Corzine: N.J. Turnpike plan will not be sale or lease

Corzine: N.J. Turnpike plan will not be sale or lease New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said Thursday that his plan to raise money using the New Jersey Turnpike would not involve a sale or lease to a for-profit company or a foreign operator.
   But despite accusing Republican politicians in the state of engaging in “political demagoguery” in criticizing his plans for “asset monetization” of state highways, Corzine, a Democrat, failed to explain what his plan would involve.
   That prompted Republican Senate leader Leonard Lance to call for details of the plan before this fall’s state election.
   Lance was quoted in the New York Times as saying Corzine’s statement on the plan reminding him of “Richard Nixon’s secret plan to end the Vietnam War.”
   Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, highway plans are also coming under fire. The Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association said a bill passed by the Pennsylvania House earlier this week would put tolls along Interstate 80, study putting tolls on I-95, and bonding the Pennsylvania turnpike.
   OOIDA urged truckers to contact Pennsylvania senators to oppose the plan.
   Pennsylvania state Rep. Richard Geist said the state House legislation, which calls for revenues gained to fund mass transit and transportation projects throughout the state, is not legal.
   Geist said an opinion he sought from James Ray, chief counsel for the Federal Highway Administration, said the Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program, the law that would permit tolls on I-80, would restrict the funds to being used to operate, maintain and pay debt on the road.