Rail

Elmhurst's elected officials voiced support for transit investment at a town hall hosted by Congressman Joe Crowley and Council Member Daniel Dromm last night.

It was never about cost overruns. It was never about New Jersey's share of the price tag. Chris Christie's decision to kill the ARC tunnel under the Hudson River was always about two, and only two, things: the governor's unwillingness to raise the state's rock-bottom gas tax and his desire to make a name for himself among national Republicans.

Public-private partnerships have recently become a popular policy prescription for the prospect of reviving inter-city passenger rail.

All eyes are on Texas Gov. Rick Perry these days, the faraway frontrunner in the Republican race. But as the primary goes on (and on and on) more Republicans might take note of the fact that in a matchup with President Obama, only one candidate stands a chance of winning: former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

City sustainability chief David Bragdon offered some more hints about what to expect from April's update of PlaNYC this morning. Speaking at a livability conference hosted by NYU's Rudin Center, Bragdon said that the update would eschew large capital projects and feature a larger role for neighborhoods and individuals. In terms of transportation, Bragdon seemed to suggest that a call for a new Hudson River crossing of some kind would be a part of PlaNYC 2.0.

Having killed the badly-needed ARC tunnel not once but twice, you'd think that Governor Chris Christie would at least have the decency to let the issue go. But no. He's got a whole new reason for opposing it. Now, apparently, the seed of the ARC's destruction came from Christie's wife Mary Pat, who was no fan of the deep-underground Midtown terminal.

Dear Governor-Elect Kasich,

Unless something changes quickly, the Christie administration is expected to (again) kill the badly-needed ARC transit tunnel this Friday. The tunnel would double capacity for New Jersey Transit into Manhattan, providing more and faster trips for commuters, and ease the pressure on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor trains [PDF].

The largest federal transit investment in American history is on its deathbed, reports Andrea Bernstein at Transportation Nation. Three sources have told Bernstein that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is ready to pull the plug on the plan to double rail capacity under the Hudson River this week, though Christie denies his mind is made up.