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.
198 items
1960
January 26, 1960
February 16, 1960
February 20, 1960
Tri-State Transport Agency Regional Plan Group Backs
NEW YORK — The Regional Plan Association has endorsed the efforts of the Metropolitan Regional Council through its chairman, Mayor Robert F. Wagner, to establish a Tri-State Transportation Agency representing the st…
April 4, 1960
April 4, 1960
September 23, 1960
LIRR Head Bids For Tri-State Transport Unit
By Francis Wood New York—Thomas M. Goodfellow, president of the Long Island Rail Road, said yesterday that creation of a tri-state transportation authority with the power and resources to plan and coordinate all com…
1961
March 21, 1961
March 23, 1961
April 8, 1961
August 30, 1961
August 30, 1961
September 1, 1961
It Appears To Be A Declaration Of War
Record editorial responds to the three governors’ new transportation initiative, emphasizing their declared preference for action over further study and the need to address the metropolitan area’s divided transporta…
September 11, 1961
October 19, 1961
December 14, 1961
1962
February 28, 1962
June 8, 1962
June 21, 1962
November 15, 1962
1963
January 30, 1963
February 19, 1963
February 20, 1963
February 20, 1963
February 20, 1963
March 2, 1963
March 7, 1963
April 13, 1963
April 20, 1963
May 7, 1963
Dempsey Asks $1 Million Aid for Railroad
Governor Proposes New State Funds for Bankrupt Carrier LINKED TO PACT Money Would Hinge on Assembly Approval of Tri-State Commission HARTFORD, May 7 — (AP) Gov. John N. Dempsey announced today that he would submit l…
May 10, 1963
May 10, 1963
May 10, 1963
May 10, 1963
May 21, 1963
May 27, 1963
June 6, 1963
June 12, 1963
June 27, 1963
July 2, 1963
Two Railroad Aid Bills Are Signed by Dempsey
Gov. Dempsey signed into law Monday two measures designed to keep commuter service operating on the bankrupt New Haven Railroad. By a stroke of his pen, Gov. Dempsey brought into being two new agencies ... the Tri-S…
September 11, 1963
October 16, 1963
Tri-State Area Is Willing to Pay for Planning
By RALPH SODA NEW YORK — A survey of people in the 6,900-square-mile tri-state metropolitan area shows they favor regional planning to preserve their cities, protect their pleasant suburbs and improve transportation…
December 23, 1963
1964
January 12, 1964
January 12, 1964
February 18, 1964
The Tri-State Compact Viewed
Editorial explains why the governors’ informal Tri-State arrangement needed an interstate compact. Federal agencies wanted a durable legal structure, and future highway aid depended on regional transportation planni…
March 5, 1964
March 17, 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…
April 6, 1964
April 17, 1964
April 22, 1964
April 29, 1964
May 23, 1964
June 1, 1964
July 22, 1964
July 27, 1964
August 9, 1964
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
February 16, 1965
March 10, 1965
March 15, 1965
N.J. Called Key Area In Tri-State Rail Plans
NEW YORK (AP)—The Regional Plan Association made a new plea yesterday for interstate action to avert a railroad commuter crisis. The voluntary planning group submitted a 12-point memorandum to government and railroa…
March 24, 1965
April 13, 1965
A Nervous First Step On A Long Journey
In signing a bill to confer official status on the Tri-State Transportation Committee Governor Hughes had this to say: I consider the enactment of this inter-State compact, modest though it is in some respects, to b…
April 26, 1965
April 27, 1965
June 23, 1965
Tri-State Act Gets Praise At Signing
He hailed enactment of the statute as a “signal achievement.” Noting that similar laws have twice before been enacted here, only to fail of passage elsewhere, Gov. Rockefeller said enactment of similar legislation t…
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
January 20, 1966
U.S. Tie to Transportation Unit Urged
Washington—Nassau County Executive Nickerson urged Vice President Humphrey yesterday to give his support to a tri-state transportation authority that would handle the metropolitan area’s transportation systems. Nick…
February 28, 1966
May 18, 1966
May 19, 1966
Urge Tri-State Plan on Transit
The three governors unveil Tri-State’s twenty-year, $10 billion transportation blueprint. William Ronan links coordinated planning to possible unified operations and financing, while Connecticut and New Jersey repre…
May 19, 1966
May 21, 1966
June 28, 1966
December 12, 1966
1967
February 28, 1967
October 30, 1967
December 17, 1967
1968
December 12, 1968
1969
April 4, 1969
1970
July 17, 1970
August 19, 1970
1971
June 14, 1971
July 9, 1971
August 14, 1971
September 10, 1971
October 8, 1971
December 17, 1971
December 28, 1971
1972
August 10, 1972
1973
January 29, 1973
April 3, 1973
November 11, 1973
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…
1975
April 11, 1975
June 24, 1975
September 19, 1975
September 27, 1975
October 6, 1975
1976
January 5, 1976
April 29, 1976
May 22, 1976
July 16, 1976
July 16, 1976
August 25, 1976
September 17, 1976
September 18, 1976
December 5, 1976
1977
January 26, 1977
March 17, 1977
April 14, 1977
April 18, 1977
July 10, 1977
July 19, 1977
July 19, 1977
August 8, 1977
November 11, 1977
December 9, 1977
December 20, 1977
1978
January 13, 1978
January 16, 1978
January 30, 1978
February 10, 1978
March 9, 1978
March 23, 1978
April 4, 1978
April 4, 1978
June 2, 1978
June 2, 1978
June 6, 1978
July 20, 1978
August 6, 1978
August 10, 1978
Tri-State Planner Backs New Mass Transit Bill
Tri-State chairman William C. Hennessy supports James Howard’s 1978 surface-transportation bill, highlighting increased transit funding, rehabilitation of existing roads and bridges, and Northeast energy and air-qua…
August 13, 1978
August 21, 1978
August 22, 1978
September 20, 1978
November 2, 1978
November 10, 1978
November 26, 1978
1979
February 25, 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…
March 30, 1979
April 27, 1979
May 4, 1979
May 22, 1979
June 1, 1979
June 6, 1979
June 21, 1979
Who Should Be Making Decisions on Metropolitan Issues?
