While Chris Christie Dreams of life in Washington, his state suffers. Hey, it's not like governing New Jersey is his job or anything.


New Jersey Drivers Fume as Road and Bridge Work Stops



Several miles from Princeton, drivers are playing chicken as they detour across a single-lane bridge. In Summit, the prolonged shutdown of a century-old crossing has forced nearby businesses to lay off workers. And in Hoboken, the delay of the long-awaited rehabilitation of a critical connection to the Lincoln Tunnel threatens to disrupt back-to-school traffic.

Across New Jersey, residents accustomed to complaining about all of the road work undertaken during the summer months now have something different to moan about: Hundreds of those improvement projects have ground to a halt, victims of a political stalemate among state lawmakers. In many places, the orange cones and mesh netting are still in place, but the backhoes and road graders sit idle, as do more than 1,000 construction workers across the state.

The long days and abundant sunshine of the season make it prime time for fixing the roads and bridges that keep things moving in New Jersey, which, like many states, is saddled with aging infrastructure. But for more than a week, those ideal conditions have been squandered as the state’s political leaders argue about whether and how to raise the state’s gasoline tax.

With no agreement and the state’s Transportation Trust Fund — which is financed by the tax — nearly drained, Gov. Chris Christie ordered that all work stop on a long list of projects throughout the state. That left the completion of construction scheduled for this year in jeopardy, said Anthony Attanasio, executive director of the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey.

“One thing everyone agrees on is that government is responsible for providing safe and reliable infrastructure for taxpayers,” Mr. Attanasio said. But, he added, since Mr. Christie’s executive order took effect on July 8, “we’re in this weird limbo where no work’s getting done.”

With Mr. Christie and other Republican leaders at their party’s national convention in Cleveland this week, a deal to end the stalemate is unlikely in the coming days. The chances of reaching one before the Democrats wrap up their convention in Philadelphia late next week seem nearly as slim.

The 50-page list of stalled transportation work represents more than $3 billion in projects to upgrade roads, bridges and mass transit. New Jersey Transit, the agency that runs the state’s commuter rail and bus network, has had to suspend its order for dozens of new buses until the financing issue is sorted out.