James S. Simpson Commissioner, NJDOT Member, Planning & Economic Development Committee

James S. Simpson, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration shared remarks on Feb 13, 2008 at the National Transit Forum in Ottawa, Ontario Click here for the article

"The Turnpike and the Parkway are already tolled, so you can't toll a toll road," state Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson said. "So that leaves you with (interstates) 78, 80, and the other roads like that, where you can do it. We looked at it - superficially, but we've looked at it - even before I got here. The problem is, you get people in a HOT lane, you'll give them a little bit of time. And then when you get to the urban core or wherever they need to go, they're going to be backed up, anyway." Simpson said New Jersey's compact geography works against it. "If we wanted to get people from Morristown to the Lincoln Tunnel, or really give people an expressway where they need to go, it would be very difficult," he said. Not that Simpson doesn't think they could work elsewhere. "I lived in Washington, D.C., for a while," said Simpson, former head of the Federal Transit Administration. I'm surprised that Simpson has come out against this type of "solution".

261, No. 18, P. 26; Cho, Aileen; Florkowski, Joe; Parsons, Jim Federal Transit Administration chief James Simpson warned at the American Public Transportation Association's annual conference in October that the industry is "missing profound opportunities" in public-private alliances, and he called on members to study how other countries are investing vast sums in rail projects with private partners.

NJ Transit Chairman James S. Simpson, the state's transportation commissioner, told Reuters on Saturday he knew of no such investigation.