Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

Are Stimulus Funds Being Misused for NJ Highways

Today on the Streetsblog Network,
we hear about the possible misuse of stimulus funds for the widening of
the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike in New Jersey. Network
member blog Mobilizing the Region,
the voice of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, reports that the
TSTC has sent a letter to Gov. John Corzine about the matter:

widened_turnpike.jpgTSTCwrote to Governor Corzine stating that using federal Build AmericaBonds -- authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- topay for the expansion of the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden StateParkway would violate federal law. The Build America Bonds wereauthorized by the federal stimulus package, and offer governmentsubsidies on interest rate costs....

Projects that receive federal funding must receive federal environmental approval. Neither the Turnpike nor the Garden State Parkway expansions haveundergone federal environmental review. Therefore, neither are eligiblefor federal funding.  Until now, both were slated to receive only statefunding, so the cursory state environmental review was all that the lawrequired.

The warnings were not heeded by the Authority. This afternoon, the agency released the bond offerings, totaling $1.375 billion.

This recent move again calls into question the legality of the projects. TSTC already has a lawsuit pending over the Garden State Parkway widening.

Other news from around the network: St. Louis Urban Workshop reports on the results of a study showing the devastating health impact of highways in cities; Twin Cities Streets for People links to some articles about just how our cities became so car-centric to begin with; and Bike Portland
has the story of how Portland's cash-strapped government is asking the
public to help fund the city's car-free "Sunday Parkways" events.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Metro 2026 World Cup Transit Plans Emerging

From June 13 to July 7, 2026, Los Angeles will host eight World Cup soccer matches, all at the SoFi Stadium in the city of Inglewood

May 9, 2025

Metro Names Bill Scott as Chief of Police

Chief Scott and Metro leadership emphasized that keeping Metro transit safe would require a multi-faceted approach that included the deployment of officers as well as collaboration with the community, ambassadors, and service providers. "Sometimes enforcement is the answer," Scott said. "Sometimes it's not."

May 7, 2025

Lyft’s Anti-Worker Anti-Transit Record Raises Red Flags For Metro Bike Share

Edwin Aviles and Kalayaan Mendoza urge Metro not to reward bad actors working to undermine workers’ rights and mass transit

See all posts