesterday that he was already laying the groundwork for what he called the first step toward solution of the transit problem. He said he ha…
February 17, 1959
Rockefeller Sets Up Transportation Unit
Rockefeller Sets Up Transportation Unit Albany, N. Y., Feb. 17 (AP) — Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller was expected to win final approval today of his plea for an agency to battle transportation problems. The Senate a…
March 27, 1959
New Bill Needed on Transit Plan
New Bill Needed on Transit Plan New York Measure On Agency Differs From Jersey's Bergen Evening Record March 27, 1959 Trenton, Mar. 27 — The State Legislature will have to draft and adopt a new transit-district bill…
April 2, 1959
We Must Keep Riding!
Assemblyman Alfred N. Beadleston's statement before the Eatontown Rotary Club that "New Jersey must keep riding," is one which all commuters know and believe, but one of which those who operate our railroads must be…
April 7, 1959
Council Urges Meyner To Prod Port Authority
Despite protestations by the Port of New York Authority that any involvement of the Authority in the New Jersey rail transit crisis “could well lead to the destruction of the Port Authority as a useful agent,” the P…
April 7, 1959
Port Authority Balks At Providing Any Funds
Solution of this state’s railroad commuter problem of rising fares and curtailed service, was tackled on three fronts yesterday while the Port of New York Authority, involved in each action, announced it would be im…
April 7, 1959
Bills Are Introduced On Bi-State Agency And Port Authority Plan Due on Monday
Trenton, Apr. 7 (AP)—The New Jersey Assembly will try next week to get in step with New York on the rapid transit problem. The two States have been dancing to the same music this year—a near avalanche of petitions t…
April 14, 1959
Assembly Approves N. Y. Transit Plan
Trenton, Apr. 14 — The State Assembly voted to go along with New York lawmakers’ changes in its bi-State approach to the rail-transit crisis following a bitter 45-minute debate yesterday. NO ALTERNATIVE Opponents at…
June 4, 1959
Legislature’s Hits And Misses, A Study In Political Activity
Set up was a referendum on a $66,800,000 college construction board issue and enacted was a broad new college scholarship program. A State Division of Rail Transportation and a New York-New Jersey Transportation Age…
July 7, 1959
House Approves NY-Jersey Transit Agency
Washington – An agency formed by New York and New Jersey to deal with bi-state commuting problems won unanimous House approval yesterday. The easy passage of the measure in the House indicated that the Senate will g…
July 13, 1959
The Commuter Problem: Politics Again Is Biggest Bar To Solution of Transit Crisis
By James S. Brown State rail service has withered on the vine during two generations of political chicanery and gassy oratory and once again political wrangling appears the biggest stumbling block in efforts to solv…
September 10, 1959
Senate OKs Bi-State Unit On Transport
Washington – The Senate gave its unanimous approval yesterday to an agency formed by New York and New Jersey to deal with commuting problems in both states. One long-range effect of the action will be to provide new…
1960
January 28, 1960
February 7, 1960
April 4, 1960
July 15, 1960
Port Authority Wants To Steer Clear Of Deficit-Ridden Railroads
The iron wheels of a dying railroad locomotive cry out, “Rapid Transit, Rapid Transit, Rapid Transit,” as the old iron horse races down hill in America’s public transportation history. NO. 1 PROBLEM Charging past th…
October 5, 1960
Once More Unto The Breach!
