Posted on 01/12/2014 7:01:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
One unmentioned irony of the Chris Christie road-revenge scandal is that the powers-that-be finally found a traffic jam they didn't like. Now, don't get me wrong, having always lived in the NY metropolitan area and often having wanted to split a vein while in the midst of the NY/NJ road experience, I think that anyone who purposely exacerbates traffic problems should be confined to a small cell and forced to listen 24/7/365 to Nancy Pelosi's nails-on-blackboard speeches. But I have to tell you: it has always seemed that NY and NJ public officials have utter disregard - if not contempt - for drivers in their states. In fact, their policies have long had the effect of exacerbating traffic problems.
Consider a common NY/NJ driving experience. You're traveling north on the New Jersey Turnpike - passing exits 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 - and then all of a sudden the road transitions into a parking lot that you're trapped in for a hour and a half. The cause?
The turnpike toll plaza some miles ahead.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Wow, you’re a great apologist for big government. You ought to get a job working for Obama.
It costs money to keep roads in working order too, but most roads in the US don’t have tolls. That’s what taxes in general are for.
Also, the GWB generates $1.5 million in revenue a DAY. That’s more than a half a billion a year. That dwarfs the costs you mentioned, which, by the way, aren’t incurred every year. So stuff it.
The George Washington Bridge is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey -- a bi-state agency that was created under a Federal mandate back after World War I to eliminate legal problems at the time that were associated with port commerce in New York harbor and other transportation issues between the two states. The problem is that the Port Authority of NY & NJ has no taxation authority. It does, however, have the ability to collect revenue from people and businesses who use their facilities.
One very positive aspect of the agency is that it is fully self-funded and doesn't get a dime of taxpayer money (except in very limited circumstances involving channel dredging that comes under the oversight of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers). Another benefit of being a self-funded authority is that it has the ability to float its own bonds to pay for major projects.
A huge chunk of its revenue goes to financing bonds for major projects all over the region. The Port Authority of NY & NJ even helps fund projects in either state that don't come under its jurisdiction -- as long as the state government that requests the funding can make a compelling case that the infrastructure is critical to the PA's mission and/or its facilities. The PA, for example, is paying about $1.8 billion for three major construction projects on NJDOT bridges and highways, including the rehabilitation of the Pulaski Skyway the new Wittpen Bridge (Route 7) over the Hackensack River, and the reconstruction of Route US-1&9 in Jersey City.
Also, the GWB generates $1.5 million in revenue a DAY. That’s more than a half a billion a year. That dwarfs the costs you mentioned, which, by the way, aren’t incurred every year. So stuff it.
See previous details about bonding for major projects. The Port Authority of NY & NJ is currently on the hook for about $550M-$600M in bond payments every year -- which means they have to budget for that much money in expenditures (more than they collect from the GWB in toll revenue) before they spend even one dollar for their own operating expenses.
I hope this has been an informative post for you. (And no, I don't work for that agency.)
But I'm also not delusional enough to think that the common complaints about congestion, construction duration, etc. would disappear if GE Capital or Halliburton owned and operated the Cross Westchester Expressway (I-287) in New York.
The problem with the scenario you presented is that Christie was so far ahead of his half-@ssed opponent in that race that he didn't need endorsements from Democrats to help him win the election. And he sure didn't need the endorsement of some small-town mayor who nobody ever heard of until the e-mail and text messages released last week included a reference to him as a "little Serbian." ROFL.
Christie did say he was trying to run up the score in his press conference.
That’s why I referenced his gluttonous outlook. He didn’t need the surplus votes, but he wanted them anyway. He wanted a blow-out win. And it’s not hard to understand why when the media started pushing him harder for president based on the fact that he got a blow-out win.
The fact that they did this to a single mayor who doesn’t seem that important tells you they must have been doing this type of thing to EVERYBODY. Although perhaps not in ways that would’ve had such a blowback effect on the public itself.
The difference is that in NY and NJ the bridges cost $15 to cross. Talk about highway robbery.
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