Sherrill has clean transportation options beyond GatewayNJ Spotlight News

President Donald Trump’s threat in October to terminate the $16 billion  Gateway rail tunnel project is once again a political football. The nation’s largest public works project is now back on. Courts ruled in favor of the Gateway Development Commission, and congressionally approved federal funding was released. But there is clear damage: Roughly 1,000 workers were laid off without knowing if and when they could return, and the work site lay dormant.

Access to affordable, clean and reliable transportation should not be political. It is critical for the economy and job growth as well as for the environment and public health. This is particularly true in New Jersey, the most densely populated state, whose extensive rail system dates to the first half of the 19th century.

While the Gateway Tunnel is the linchpin of our state’s future rail transit, the current political tug of war obscures that our transportation needs extend beyond the long-overdue rehabilitated and new train tunnels to New York beneath the Hudson River. New Jersey has more miles of highways per square mile than any other state and commuters experience the highest volume of traffic congestion in the country. The INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard shows that every minute spent in traffic leads to lost money and productivity.

Credit: (Rebecca C. Lubot)

Boosting clean and reliable public transportation will alleviate traffic and burdens on roads and bridges, some of which date to Eisenhower’s Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. That makes for less stress on commuters, communities and the environment.

Investments in electric vehicles also will create good-paying jobs. The industry’s estimated growth will result in 160,000 more U.S. jobs by 2032, and thousands of these jobs will be in New Jersey, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. While promising signs show that we are moving in the right direction — New Jersey reached a milestone of more than 250,000 electric vehicle registrations in September — the state has unique challenges as well as concomitant opportunities to take the lead in clean and reliable transportation.

What does this mean for Gov. Mikie Sherrill as she navigates New Jersey’s transportation needs?

Sherrill should take steps to innovate public transportation, future-proof New Jersey Transit, electrify New Jersey’s transportation system, reimagine roadways, implement complete and green streets programs and reduce transportation pollution. Here are a few suggestions.

First 100 days:

• Spend down awarded federal funds to modernize bus garages and purchase electric buses.
• Follow the “fix-it-first” mandate to keep infrastructure safe and to reduce maintenance costs as structures age.
• Mitigate the environmental harm from roads and bridges: Use low-carbon concrete, incorporate green infrastructure practices and plan for wildlife crossings.

First year:

• Make the Corporate Transit Fee permanent to provide reliable, dedicated funding to New Jersey Transit for a consistent operating budget. Incentivize fewer vehicles on the road by securing public transit funding.
• Incentivize local, high-paying jobs in electrification industries (e.g., advanced manufacturing), particularly for residents of low-income communities.
• Encourage innovative business models that offer “charging as a service” to public and private fleets. Like solar power purchase agreements, these arrangements can result in savings to end users, eliminating upfront investment via long-term fueling contracts. These contracts could also be considered for vehicles, including operation and maintenance.

First term:

• Work with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to ensure that conflicts with stormwater and other environmental regulations are solved proactively so that they do not pose transportation barriers.
• Direct the New Jersey Department of Transportation to ensure funding for municipalities to provide shared mobility, including “innovation funds” for such options as bike-, scooter-, car- and electric-van sharing.
• Ensure support for the construction and completion of the Gateway project, in concert with former congressional colleagues and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Leading in clean and reliable transportation advances the triple bottom line of social, environmental and economic — or what some call people, planet, profit. That’s good for business, good for drivers and transit commuters and good for New Jersey.