New Jersey bridges need $11 billion in work

| 29 Sep 2011 | 12:11

    New Jersey must spend $11.25 billion in the next 10 years to fix deficient and obsolete bridges, according to a new report that raises more questions about how the state will find money to fix its crumbling infrastructure. The report by Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri found all Garden State bridges are safe, but determined the state needs to significantly increase what it spends each year to fix its bridges. Gov. Jon S. Corzine requested the report after a Minnesota bridge collapse earlier this year. The state spends $509 million per year, but Kolluri recommended a 34 percent increase, noting “years of misdirected priorities have left us with a system that requires tremendous capital investment.” The report comes as Corzine continues indicating he’ll propose increasing tolls on some of the nation’s busiest highways to try to solve fiscal woes. The Democratic governor has been emphasizing an August Rutgers-Eagleton poll that asked voters to choose between increasing tolls, hiking taxes or cutting services. It found 44 percent of voters preferred toll increases, 28 percent service cuts and 9 percent tax increases, Republicans aren’t swayed, noting polls find about 60 percent of voters oppose Corzine’s concept and prefer toll increases only when forced to make a choice. “Democrats had better heed warnings from the people,” said Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce, R-Morris. Corzine insists the state needs to find a way to make more money to pay state debt and free money for other needs, but hasn’t unveiled a formal proposal. Among the unanswered questions, Corzine said, is whether the nonprofit agency he wants to create to manage toll roads can sell cheaper tax-exempt bonds. The bonds would be paid back by increased highway tolls, a move Republicans contend would have vast consequences. The Garden State Parkway is the nation’s busiest toll road, with the New Jersey Turnpike the nation’s fifth busiest, according to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association.