By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
People in the road construction industry spent the day playing the waiting game.
At the Laborers Union training center in Cliffwood, spokesman Rob Lewandowski says his union’s 25,000 New Jersey members are bracing for what’s coming.
“There’s a lot of anxiety and concern. Transportation Trust Fund is what funds the work of tens of thousands of workers in New Jersey, and the fact that projects may be shut down means that people don’t get salary. That there’s a chance that they can’t pay their mortgage. That they can’t send their kids to school in September. This has very real circumstances to real people,” he said.
The last time New Jersey road projects were shut down was 10 years ago when a tax fight led Gov. Jon Corzine to shut down the entire state government.
Deciding which projects to halt is said to be extremely laborious. One issue is whether the workers get paid and, if so, who pays them.
Ten years ago it took months and the involvement of the state attorney general to sort out the payment disputes.
A person who knows says that starting road projects back up is as complicated as shutting them down — and of course that can’t happen until the political forces come into alignment.
The governor and the Legislature agree on hiking the gas tax. They disagree on what tax to cut to offset that.
Senate President Steve Sweeney and Gov. Chris Christie’s office are reportedly working on a compromise. Christie and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto are on vacation.
Trust fund advocate Tom Bracken of the state Chamber of Commerce issued a statement today saying, “Legislative leadership and the governor…need to return to Trenton and get this done. Too much is at stake.”
Exempt from a shutdown are repairs on the Turnpike, the Parkway and federally funded projects like the bridge improvement at the junction of 280 and McCarter Highway in Newark.
Also exempt are projects whose shutdown might compromise public safety.
As of late this afternoon neither the governor’s office nor the state Department of Transportation has released a shutdown list. People close to the issue say a resolution could come next week.