HELP GOVERNOR CORZINE BALANCE THE BUDGET!

August 5, 2008 Blog

An annual survey done by the Reason Foundation and released July 31, 2008, finds that New Jersey's highway system is the nation's least cost-effective. Professor David Hartgen, of the University of North Carolina, who conducted the study, found that New Jersey ranked 47th in road conditions and 50th in cost-effectiveness. New Jersey has been at the bottom of these ratings since 2000.
(Read the entire report published in the Press of Atlantic City, August 1, 2008:
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/184/story/219980.html )

According to the report, each mile of New Jersey roadway presently costs taxpayers $2,209,394. Administrative costs alone come to $71,720 per mile!

New Jersey has a $5 billion budget deficit and the state highway system costs $6.5 billion. You've seen the signs encouraging people to adopt a highway. There are only 2,900 miles of highway in New Jersey, so less than 3,000 citizens of New Jersey could step forward and adopt one mile. This would balance our budget and even give us a surplus! Governor Corzine could set an example for others interested in balancing the budget. For less than what he spent to get his present job, he could adopt 25 miles of New Jersey highway.

I am certain that private citizens could figure out how to reduce spending and still improve New Jersey highways.

Bridge construction is a good example of how tax money is wasted in New Jersey. Just seven miles from where we live, on Route 40, the highway department has been working on a small bridge for two years. It is half finished. It was half finished a year ago, but someone made a mistake and they had to destroy what was already done and start all over again. Because no one accepts the blame, taxpayers are footing the bill. It has taken even longer to build half a bridge on the second attempt; the highway department is probably determined to do it right this time.

Bridge construction in Elmer, NJ after two years. Note that the sign which has been there from the beginning says, "Road Closed" instead of "Lane Closed." Police could ticket the thousands of motorists who drive through here every day!

The bridge construction in Elmer is not an exception, but rather the rule in New Jersey as any observant motorist can verify.

Our town of Malaga recently had to suffer through an expensive and senseless rebuild of its roads and bridges over two years time. When plans for the construction were released, all the important people in our region converged on Trenton and begged them to make some logical changes. Their petitions fell on deaf ears. "It's my way or the highway."

A few years ago, another small bridge was replaced on Route 40 in Sharptown. That job also took about two years to complete while millions of cars and trucks were detoured several miles over secondary roads.

There is at least one positive exception to the highway malady in New Jersey and hopefully there are more. I am full of praise for the construction of the Somers Point Bridge and Causeway leading into Ocean City. Both the bridge and the construction process are commendable accomplishments. Perhaps the job was outsourced?

There was also a positive note in the Reason Foundation's Report. New Jersey had the seventh lowest highway fatality rate in the nation.

Not many people are killed in slow or stalled traffic.