Writer says merger of roads will not produce savings

With his most flagrant disregard yet for the public’s health, safety and welfare, Gov. James McGreevey has signed into law the merger of the New Jersey Highway Authority (Parkway) and the Turnpike Authority.

The mega-bureaucracy which this will create is a travesty. Fatalities, accidents and choking pollution will continue to be a problem at Garden State Parkway toll plazas. The myth of any "savings" to be realized from the merger will soon show how poorly planned this action was.

There will be no savings realized, as the cost of the consulting contracts alone ($l4 million) to effectuate the merger will cancel the few million dollars which the administration claimed they would save. And the annual cost of collecting the tolls (the most inefficient tax perpetrated on citizens) will continue to be greater than revenue realized from tolls.

When the merger legislation was before the state Assembly recently, some insightful legislators, led by Assemblywoman Rose M. Heck (R-Bergen), attempted to amend the bill in order to bring oversight to the merger process. This would have been beneficial to New Jersey taxpayers and all who supported this should be commended. But, in the end, no amendments were accepted and the merger is in place with no oversight or accountability.

Only days after McGreevey signed the bill into law, two new pieces of the patronage pie were served up to faithful political supporters: a post paying $90,000 per year in the turnpike’s law department went to Linda Lordi Cavanaugh (former Essex County freeholder); another for $78,000 per year went to Mary Ruotolo (Union County freeholder) for her services as "administrator for patron services" at the turnpike.

One might say this is yet another example of "highway robbery." McGreevey’s campaign promise to remove parkway tolls was a disgraceful sham.

John Millett

treasurer

Citizens Against Tolls

Millstone Township