RPA's Amanda Kennedy testified Friday to the Connecticut General Assembly Transportation Committee to promote road pricing that would reduce congestion and vehicle miles traveled. The committee was considering a bill that would require payment of tolls at the state's borders, and voted on Monday to strike the word "border" from advancing legislation. The new bill requires the DOT to prepare an implementation plan for tolling state highways. Legislators and supporters have insisted that Connecticut's toll-free highways give through-drivers a "free ride," but border tolls would unfairly impact labor markets near the state border that rely upon workers from out-of-state and would burden Connecticut residents who travel to out-of-state jobs. RPA requested that the legislature redirect its efforts to instituting a per mile traveled road pricing system that would incentivize personal reductions in travel and help transition away from our dependence on gasoline taxes to fund transportation investments and maintenance. In lieu of a full VMT pricing system, congestion pricing on the state's most crowded highways would reduce travel times and emissions while supporting pedestrian and transit investments. "We believe that drivers will be willing to pay for a roadway that is less likely to jammed for hours any day of the week," said Kennedy. Maps prepared for the Committee illustrate the extent of cross-border commuting in Connecticut. About 5% of Connecticut workers come from out-of-state with the proportion higher in border towns: 30% of workers in Enfield come from out-of-state and 26% in Greenwich.

A new report released today details the catastrophic path the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund is on, showing the Fund will run out of money by mid-2011 at the latest, placing road repairs, transit services and vital federal funds at risk. The 12-page analysis, titled, "Spiral of Debt: The Unsustainable Structure of New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund," was written by Regional Plan Association in conjunction with Tri-State Transportation Campaign and New Jersey Future. It details revenue sources and expenditures, and shows how the nearly $900 million in tax revenues raised for the fund every year will, by next year, be dedicated entirely to paying off interest and principal on old debt.

(New York, NY) RPA has released maps by county of the most recent round of MTA subway, bus and commuter rail service cuts. The cuts are part of a larger set of gap-closing actions, including reduction in Paratransit service, elimination of student Metrocards, worker layoffs and salary reductions, which the MTA is undertaking to close an estimated $750 m operating shortfall brought on by state cuts and loss in revenue.

The maps show cuts by State Senate and Assembly district. RPA and the Empire State Transportation Alliance are urging the state and city to address the MTA's operating budget shortfalls as well as fund an estimated $10 billion gap in the upcoming 2010 - 2014 rebuilding and repair program.

The maps are released as the MTA begins a series of public hearings around the region to gather public input on the proposed service reductions.

A Monmouth University Poll released today finds that 95 percent of New Jersey residents think it is important to pay to maintain and improve the NJ transportation system, yet almost half of NJ residents don't know the Transportation Trust Fund - the primary source of money paying for road, bridge and transit repairs - is going broke.

Read the Press Release and Poll Results

Amidst ever growing deficits facing the New York region's transit system, Empire State Transportation Alliance members descended on Albany Monday to raise concerns over major shortfalls in transit funding. The group released a letter, met with key legislators and staff members and testified at the Transportation Executive Budget hearing. 

Read now:
News Release (click through for HTML version) 
Letter from ESTA
Testimony by Kevin Corbett