If New Jersey Governor Chris Christie thinks the City or State of New York, which have higher taxes as a share of personal income than New Jersey, will pay for ARC, forget it. Andrew Cuomo evidently said that ARC project is important to New York. It is in fact important to New Jersey, and New York is already paying for part of it via the Port Authority. Without ARC, those working at high wage jobs in Manhattan might be more likely to live in New York City or suburbs on the New York side of the river. With ARC, those workers are more likely to live in New Jersey. That is the difference.
If Governor Christie and other parties can come up with a less expensive alternative, more power to them. Were it up to me, the new tunnel would have hooked into Penn Station to start with, perhaps continuing on to the Sunnyside Yards so NJT trains could relay there. But otherwise, New York’s elected officials should work to get that money diverted to projects such as East Side Access and the Second Avenue Subway that New York is struggling to fund. Give Christie $1 billion of the Port Authority money to get through next year’s budget, and use $2 billion for New York’s long term needs.