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Having killed the badly-needed ARC tunnel not once but twice, you’d think that Governor Chris Christie would at least have the decency to let the issue go. But no. He’s got a whole new reason for opposing it. Now, apparently, the seed of the ARC’s destruction came from Christie’s wife Mary Pat, who was no fan of the deep-underground Midtown terminal.

“The lobbying to me on this one was from [the first lady],” Christie said. “She’s, like, ‘So this thing’s going 10 stories under Macy’s, [and] then I gotta go back up and I gotta walk over to Penn Station. I get on a subway. . .’”

The story is a new one for Christie, but then, he probably needs one. While deliberating on ARC’s fate earlier this fall, Christie’s argument was always that the state couldn’t afford any cost overruns. But the Tri-State Transportation Campaign caught Christie signing off on billions in borrowing for two highway widenings that had tripled in price over just five years. And Sen. Frank Lautenberg revealed that the feds had offered to add more funds and set up a public-private partnership that would bear the burden of cost overruns.

Compared to the canard of fiscal responsibility, I suppose the new argument looks pretty good.

Unless something changes quickly, the Christie administration is expected to (again) kill the badly-needed ARC transit tunnel this Friday. The tunnel would double capacity for New Jersey Transit into Manhattan, providing more and faster trips for commuters, and ease the pressure on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor trains [PDF].

Christie says he will not go forward with ARC unless the federal government agrees to cover any future cost overruns on the $8.7 billion project, reports the Star-Ledger. The Federal Transit Administration’s $3 billion contribution is already the largest federal commitment to a transit project in American history. So far, there haven’t been any signs from the feds that a further guarantee is forthcoming.

Advocates haven’t given up hope yet, however. This morning, New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez joined construction workers in North Bergen to rally for the project’s completion. At rush hour, local elected officials joined the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the Regional Plan Association, New Jersey Future, Environment New Jersey and NJ PIRG at NJ Transit stations to urge commuters to express their support for the tunnel to Christie. You can add your voice at www.WeNeedARC.com.

RPA also began running an ad in New Jersey newspapers debunking some of the myths about the project. For example, while Christie claims that the project will end up costing far more than $8.7 billion, the basis for his projections has never been justified or even explained in any sort of detail.

Then again, the discussion of cost overruns is something of a red herring anyway. As the Tri-State Transportation Campaign has detailed, Chris Christie just isn’t that into transit. While claiming that the state can’t afford ARC, for example, New Jersey is simultaneously borrowing $2 billion to widen the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. There is money to spend on infrastructure, just not on rail.

Similarly, Christie has refused to raise New Jersey’s gas tax, the third-lowest in the country, in order to make the state’s transportation budgets add up. He didn’t have any such compunction about raising transit fares across the state, however, and his explanation is telling. “What’s the difference between a gas tax hike and a fare hike, besides who it lands on?” asked the Star-Ledger’s editorial board at the time. “That’s the difference,” answered Christie.

There are three days left. Can New Jersey’s voters convince the governor to do something he doesn’t want to do?

After yesterday’s ARC decision, I couldn’t help thinking of this morsel of wisdom from New York Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch last April:

The difficulty, politically, in my judgment, is very obvious. There are very few short-term dividends, for people who run for office, in long-term investments. They don’t get the benefit out of it… The benefits may not be realized until future generations. That is a political problem.

People are going to have to bite the bullet, in terms of usage charges and various taxes that will generate the revenue streams we need in order to build.

Ravitch was referring to the New York State Legislature’s failure to enact bridge tolls, but he might as well have been talking about Chris Christie’s refusal to raise New Jersey’s gas tax, which has been locked in at 10.5 cents a gallon since Reagan was president. Adjusting for inflation, it has never been lower than it is today.

Christie can say this decision was about cost-cutting, but we’re talking about an investment that would have paid off handsomely, even with cost overruns. Really, Christie just couldn’t bite the bullet. Instead of raising the gas tax to pay for transportation, he raided funds committed to one of the most important transit projects in the nation and borrowed more to keep on expanding roads.

So, New Jersey, here is a sneak preview of the future bequeathed to you by your governor:

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The largest federal transit investment in American history is on its deathbed, reports Andrea Bernstein at Transportation Nation. Three sources have told Bernstein that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is ready to pull the plug on the plan to double rail capacity under the Hudson River this week, though Christie denies his mind is made up.

We’ve already outlined just how important this project is to the future of New Jersey and how shortsighted this decision would be for the Christie administration, so with this devastating news, the only thing we can do is look forward.