Despite the agreement of the three metropolitan-region Governors and Mayor Wagner to create a new interstate committee to well, after all these years to--study and report on the crisis in transportation, they don't…
1961
March 21, 1961
April 1, 1961
July 5, 1961
Group Supports PA Purchase Of H&M, Urges Regional Unit
RPA supports the emergency Port Authority takeover of the H&M tubes but calls for a broader tri-state commuter-rail agency. It urges study of continuous rides and integration with New Jersey railroads and New York s…
September 11, 1961
1964
April 1, 1964
Tri-State Transpo Unit Fights For Standing: Has No Teeth
By BOB DUBILL TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Behind a cloud of controversy and confusion, a three-state agency created by a gentlemen’s agreement among three governors is trying to unsnarl the New York metropolitan area’s per…
July 12, 1964
Friction Keeps Transit Wheels Screeching
That promotional thing which puts this suburban area “at the edge of the crowd” – meaning the New York metropolitan region – “but not in it” is misleading in its insular smugness. The fact is that tens of thousands…
October 4, 1964
The Regional Approach
Westbury—The $3,135,000 a year fare increase requested by the Long Island Rail Road again, demonstrates that Nassau’s mass transportation system is inadequate, archaic, uncoordinated and overpriced. Despite ten year…
1965
June 12, 1965
All Rockin', No Rollin' In Commuter Explosion
Commuter—one who spends his life In riding to and from his wife; A man who shaves and takes a train And then rides back to shave again. Absurd perhaps, but this little ditty by Elwyn Brooks White reveals a dismal as…
July 14, 1965
States Dragged Feet On Meeting Rail Crisis
It took World War II to arouse enough worldwide cooperation to set up the United Nations. Only with the past few years, despite more than a decade of mounting congestion and forewarnings of a general collapse of com…
December 27, 1965
Bill Is Set on Transit Agencies For 3 States; Merger Sought
New York—State Sen. Thomas J. Mackell (D-Queens) said yesterday he will prefile a bill in the Legislature that would consolidate the functions of eight state and interstate transportation agencies. Mackell, chairman…
1966
August 22, 1966
New 'Master Plan'? Rail Transit Studies: They Come and Go
TRENTON—Hudson County and other North Jersey commuters needn't hold their collective breath while awaiting the results of new mass rail transit studies urged upon the Port of New York Authority by Gov. Hughes. For a…
1971
August 14, 1971
December 28, 1971
1972
April 16, 1972
Transit Series: Port Authority Function
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus. – Shakespeare In New York State the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is engaged in a $1 billion effort to revive and modernize all available commuter…
April 23, 1972
Transit Series: State Lags On Priorities
Transit Series: State Lags On Priorities The Sunday News April 23, 1972 "It is impossible in this day and age to build enough highways to carry all of New Jersey's Metropolitan traffic load." said a master plan publ…
April 30, 1972
Integrated Commuter Rail System Plotted
For more than 30 years experts recognized the need to modernize and reorganize last century's commuter and rapid transit railroads in the New York City metropolitan region but a realistic, foresighted plan was never…
April 30, 1972
Aux Armes Citoyens
The sad situation of mass rail transit in our state needs the immediate, importunate, insistent and incessant help of all New Jersey citizens. We must pound and pound away until our goal is achieved. Our goal? Safe,…
November 16, 1972
What Commuters Can Expect Under PA Plan
The mass transit plan outlined yesterday by Gov. Cahill is designed to provide North Jersey with a unified rail network using current Port of New York and New Jersey facilities as the base for improved service in th…
1973
April 3, 1973
July 16, 1973
1974
April 16, 1974
June 9, 1974
‘Revolutionary’ Plan to Debut Tuesday: Institute Puts P.A. at Tri-State Transit Helm
The Port Authority would become the chief mass transit operating agency in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region under a proposal drafted by the Institute for Public Transportation. A “revolutionar…
June 16, 1974
A Blueprint for Unified Mass Transit
The Institute for Public Transportation has conceived a bold and imaginative plan to create the largest and most efficient mass transit system in the United States. The proposed network of rails, buses and subways w…
June 20, 1974
Port Authority is Best Agency for Mass Transit
A new and exciting era of mass transit for the New York metropolitan area has been made possible by legislative action broadening the public transportation role of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Legi…
1975
February 5, 1975
March 13, 1975
March 13, 1975
May 7, 1975
1976
February 26, 1976
May 19, 1976
1977
March 2, 1977
May 7, 1977
1979
March 27, 1979
How Will We Straighten Out The Tri-State Transport Mess?
