(1)”Motor fuel taxes in New Jersey — as in most states, I believe — are used to pay for capital costs of new projects. Routine highway maintenance costs are paid out of general revenues in state, county and municipal budgets.”
I am sure different states handle this differently and usually not all roads are “maintained” by the state and not all roads receive state funding for their maintenance, with many county and municipal roads, in the building and maintenance phases, paid for with county or municipal debt (bonds), with the interest on the bonds paid out of general revenue - mostly property taxes.
(2)”New Jersey has one of the lowest fuel taxes in the country — and as of this year I think every penny of it is allocated to the transportation trust fund. New Jersey motorists don’t — through their fuel taxes, at least — actually pay for all the costs associated with keeping the highways in a state of good repair.”
Neither (1) or (2) addresses whether or not the state of the “transportation trust fund” is in any measure due to prior misuses (non-transportation costs) that capital from the trust funds has been applied to in prior years - to make up for other budget short falls. I have no facts before me to say that is the case, but knowing how strong the stench from Trenton is, it would not surprise me.
If there is an actual, legitimate shortfall in the “transportation trust fund” that is not derived from any prior misuse of that fund then correcting for it should employ two budgetary changes: (1)the excess from DMV fees, over and above the cost of running the DMV (millions) should be transferred to the “transportation trust fund” and (2)other areas should receive budget cuts to make up for that revenue transfer.
Thirdly, if the state is not collecting from those who use its state-built-and-maintained-roads what it actually costs to build and maintain them, then any rise in costs to those who use the roads should be across the board, in a state-gasoline tax increase and not in a fix that seeks to get enough revenue out of one segment of the drivers - those who take the state’s toll roads. At current gasoline prices, a penny or two in the gas tax would (a) not even be noticed as much as toll-road fair increases and (b)provides a larger and more stable spread of the demographics from which the revenue is expected.
Apparently Corzine thinks that he can squeeze enough revenue from the interstate truckers on the turnpike alone, with the turnpike commuters complaining too much.
Every time the state tries that, the truckers move from I-95 to I-295 (in south Jersey) as soon as they can, and then switch from I-295 to route 130 (just northwest of Ft. Dix/southeast of Trenton) until it junctions with Rt.1 outside of New Brunswick. Then they clog Rt. 1 until Newark Airport - skipping many miles (more than half) of the Turnpike toll. No, they all don’t do it, but many do and many more do whenever the turnpike tolls go up. So the state pushes commercial traffic off it’s major toll road and onto roads it is not collecting tolls on. We would get more revenue, and put less wear and tear on our non-interstate roads, if we lowered the turnpike tolls and raised the gasoline/fuel tax a smidgen - because the gasoline tax is paid by all drivers.
Before I would accept that, however, the entire state budget, in terms of revenue sources and revenue uses would have to be straightened out, the gimmicks and quick fixes removed, the wasteful spending stopped, local government made more accountable for its own problems, a state government hiring freeze put in place, any state civil service tenure policy ended and any expansion of any state service put on hold. We need to only prudently go forward from a base of the basics, not business as usual.
Not in New Jersey.
Some unique characteristics of this state are that it is: (1) small in size, and (2) located in close proximity to major cities without having any major cities itself. Because of this, the state's roadways are used by a lot of motorists from out of state who can drive all the way through the state multiple times without filling their gas tanks.
This is not an issue for autos because New Jersey's low gasoline tax makes it an attractive place for out-of-state motorists to buy fuel (this is why you have so many busy gas stations in New Jersey on major roads along the NJ-NY border). But truckers don't have the same price incentive (the state's diesel fuel tax is comparable to other states), and heavy trucks produce the most severe wear and tear -- by a wide margin -- on the state's roadways and bridges.
An ideal toll scenario for New Jersey -- though this is highly theoretical since such a thing isn't really feasible -- would be to double the tolls on the NJ Turnpike, but offer a 50% discount to anyone who doesn't travel the entire length of the roadway. That way the highest tolls are paid by motorists and truckers who are passing through without doing business in the state.