Sweeney talks Transportation Trust Fund as summer tourism season begins

According to state Senate President Steve Sweeney, the approaching Memorial Day weekend is as good of a time as ever to bring up the state’s depleted Transportation Trust Fund.By Sweeney’s count, nearly 12 million motorists are expected to use either the Garden State Parkway or New Jersey Turnpike over the holiday weekend. Many of those travelers, Sweeney (D-West Deptford) noted in a statement Friday, will utilize improvements made over the past year to both roadways in the hope that they will find “fewer delays this year than in summers past.”

But what hasn’t been achieved as the state enters its summer season is a resolution to the TTF situation, which currently appears primed to wait until at least the next lame duck legislative session before being tackled again.

“These upgrades and improvements on scores of local roads are the result of decisions made by past administrations to invest in our transportation infrastructure — and in our quality of life,” Sweeney said. “This Memorial Day, I had hoped we would have already reached agreement with the governor on a long-term funding solution for the Transportation Trust Fund.”

Sweeney singled out the popular Route 72 Manahawkin Bay Bridge Causeway, which links motorists to Long Beach Island, as an example of why a TTF solution is needed immediately. Scheduled repairs to the bridge, Sweeney said, are dependent on $39.5 million from the fund that has still not received authorization.

“Like more than 600 bridges around the state that are dependent on future TTF funding, this bridge was deemed structurally deficient in 2004,” Sweeney said. “It was damaged even further by Sandy and is in real need of repair.”

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