By MICHAEL J. McMANUS This column is being published in cooperation with the League of Women Voters' "Tri-State Town Meeting" project. The public policy choices summarized below will be debated in a broadcast at 10…
August 25, 1979
New ‘Metro’ Lines Prompt Mixed Reaction in Jersey
By PAUL OVERBERG A staff report issued last week by a group studying the future of the powerful Tri-State Regional Planning Commission recommended that the agency drop half of its 100-municipality jurisdiction, incl…
1980
August 7, 1980
1985
December 20, 1985
Coming by Trolley: A Waterfront Transit Revolution
EARLY IN the century, Henry Ford ignited a revolution by lowering auto prices to within reach of middle-class families. That revolution led to another when those families and their cars moved to the suburbs. That, i…
1989
April 21, 1989
1990
January 2, 1990
1994
October 26, 1994
Fort Lee Says GWB Traffic Costs It $5 Million a Year
Mayor Jack Alter says traffic from the George Washington Bridge costs Fort Lee, NJ taxpayers $5 million a year in increased road maintenance, police and insurance, and he's asking the Port Authority to compensate th…
November 2, 1994
Airport Rail Right-of-way Tour Led by RPA
Tri-State Campaign members toured proposed sites of the Port Authority's airport rail project in Jamaica Center and in Woodside, Queens, Monday, Oct. 31. Returning to Regional Plan Assn's office for an afternoon mee…
November 9, 1994
Fort Lee, Citing Bridge-Generated Costs, Blocks Traffic
Fort Lee, NJ made good on its promise to block local access roads to the George Washington Bridge Tuesday, Nov 1, when an accident in NYC backed traffic up across the bridge and motorists began cutting through local…
November 9, 1994
EIS Comments Topic of PA Airport Rail Letter to TSTC
Port Authority Airport Access Director Edward O'Sullivan wrote to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign in response to the October 19 issue of this bulletin, clarifying that it was the Federal Aviation Administratio…
November 30, 1994
SI Disputes MTA Toll Plans
The MTA's proposed financing of monthly subway and bus passes and an end to two- and three-fare zones not only relies on transit fare increases to $1.35 in July, 1995 and to $1.50 in 1997, but also on increasing MTA…
November 30, 1994
Pataki Says Airport Rail Plan Should Be Improved
NY Governor-elect George Pataki proposed extending the Port Authority's planned NYC airport rail access project to Grand Central Terminal and opening the system to a general ridership. The Port Authority plan presen…
December 7, 1994
Rail on Goethals Bridge Subject of Meeting
At the December 7 Goethals Interagency and Public Interest Working Group meeting, Goethals Bridge Twin Project Manager Dennis Vignola announced that the Port Authority study of the feasibility of rail transit over t…
December 7, 1994
Port Authority Wants to Raise Tolls in 1996
The Port Authority of NY and NJ said December 1 that it would maintain tolls on its bridges and tunnels at $4 and the PATH train fare at $1 through 1995, but said increases would be necessary during 1996. NJ Republi…
December 14, 1994
Molinari Lashes PA over $1 PATH Fare in Face of Verrazano Toll Hike
Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari lashed the Port Authority of NY and NJ and its PATH train service following announcements of a likely 1996 Port Authority bridge and tunnel toll increase last week. Molin…
December 22, 1994
Pataki: Reconsider I-287 HOV, 9A Project
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign wrote on December 14 to NY Governor-elect Pataki, urging him to reconsider the NY State Department of Transportation's plan to add high-occupancy vehicle lanes to the Cross-West…
December 22, 1994
Brezhenoff Resigns from Port Authority
Port Authority Executive Director Stanley Brezenoff announced his resignation, effective February 3. With two new Governors, each with a new approach, they certainly ought to have the opportunity to establish their…
1996
February 15, 1996
Remaking The Region: Port Authority, MTA Would Become New Regional Transit Authority
By DOUGLAS FEIDEN The Port Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should be dismantled to make the city’s giant transportation system leaner and meaner. That’s a cornerstone of a 25-year master plan…
February 16, 1996
2016
September 6, 2016
Is Tri-State Transportation Too Big to Plan?
By Stephen Miller A new federal rule could unify the New York region’s jumble of official transportation plans into a single vision for the entire metropolitan area. But some planning advocates worry the Obama admin…
October 15, 2016
New Hope for New Rail Tunnels
Funding could be in place in two years for project under Hudson, official says. Federal financing could be in place in two years to build two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River that would augment the crumbling…
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