NJ Turnpike history and facts you didn’t know: Video<\/p>\n The New Jersey Turnpike is the most heavily traveled toll highway in the U.S. In 1951, it became the third modern-day toll road in the nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/media-video><\/div>\n <\/story-highlights> When former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey decided to merge the Garden State Parkway with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in 2003, one of the driving reasons was the desperate, decaying state of the Governor Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge in Woodbridge.<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s the desperate, decaying state of NJ Transit\u2019s train equipment<\/a> that is driving Gov. Mikie Sherrill<\/a> to consider marrying the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and NJ Transit.<\/p>\n The first step in that direction was Sherrill\u2019s unprecedented decision in January to appoint Kris Kolluri<\/a> to lead both agencies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to be innovative, we want these systems to work better, there\u2019s too many stovepipes in this state, and this is exactly the kind of innovation we\u2019re looking for,\u201d Sherrill said in an exclusive interview with NorthJersey.com.<\/p>\n Story continues below photo gallery.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBringing the leadership into just one person, like Kris, who has great experience in both those agencies, I think could make us more nimble,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The first tests of this experiment have already occurred, with the historic snowstorms that hit the region in January and February, and the stormy planning chaos of hosting eight World Cup matches, including the final, in June and July at MetLife Stadium.<\/p>\n Though World Cup planning has been a years-long effort, Sherrill and her administration had to finalize the details<\/a> and execute transportation for this massive event with less than six months on the job.<\/p>\n The governor said having Kolluri as a single point of contact about all things transportation has been invaluable, given the pace of her first 100 days.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving one person to turn to to say, \u2018OK, this is what I want here, here and here\u2019 and to have that expertise that Kris brought, but then also … instead of operating in silos, our biggest transit agencies are operating together,\u201d Sherrill said.<\/p>\n Sherrill\u2019s announcement to have one person lead the two agencies came as a surprise.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t suggest it during her campaign for governor. In fact, it was her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, who campaigned on the idea to merge the Garden State\u2019s<\/a> transportation agencies.<\/p>\n Several advisers brought the idea to Sherrill during her transition period while interviewing candidates for Cabinet appointments.<\/p>\n But Kolluri \u2014 who had led the Gateway Development Commission and the state Transportation Department, a role that includes chairing four boards, including NJ Transit and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority \u2014 sold her on it.<\/p>\n Kolluri is now focused on aligning NJ Transit and the authority, showing how they can work together to weather snowstorms<\/a>, plan for mega events like the World Cup<\/a>, and share ideas, like the \u201cLAND\u201d plan<\/a>. The plan, which involves cataloging all of an agency\u2019s property to decide whether it could be sold, developed or better monetized, started at NJ Transit and is now taking shape at the Turnpike Authority.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s also trying to change the narrative about the Turnpike Authority and NJ Transit \u2014 and show how they are inextricably linked despite how different they appear.<\/p>\n Without NJ Transit, hundreds of thousands of people would be in cars every day. Without the turnpike, commercial truck traffic would clog local roads, and would-be drivers could overwhelm the mass transit system.<\/p>\n \u201cEach system looks, feels different, but they\u2019re all doing the same thing \u2014 they\u2019re moving people from point A to point B,\u201d Kolluri said.<\/p>\n Sherrill wants to find innovative ways to improve state government, and an \u201cout-of-the-box-idea\u201d to have one person lead the Turnpike Authority and NJ Transit fit that philosophy, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are focused on innovating, on moving the state forward, on addressing all the ways in which families have had a tough time with quality of life, and certainly transit was front and center,\u201d Sherrill said.<\/p>\n More than two decades ago, another new governor looked for ways to be innovative, find efficiencies and fix problems that others couldn\u2019t seem to fix: Jim McGreevey in 2002.<\/p>\n McGreevey needed to make urgent repairs to portions of the Garden State Parkway, especially the Driscoll Bridge, which crosses the Raritan River. But raising tolls on in-state drivers was a \u201cthird rail in politics,\u201d said Paul Josephson, who was deputy counsel to McGreevey at the time.<\/p>\n So they decided to merge the money-losing parkway with the cash-cow turnpike.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody told us you can\u2019t do it,\u201d Josephson said. \u201cIt took the governor coming in to say, \u2018We\u2019re changing how we do business.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The idea came with efficiencies \u2014 such as eliminating 130 redundant positions in human resources, the law department and elsewhere \u2014 but the most important outcome was that decisions about spending would be made with a state-minded approach rather than the specific interests of one roadway.<\/p>\n \u201cThe notion of looking at combining agencies for the efficiencies, to combine funding streams, revenue streams, and to basically better utilize the toll money and the bonding capacity to service the various facilities \u2014 that was kind of top of mind for us,\u201d Josephson said.<\/p>\n The biggest challenges were getting the unions on board and restructuring bond covenants that would go out to market again.<\/p>\n Josephson said it will probably be harder to fuse a transit agency with one that deals with highways, but they already have agreements in place to share money.<\/p>\n Since 2012, the Turnpike Authority has sent money to NJ Transit each year to help the state subsidize the mass transit agency\u2019s budget. This year, the Turnpike Authority will send $470 million to help fill NJ Transit\u2019s budget gap.<\/p>\n The Gateway rail tunnel project under construction beneath the Hudson River will also receive $500 million a year from the Turnpike Authority.<\/p>\n A complication of the merger is amending the state Transportation Trust Fund, which uses constitutionally dedicated gas and petroleum taxes to fund capital projects for NJ Transit and the state Transportation Department. Changing that could require a ballot measure.