By MICHAEL J. McMANUS This is the last of a series of columns to be published as part of a “Tri-State Town Meeting” sponsored by the League of Women Voters. The issues in this column will be debated at 10 p.m. tonig…
July 21, 1979
Regional Local Government Has Been Silenced
By Evan Liblet To the Editor: The Metropolitan Regional Council, the region's one and only association of local governments, became a thing of the past early this week when it was forced to discontinue operation due…
August 20, 1979
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…
September 12, 1979
October 5, 1979
1980
January 24, 1980
March 5, 1980
April 14, 1980
May 23, 1980
July 10, 1980
August 28, 1980
1981
January 22, 1981
January 22, 1981
February 22, 1981
Tri-State Council is Formed
NEW YORK - Fifteen leading business officials from the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, including the three states' economic development commissioners, have formed a Tri-State Council to seek common a…
March 22, 1981
Tri-State: 'New Directions'
THE Tri-State Regional Planning Commission, a planning organization for New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, drew renewed attention recently after a blue-ribbon task force, appointed by the Governors of the three s…
May 10, 1981
May 17, 1981
Move To Quit Tri-State Group Could Be Costly
HARTFORD CONNECTICUT'S move to withdraw from the Tristate Regional Planning Commission could end up costing the state more money than it would save. But aside from the symbolic effects of Connecticut severing its pl…
May 28, 1981
June 4, 1981
December 15, 1981
December 16, 1981
December 16, 1981
December 17, 1981
Task Force Suggests Scrapping Tri-State Regional Plan Commission
The governors’ task force recommends abolishing Tri-State, auditing and settling its accounts, and designing a new regional planning and policy-analysis framework. The article details its criticisms of accountabilit…
December 29, 1981
1982
January 12, 1982
January 23, 1982
February 3, 1982
February 4, 1982
February 9, 1982
September 5, 1982
Tri-State’s Demise Leaves Gap In Planning
The telephone number on the 82d floor of One World Trade Center is the same, but these days the receptionist answers it with a new name -''Council.'' The Tri-State Regional Planning Commission, which for more than 2…
1987
May 4, 1987
Regional Planning Needn’t Usurp Local Authority
William B. Shore argues that regional planning can guide the economy, housing, traffic and waste through research and persuasion without taking local powers. He links Tri-State’s demise to its failure to turn resear…
1990
January 2, 1990
1994
October 26, 1994
NJ DOT and Campaign Works Toward Collaborative Planning Process
In an October 26 meeting with NJ DOT Commissioner Frank Wilson and top NJ DOT staff, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic and NJPIRG took steps toward developing a collaborative tr…
November 2, 1994
NYC DOT Establishes Gowanus Construction Acceleration Task Force
For its Gowanus Expressway reconstruction project, the New York State DOT recently established a new "Construction Acceleration Task Force" consisting of state highway planners, Brooklyn elected officials and some b…
November 2, 1994
Meeting Spurs Road Pricing Discussion
"Cautious but interested" was the reaction of leading NYC environmental justice activists to Tri-State Transportation Campaign board member Charles Komanoff's discussion of road pricing at the annual meeting of the…
November 2, 1994
TSTC Writes to NYS DOT on Failure of Cross-Westchester Collaboration
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign is preparing a letter to NY State Transportation Commissioner John Egan to express its disappointment and disturbance over a recent letter Egan wrote to the Environmental Defens…
November 2, 1994
Letter Calls to Fight the National "Anti-Highway Movement"
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign has received a document which originated in the Nebraska State Highway Commission which labels itself "A call to action to all State Transportation Commissioners or Board member…
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
CT Route 6 Collaborative Update
The Route 6 collaborative planning effort in Connecticut has narrowed the options that will go into the project's draft environmental impact statement to three upgrades to the existing roadway alignment, at least on…
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 9, 1994
TSTC Members Meet With EPA Over TIP/SIP Conformity
On Tuesday, Nov. 8, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Scenic Hudson, Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic and Brian Ketcham Engineering representatives met with US EPA's Region II Air Branch staff, including Conrad Sim…
November 16, 1994
Bratton Says No Savings With Police Merger
A November 15 MTA Board meeting to discuss Mayor Giuliani's proposal to merge the NYC Transit Police into the NYPD saw vociferous opposition expressed by representatives of transit police and transit workers unions…
November 30, 1994
NY Commuter Rail Parking Guidelines and Issues
NY State Dept. of Transportation and Long Island Railroad guidelines dictate a need for more commuter rail station parking if usage of existing spaces is greater than 80%. Daily usage of the 34,748 parking spaces at…
December 7, 1994
Connecticut Transportation Control Measures Study Almost Complete
The Connecticut Fund for the Environment's Transportation Control Measures Study is nearly complete. This study, undertaken in partnership with the United Illuminating Company, the Connecticut Dept. of Environmental…
December 7, 1994
NYMTC Committee Considers Candidates for Downstate MIS
On December 1, 1994, the NY Metropolitan Transportation Council's (NYMTC) Program, Finance and Administration Committee met and adopted a list of candidates for downstate major investment studies. The adoption of th…
December 14, 1994
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-mem…
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…
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…
2022
October 9, 2022
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