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After canceling the ARC tunnel project, Gov. Christie said he would support Amtrak's alternative tunnel plan. But he has been uncharacteristically quiet about it since.

(Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

A high-profile reform panel appointed by the governors of New York and New Jersey says the Port Authority should start selling off its real estate, focus more on transportation and lead the regional planning effort for a new tunnel to Manhattan. New Jersey's Senate President, Stephen Sweeney, says the same thing.

So where is Christie on this?

When he killed the ARC tunnel to New York nearly five years ago, Christie said -- with all apparent sincerity -- that he wanted to find another way to increase trans-Hudson capacity. He even endorsed Amtrak's plan, the Gateway tunnel project, saying he was "thrilled" with it.

But the governor has never actively pushed for this tunnel. In the Port Authority's 10-year capital plan, the commissioners allotted zero money for it. They did, however, include a redundant $1.5 billion extension of the Path train to Newark Liberty International Airport, a ridiculous scheme that Christie cooked up with United Airlines.

The governor has long had his own agenda at the Port Authority, and apparently, the Gateway project just wasn't on it.

Given Christie's history on this issue, though, he has a special responsibility to advocate for the tunnel. Yes, it might be awkward for him to demand that Port Authority put up seed money for a new tunnel to Manhattan, given that he killed the previous plan and grabbed the $1.8 billion in funding for his own transit projects. But that's the least he could do for commuters. Had he not canceled ARC, they could have had mass transit relief as soon as 2018. Now, a new Gateway tunnel wouldn't be in place until 2025, at best.

To get the federal contribution we need, we have to come up with local matching funds. It would be logical to return to the original concept of Port Authority being one of the main suppliers, as it was with ARC. That is its core mission, after all -- funding bistate transportation projects. And while the overcrowded bus terminal on 42nd Street is begging for a makeover, it shouldn't be one project or the other. We need to find ways to fund both the terminal and the tunnel. We need leadership.

Christie talks a big game, but he's been absent on this issue, just like he's been absent on the the state's Transportation Trust Fund. It's good to see Sweeney stand up in his place.

The urgency is clear. Salt left behind by Hurricane Sandy has eaten away at the tunnel walls, and the two, single-track tubes will need to be shut down for a year, one at a time, to repair all the damage. When that happens, rush hour train service will be a hellacious nightmare -- cut from 24 trains an hour to just six.

Even if a new tunnel couldn't be completed in time to stave off that calamity, it would at least prevent more in the future. Water is leaking into the inner tunnel, and when it gets cold, a special patrol has to be sent in to break off all the icicles that can knock out train power as much as 12 times a day.

We need to get serious about coming up with a plan to fund Gateway. If Christie won't be head cheerleader, then Sweeney should be.

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