N.J. Building Trades Join Senators, Congressmen to Rally For ARC Tunnel

Standing with New Jersey building trades workers, U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) touted the job-creating potential of the Access to the Region's Core tunnel on Tuesday at the project's construction site in North Bergen.

Lautenberg and Menendez were joined by U.S. Reps. Steve Rothman (D-9) and Frank Pallone (D-6), State Senator Barbara Buono, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver and New Jersey State Building and Construction Trades Council President Bill Mullen to highlight the potential for thousands of construction jobs for New Jersey men and women that would be created by the ARC project.

Gov. Chris Christie has suspended work on the tunnel, citing multi-billion dollar cost overruns. According to Lautenberg's office, the ARC project is expected to create 6,000 construction jobs annually and another 44,000 permanent jobs.

Rothman, a Fair Lawn resident, said the ARC tunnel is an important project because it will "provide increased capacity to our aging and overburdened transportation infrastructure, create jobs, and improve the business and non-business quality of life for our region."

"It will not only improve our lives and economy today, but this is an investment that will continue to pay off for generations to come," Rothman said.

Lautenberg, who as a member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee led the federal funding effort in Washington for the tunnel, said
the project is a "jobs machine that will put New Jerseyans back to work." 

"This project is a once in a generation opportunity that will lift our economy and ensure New Jersey remains the best place to live and raise a family," Lautenberg said. "This is our opportunity to get workers off the unemployment line and back on the job improving New Jersey's infrastructure."

Since the tunnel "is about creating jobs today and preparing for tomorrow," it represents "a win-win for New Jersey," Menendez said.

"It's part and parcel of a smart-growth alternative that addresses our economic challenges, our energy future as well as future transit needs," he said. "I don't see how we could afford to turn our back on this investment that will double the number of trains going across the river. There must be a good-faith, cooperative effort to find a solution that fulfills the state's commitment to the tunnel, providing a return on the investment of New Jersey taxpayers and putting to work the thousands of local residents who will build this tunnel." 

Currently, commuters who pick up New Jersey Transit trains at Ridgewood need to transfer at Hoboken for the PATH train or Secaucus for New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor Line to reach Manhattan, but the new tunnel would give those riders a one-seat ride on the Main/Bergen Line.

According to a study released by the Regional Plan Association last week, ARC would slice the NJ Transit trip from Ridgewood Train Station to midtown Manhattan by 19.6 minutes, from 133 to 113.4 (a savings of 15 percent) round trip.

The study contends that overall, ARC would double the number of households in New Jersey within a 50-minute commute to Manhattan.

"Halting this project will cease mass transportation progress in New Jersey and across the Tri State area, and will subject our commuters to continued congestion," U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13) said.

Mullen said that, "Construction workers are like all other private sector workers. When we don't work, we don't get paid; when we don't work, we don't get health insurance for ourselves and our families." 

"By getting ARC started again, you have saved 6,000 families, served burdened commuters, stimulated the state's economy, and set the state and region on a better course," Mullen said.

The Regional Plan Association study said that every minute of improvement in a commuter's trip adds an average of nearly $2,000 to the value of their home, and for those who live within walking distance of a train station, that number is closer to a $3,000 increase for every minute the commute time is cut. This could mean up to $60,000 for a Ridgewood resident.

"The cost of not following through on this is too great to be lost," Pallone said.

With additional reporting by James Kleimann