New Jersey authorities have told citizens that money saved by merging the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway will save the state money that can be used for such things as updating the EZ-Pass system.
But according to a recent report from The Newark Star-Ledger, for the first two years after the merger, all the money saved – roughly $14 million – would go instead to pay the lawyers who set up the deal.
Land Line reported May 1 that the Assembly Transportation Committee voted 6-0 on April 28 in favor of the merger plan. The bill would enable the Turnpike to assume the operations, facilities and financial obligations of the New Jersey Highway Authority, which operates the Garden State Parkway.
Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere told the Courier News that the money saved – as much as $4 million this year and $10 million by 2008 – would be reinvested for toll road improvements and help offset the cost of installing E-ZPass.
S2352 is now moving through another legislative committee. But as the measure was moving forward, The Star-Ledger reported that three bond underwriters and three law firms, a group that includes Gov. James McGreevey’s first attorney general, would handle the bond-refinancing plan that will make the merger happen. In addition to the McGreevey connection, the newspaper reported, two of the law firms have given money to the campaigns of state Democrats.
The story was not the only recent revelation regarding use of Turnpike funds. The Star-Ledger reported earlier this year that the turnpike generated so much cash it was able to shell out money to a number of non-turnpike projects – and still keep more than a half-billion dollars in reserve.
Those projects included the Driscoll Bridge over the Raritan River on the Garden State Parkway, $135 million; a new train station in Secaucus, $84 million; and bailing out the E-ZPass Consortium, $30 million.
After those projects and other costs, the turnpike still has reserves in excess of $600 million.
Despite that, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority raised tolls Jan. 1, increasing cash tolls 17 percent and E-ZPass tolls 10 percent at rush hour and 5 percent during other times.
