Connector 80 Percent Complete: Chills Run Up the Spine

Oh joy. The Connector will be open for business in 15 months. Maybe. That assumes no major bumps along the planned path to completion.

The chief engineer on the project told reporters during a tour of the facility "I think the people will embrace this" and continuing, "Our hope is that 20, 30 years down the road people will say ‘I don’t know what the controversy was about.’" Does that display a lot of confidence? "Our hope"? Why did he not say, "We are sure that in 20, 30 year people will ask ‘what was the controversy about.’"

Compounding the Port Authority’s inept management of the project and their preposterous pushing to go head with Connector despite the absurd and skyrocketing cost to benefit ratio, we now learn there has been no decision made on how often trains will run or whether riders will pay a fare and if there is a fare how much it will be. That means they do not have a clue as to how many people will use the Connector. How does that mesh with their optimistic forecast of ridership during the efforts to get Federal funding? One must stand in awe of such hubris and arrogance.

Can this despicable misuse of taxpayer dollars get any more ridiculous?