LETTERS.

REFORMS NEEDED IN NEW JERSEY TRUST FUND

Editor:

I read with interest your April article "Is it the End of Pay-as-You-Go in Transportation Finance?" Readers may be interested in fiscal reforms I am proposing in New Jersey.

Since 1984, New Jersey's transportation trust fund (TTF) has served the state well. But as we enter a new century, it has become clear that the focus and fiscal structure of the trust fund need to be reformed.

First, we need to chart a financial blueprint that will restore the fund's fiscal integrity by reducing its bonded indebtedness and increasing funding for pay-as-you-go projects without raising taxes. Over the years, the trust fund lost sight of its primary mission as a pay-as-you-go fund for fixing the state's transportation problems and became a debt fund used to balance budgets and pay for routine operational costs that are more appropriately paid for out of the state budget.

These are good times in New Jersey. Our economy is strong, and our bond rating was recently raised by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. We don't need to raise taxes to renew the trust fund for 2000 and beyond, and I'm pleased Governor Christie Whitman agrees that transportation funding must be a budget priority.

Her endorsement of this concept is encouraging news for New Jerseyans because it improves the fiscal direction of the TTF and charts a responsible course for a responsible future.

We also need to change the prime objective of the trust fund from one of economic development to traffic mitigation. Recently, the Texas Transportation Institute released a study revealing that the annual hours of traffic delay experienced per driver in New Jersey rose from 15 in 1982 to 38 in 1997. New Jersey drivers understand the negative impact traffic congestion can have on the quality of life in our densely populated state, but gridlock is also of vital economic concern.

Some fast growing regional economies, such as that of Atlanta, Ga., are beginning to stagnate because of an inability to accommodate the transportation needs of a growing business center and a booming population. We need to invest wisely today to assure a high quality of life and a strong economy five years from now.

We can do that by reallocating transportation trust fund resources to bolster state efforts at...