N.J. road, rail construction shutdown heads into second week

Originally appeared in New Jersey Star-Ledger
By: Samantha Marcus
July 16, 2016

One week into a statewide public road and rail construction shutdown, the Department of Transportation says it has not identified any projects that need to be restarted.

Construction projects came to a halt just before midnight on June 8 amid a standoff between the state Senate and Gov. Chris Christie over funding the Transportation Trust Fund, which finances transportation and transit projects across New Jersey.

With an executive order, he froze $3.5 billion in what the administration deemed nonessential work, including more than 900 road projects and hundreds more rail projects.

Christie said the orderly shutdown was necessary to preserve remaining trust fund dollars for the most important projects and emergencies.

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