Can the Transportation Trust Fund Be Saved?

New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund pays for highway projects and some capital projects for New Jersey Transit.  By the end of next June, the TTF will run out of mony.  Assemblyman Joseph Cryan has proposed raising the user fee on motor fuels (it is not a tax) by 8¢ per year for the next 3 years, with the amount indexed to inflation after that, to maintain a funding source for the TTF.  The Lackawanna Coalition has endorsed the Cryan proposal, but on condition that the money not be used for borrowing.  Gov. Christie opposes any increase in user fees on motor fuels, and an alternate proposal would take money that would otherwise be used for the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) Project and use it to fund the TTF.