The New York Building Congress welcomes this opportunity to endorse the proposed $33 billion ten-year capital investment strategy announced by the Port Authority, and the proposed fare and toll increases to fund it. Key elements of the program include:
Reconstructing the road system providing accessing to the Lincoln Tunnel, which is at the end of its useful life;
Replacing the eighty year old cable system of the George Washington Bridge, which is also nearing the end of its useful life;
Building a layover garage for the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a critical expansion project that will reduce traffic congestion in New Jersey and Manhattan;
Continuing redevelopment of the World Trade Center, an effort requiring significant Port Authority resources.
The Port Authority is not only shoring up aging infrastructure, but modernizing its facilities to ensure improved movement throughout the region. For example, the Port Authority is proposing to use all new revenues from an increase in the PATH fare for improvements to signals and increasing platform lengths. This will help move more commuters at peak hours and permit incremental growth in this service, hopefully filling some of the hole left by the cancellation of the ARC tunnel.
Moreover, Port Authority fare and toll policies encourage the movement of freight and commuters by incorporating innovative variable pricing on tunnel and bridge facilities. This region must continue to ration scarce capacity, using mechanisms like variable pricing, to spread transportation demand over the entire 24-hour day. Given that no new bridge or tunnel to the region has been built in more than half a century, there is little choice.
As a coalition of the design, construction and real estate industry of New York City, the Building Congress applauds the important role of the Port Authority in the region’s economic progress over the past nine decades. Its current proposal offers a way forward in the face of economic instability by protecting irreplaceable assets and providing opportunity for growth. The Building Congress is supports the Port’s investment in the region’s future and the fare and toll structure to support it. We encourage its prompt approval and implementation by the Port Authority.
