Support for ARC Tunnel From Unlikely Sources

October 12th, 2010 by Jay Corbalis

Source: NJ Biz

In response to an editorial by NJ Biz staff criticizing the ARC Tunnel (“Transit Tunnel Plan Belongs Underground”), readers of the traditionally pro-business publication responded with overwhelming support for the project. As part of its weekly reader poll, NJ Biz asked its readers what they thought of the decision to halt work on the tunnel. Sixty percent said it was a “bad move”, while another 10% said it was an example of the Governor “overstepping his bounds”. About 30% supported the move. The paper also featured an op-ed from Cushman and Wakefield Managing Director Gil Medina in favor of infrastructure spending in general, and the ARC tunnel in particular. Medina was a former Commerce Commissioner in the Whitman Administration.

Another new fan surfaced recently in the form of an editorial by the Asbury Park Press. The typically pro-small government, anti-tax editorial page expressed its support for the project and was critical of the decision to kill the tunnel, questioning the motives behind the decision. In supporting the project, the editorial notes the economic, transportation and environmental benefits the tunnel would provide, and cites RPA’s study about the impact of the line on property values as a reason to move forward with the project. The full piece can be seen here.

Finally, even some in South Jersey, which would not see direct service benefits from ARC, are proclaiming their support for the tunnel. An editorial in the Vineland Daily Journal today calls the project “too important to New Jersey’s future to be outright killed”, and urges that the decision to cancel the project be rethought.