An analysis by The Record in March found the Reason Foundation’s $2 million figure was inflated because it double-counts New Jersey’s hefty debt payments on its Transportation Trust Fund, and includes nearly $630 million in spending by the state and federal governments that didn’t go to state-maintained roads, according to officials with the state and U.S. transportation departments.
Christopher Maag, NorthJersey.com
It’s about time. For years, a study by the Reason Foundation has been used as a data point in the debate over infrastructure. There’s just one problem – it’s an overly simplistic analysis that paints New Jersey in the worst possible light. The fact is that New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the nation, with one of the oldest infrastructures, heavy truck traffic, winters, and a large percentage of older bridges. Each of these factors is ignored in the Reason Foundation Report. If you haven’t read the Philips report, here it is.
We applaud Christopher Maag at NorthJersey.com and others at The Record for digging deeper into this issue to get closer to the truth. We hope that other reporters in New Jersey look beyond the Reason Foundation for more thorough studies on NJ’s infrastructure. Our citizens deserve as much.
We here at ELEC825 encourage everyone to take the time to learn about how our infrastructure is funded and how it contributes to the state’s economic health, not just construction jobs but warehousing, shipping, logistics, and other related industries. Not only that, but anyone that gets in the car every morning or hops on a bus or train, knows how important infrastructure is to NJ’s quality of life. The more conversations we can have in from positions of facts and knowledge the better off we will all be.