First, the predictable stuff: If ARC dies, New Jersey will keep its $2.7 billion share of project funds, which Christie is expected to use to patch up the state’s Transportation Trust Fund for a couple of years so that he doesn’t have to raise the gas tax to pay for the state’s roads. The Port Authority will recoup its $3 billion, some of which will end up back in New Jersey and some in New York. The authority’s capital plan currently calls for no new pieces of infrastructure, so it’s possible this money will fund necessary repairs on existing bridges and tunnels.

The wildcard is where the Federal Transit Administration’s $3 billion winds up. When New York City activists defeated the Westway highway project 25 years ago, House Speaker Tip O’Neill managed to capture a large share of its funding for Boston’s Big Dig. The $350 million that US DOT offered New York to help implement congestion pricing in 2008 almost ended up paying for a Chicago BRT system, though Chicago ultimately balked as well.

Who will get the billions of dollars that Christie is on the verge of passing up? Place your bets — or vent your anger — in the comments.

Two weekends ago, construction on New Jersey’s most important transit project was called to a temporary stop by Governor Chris Christie. He declared a thirty-day review period for the ARC tunnel project, which would build a new rail tunnel below the Hudson and double commuter rail capacity from New Jersey. Many worry the review is just a prelude to axing the $8.7 billion project altogether and using the money saved to patch up New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund for a couple of years.

Advocates are now mobilizing to save ARC. People who live, work, or attend school in New Jersey can send a letter to the Christie administration through the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s “We Need ARC” petition.

Currently, only a single pair of century-old tunnels carry New Jersey Transit trains into Penn Station, and with NJ Transit ridership more than quadrupling since the 1980s, those tunnels are at capacity. “Every two minutes, a train enters Midtown Manhattan from New Jersey,” said Juliette Michaelson of the Regional Plan Association. “That capacity cannot increase.”

Without a new tunnel, commuter rail in New Jersey simply cannot expand. If ARC is built, however, it would be expected to carry 100,000 more commuters into Midtown, more than doubling capacity. Estimates suggest 22,000 cars would be taken off the road as a result. “It’s a game-changer,” said Michaelson.

Christie’s decision to halt all work on the project for thirty days has put the project in grave peril.

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While fans of the Dallas Cowboys have no choice but to sit in gridlock on their way to and from their team's new stadium (and to pay dearly for game-time parking), area Giants and Jets faithful can now travel to home games by train.

The New Jersey Transit Meadowlands Rail Line opened for business over the summer, and made its first NFL regular season run last weekend. A reader sends this account:

The train I was on for the Giants game Sunday was 100 percent full (wouldn't be surprised if people were left on the platform, except the train was so full I couldn't see out the window to check). Came on time, plenty of trains at the end of the game, etc. Bought my ticket at a Metro North station and they had someone manually checking tickets at Secaucus (since Secaucus usually uses electronic NY Transit tickets). Ironically, my friend who had the tickets drove and hit so much traffic that we missed kickoff.

The Giants, having topped the Redskins, travel to Dallas this week, and will host the Cowboys in December. Fresh from the impressive debut of rookie QB Mark Sanchez in Houston, the Jets face the Patriots -- now 1-0 thanks to the hopelessly luckless Bills -- in their home opener Sunday afternoon.

Dozens of local transit agencies, already laboring to move more riders while costs go up, have a new financial hurdle to clear. The collapse of AIG threatens to force them to pay back bank deals ahead of schedule, and service cuts may follow. The Philly Inquirer explains:

The trouble stems from leasing arrangements made years ago between transit agencies and lenders in which the banks bought transit equipment and facilities, such as railcars and stations, and leased them back to the agencies.

The transit agencies got much-needed cash, and the banks got tax benefits. In 2003, the tax benefits from those kinds of transactions were prohibited by the IRS.

AIG served as the insurer of many of those deals. The collapse of AIG downgraded its credit rating, allowing the lenders to demand full payment from the transit agencies if the agencies did not quickly find other insurers.

NJTransit is on the hook for up to $150 million; Chicago agencies may have to repay more than $100 million; Los Angeles County -- as much as $300 million; Washington Metro's worst-case obligation is $400 million. According to the Hill, the total exposure of more than 30 transit agencies could reach "well over $1 billion." (The MTA has not been affected as much as other agencies, according to an agency spokesman; any impact on its budget will be addressed at a November 10 meeting of the MTA Finance Committee.)

The Newark Star-Ledger reported today on the consequences for NJTransit:

"The timing couldn't be any worse," said state Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri. "It would add such a dramatic burden on the transit agency you would need drastic service cuts or the curtailing of the capital program."

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