NJ Watchdog: Gas tax bid stokes debate on cost of NJ highways

As Gov. Chris Christie and state lawmakers consider a 25-cent a gallon gas tax hike to raise $2 billion a year to fund transportation projects, a war of words and statistics has erupted over the high cost of highways in the Garden State.

New Jersey pays in excess of $2 million a mile per year – more than 12 times higher than the national average – to maintain 3,338 miles of state-administered roads, according to a Reason Foundation study.

Three days after a New Jersey Watchdog report, state transportation commissioner Jamie Fox called the study “inaccurate and unfair” in a column published by NJ.com.

“Without the benefit of having the numbers the Reason Foundation used to base its calculations, there is no way to independently review its findings,” wrote Fox.

“That’s strange,” replied David Hartgen, the annual study’s senior author for 21 years. “Our annual highway report is based on data that New Jersey and other states provide themselves to the federal government. And we’ve readily shared the report’s data with state transportation departments and members of the media across the country.”

The story is online at http://watchdog.org/201704/new-jersey-gas-tax-highways-cost/.