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The state of New Jersey recently proposed contributing an additional $1 billion for New Jersey Transit’s $7.5 billion Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project. Earlier this week, the New Jersey Transportation Planning Authority’s Project Prioritization Committee approved a recommendation from Gov. Jon Corzine to use highway dollars for the project. The committee’s full board will consider the measure at its meeting next week.

If approved, the contribution would raise the state’s total funding commitment to $1.5 billion. The funds would be provided during a 10-year period beginning in 2008 under a provision in the SAFETEA-LU bill that enables states to “flex” highway funds for transit projects. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has committed $2 billion for the project.

NJ Transit recently completed public hearings on the ARC project, which calls for building two new single-track tunnels beneath the Hudson River and a new station below 34th Street in Manhattan that connects with Penn Station. NJ Transit currently is working on preliminary engineering and a Final Environmental Impact Statement. The agency hopes to obtain a Full Funding Grant Agreement for the project in 2008.