<\/p>\n Greg Lalavee, vice chair of the fund\u2019s board and the business manager of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825, said there could be some positive outcomes, but he\u2019s concerned that merging the agencies and creating one big pot of money for capital projects would politicize how those dollars get spent.<\/p>\n \u201cMerging the agencies, I think there\u2019s some efficiencies that could be garnered there in terms of just the way things are bid,\u201d Lalavee said. \u201cOn the other side of it, are we going to start to play politics in terms of winners and losers between roads, transit and capital operations?\u201d<\/p>\n Josephson agreed there could definitely be \u201cfood fights\u201d about which projects get dollars, but that could be a good thing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes everybody work a lot harder if you know that you have to justify what you are spending in order to get your project,\u201d Josephson said.<\/p>\n The Turnpike Authority\u2019s biggest projects have garnered significant attention recently for their costs, which had some questioning their need in the first place and whether the money could be better spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n An $11 billion program to widen<\/a> the turnpike, with more lanes between Bayonne, Newark and Jersey City, is one of those controversies.<\/p>\n It was despised by environmentalists, who said the money should be spent on mass transit projects to relieve area congestion, as Bayonne residents compete with freight trucks going to and from the ports.<\/p>\n The Turnpike Authority\u2019s data projected that the lane-widening would increase traffic more than if officials did nothing. Sherrill scaled back the program<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n The agency is also being scrutinized for awarding a $1.7 billion contract<\/a> to TransCore to take over its E-ZPass tolling program, an amount that was $250 million higher than the bid from Conduent, the current provider.<\/p>\n Offering justification of the additional spending<\/a>, the turnpike said TransCore\u2019s bid score outperformed Conduent and that the agency valued the use of domestic labor, which led to higher costs. Conduent sued over the bid award; the company is represented by Josephson, a partner at Duane Morris LLP.<\/p>\n Proponents of merging the agencies say it could help solve NJ Transit\u2019s perennial funding problems, which have led to cost-cutting within the agency and a 21% increase in fares over the last three years come July 1.<\/p>\n \u201cCommuters are already paying quite hefty rates for buses and trains right now, so there\u2019s a natural limit to how much more you can ask commuters to spend before they\u2019re either priced out of the market or they jump back in their cars,\u201d Josephson said.<\/p>\n \u201cCould turnpike toll revenue be part of the solution to transit\u2019s funding problem? Absolutely, totally worth checking out, totally something that we should try and figure out whether it makes sense,\u201d Josephson said.<\/p>\n Like all public transportation agencies in the United States, NJ Transit runs at a deficit every year and relies on state aid for support to keep fares affordable. But unlike many U.S. public transportation agencies, NJ Transit has never had constitutionally dedicated funding. So the aid it gets changes each year, making it hard to do long-term planning \u2014 especially for big expenditures like replacing rolling stock.<\/p>\n As a result, NJ Transit\u2019s trains and locomotives \u2014 many of which date back to the 1950s through the 1980s \u2014 are breaking down at record numbers. Last year, 1,665 trips were canceled due to broken-down trains, a 174% increase since 2017, when 606 trips were canceled for the same reason.<\/p>\n Even paying for less costly items has proved challenging for the agency. In 2023, an application for a track expansion project through Harrison was withheld because NJ Transit couldn\u2019t put aside money<\/a> for its portion of the local match needed to apply for federal grants.<\/p>\n Band-Aid funding for NJ Transit isn\u2019t working, said Sherrill.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen in previous administrations where there were these short-term decisions made,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the long term, it really harmed commuters and quality of life and affordability here in New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n New Jersey doesn\u2019t have to look far to see how other transit agencies have welded money-making and money-losing transportation assets into one symbiotic organization.<\/p>\n The Metropolitan Transportation Authority includes a division of tolled tunnel and bridge crossings, the New York City subways and buses, and two commuter rail operations.<\/p>\n And the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey oversees five airports, eight tolled bridges and tunnels, two bus terminals, the ports and the PATH transit system.<\/p>\n This concept is known as the \u201cMaryland model\u201d \u2014 named for the state that began consolidating its transportation agencies in the 1970s. Today, the Maryland Department of Transportation includes state highways and toll roads, ports, airports, bridges, tunnels, the Department of Motor Vehicles, commuter trains, light rail and bus networks.<\/p>\n John Porcari, who led Maryland\u2019s Transportation Department from 1999 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009 and advised Sherrill on transportation issues during her transition to governor, said having one transportation fund gives the state financial flexibility to support the best projects that prioritize moving people around the state through a multi-modal perspective.<\/p>\n Without that, siloed agencies plan and invest precious capital dollars without thinking more holistically.<\/p>\n “As the state\u2019s economy grows, as traffic congestion grows, as mobility gets harder by the day, you want every tool you can have in the tool kit, and one of them is to have a transportation system organizationally working together,” Porcari said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to me, from the outside, that [NJ Transit has] been able to subsist on uncertain and irregular contributions from the Turnpike Authority,\u201d he added. \u201cFinancially, you can\u2019t live that way.\u201d<\/p>\n As the state\u2019s population grows<\/a>, and North Jersey becomes more congested, and traffic fatalities continue to outpace<\/a> pre-COVID numbers, “more creative solutions will be needed,\u201d said Tom Wright, president of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit that researches and advocates for transit in the tristate region.<\/p>\n \u201cFiguring out what the mobility future of that part of the state is is really something this entity could take a leadership role in,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n A merger of agencies would require a study and would have to make financial sense, Sherrill said.<\/p>\n
\n8-minute read<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The art of moving people<\/h2>\n
‘Everybody told us you can’t do it’<\/h2>\n
Would a capital fund ‘food fight’ be good or bad?<\/h2>\n
The harm of short-term thinking<\/h2>\n
Applying the ‘Maryland model’<\/h2>\n
Would the Legislature get behind it?<\/h2>\n