The damage from Monday’s hailstorm was severe and widespread in the Denver metro area

Is Monday’s hailstorm among the costliest to hit the Denver area? Agency that tallies them in “wait and see” mode
Reports of broken windows , flooding and damaged cars ripple across metro area



RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post Jesus Munoz, of Professional Restoration, hooks up hoses to dry out the Colorado Mills Mall on May 9, 2017 in Lakewood, Colorado. The mall’s roof was damaged in the recent hail storm.
By John Aguilar | jaguilar@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: May 9, 2017 at 4:53 pm | UPDATED: May 10, 2017 at 7:05 am


The damage from Monday’s hailstorm was severe and widespread in the Denver metro area, breaking out windows at a university, flooding sections of a hospital and shattering windshields and pummeling roofs on scores of cars.

But was the storm destructive enough to make it on to the top 10 list of Colorado’s most damaging hailstorms?
Colorado’s Costliest Hail Storms
July 11, 1990 • Denver Metro
$1.1 billion (2015 dollars) / $625M (cost when occurred)
July 20, 2009 • Denver Metro
$845.5M / $767.6M
June 13-14, 1984 • Denver Metro
$629.3M / $276.7M
June 6-15, 2009 • Denver Metro
$389.2M / $353.3M
Oct. 1, 1994 • Denver Metro
$358.8M / $225M
July 28, 2016 • Colorado Springs
$352.8M / $352.8M
June 6-7, 2012 • Front Range
$330.5M / $321.1M
July 29, 2009 • Pueblo
$256.5M / $232.8M
Sept. 29, 2014 • Denver Metro
$213.4M / $213.3M
May 22, 2008 • Windsor
$212.3M / $193.5M
July 13, 2011 • Front Range
$173.1M / $164.8M

Source: Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Assoc.

“We’re still in a ‘wait and see’ mode,” said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, which tallies the financial cost of storms and natural disasters in Colorado. “But any time we start using sports terms — gold ball, tennis ball or baseball sized — we’re concerned that it’s a catastrophic event.”

A quick scroll through Twitter on Monday turned up plenty of photos from in and around Denver of hailstones that meet those oft-used size comparisons, and a National Weather Service meteorologist confirmed that the largest piece of falling ice reported was 2¾ inches in diameter. It landed near Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge.

“We got a lot of hail — and it was big and it was ugly,” said Sarah Ellis, a spokeswoman for Lutheran. “The water damage in the hospital was the main damage we had.”

Still, out in the hospital’s parking lot, “dozens” of cars ended up with busted windshields and dinged hoods, she said.

Colorado’s most destructive hailstorm to date goes back nearly 27 years, when a July 11, 1990, storm wrought $1.1 billion in damage in today’s dollars. Second on the list is an $845.5 million icy wallop in July 2009.

Matt Genova, assistant vice president of personal lines for Greenwood Village-based insurance outfit CCIG, said if forecasts for more hail on Tuesday come true, this week’s series of storms may get categorized as one event.


“That right there could potentially push it toward the higher end of the rankings,” he said.

That was the case eight years ago when storms on nine consecutive days in June were lumped together as a single event, pushing it to fourth on the state’s list of costliest hailstorms in 2015 dollars. Genova said he and his colleagues were fielding calls from homeowners and motorists until 7 p.m. Monday and were back at it early Tuesday.







Fred Zietz cleans up after the recent hail storm on May 9, 2017 in Lakewood, Colorado.

“Based on the volume of calls, it seems pretty severe,” he said.

Walker said the size of the hail, particularly in areas west of Denver, could render a large number of vehicles undrivable as people await windshield replacement and more serious repairs. Denver-area auto glass shops reported being “swamped” with calls from people whose car windows got smashed in the storm.

“This could result in more totaled vehicles, not just telltale dimples,” Walker said.

The damage to vehicles was not limited to commuters. At Lakewood Windish RV Center, one of the largest retailers of Airstreams in the metro area, about a hundred of the signature silver aluminum trailers were damaged by Monday’s hail. Michelle Becker, who works at the business, called the damage to inventory “devastating.”

“We got hit really hard,” she said.

As did Colorado Mills, which is just a few miles away from Windish on West Colfax Avenue. The mall closed after hail busted skylights and caused extensive flooding inside stores.

“Our team is working to ensure the property is safe and continues to evaluate the extent of repairs needed for our retailers to get back to business as soon as possible,” the mall wrote on its Facebook page Tuesday.

Lakewood spokeswoman Stacie Oulton said the city saw damage at its heritage center and municipal building from the storm and that 50 city vehicles were damaged. Calls to the city’s dispatch center spiked in the hour during which the storm raged — the 160 calls that came in were two to three times the normal volume, Oulton said.

One of those calls concerned two motorists fighting over a covered parking spot at a Walgreens on West Colfax Avenue. A man, desperate to protect his vehicle from the hail, pulled a gun on a woman who was driving into the space, Oulton said.

But despite Monday’s chaos, she doesn’t think the storm will match the ferocity and damage wrought by a fierce hailstorm on July 20, 2009. After that event, Lakewood issued 15,000 roofing permits.

“We don’t think this storm is quite there yet,” she said.
Andy Cross, The Denver PostBroken windows at Beach Court Elementary School on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. The school was closed for the day to repair damage inside and out due Monday’s severe hail storm.


Wheat Ridge City Manager Patrick Goff agreed, saying the 2009 storm, with its sideways winds caused more damage to homes than Monday’s. But he noted the scope of vehicle damage this time around — including to 60 percent of the city’s fleet — that was likely due to the storm arriving shortly before evening rush hour.

At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the Denver West area, only one of 3,000 solar panels was cracked by hail.

History-making or not, Monday’s storm was terrifying for those who found themselves in its sights. Gina Leyba, a project manager for the web team at Regis University, said what she experienced this week was unlike anything she had seen in the 20 years she has worked at the northwest Denver school.

She watched a window in her office shatter — one of 60 windows that were broken at the university — as the storm blew in from the west. “The size of the hail that hit — you could tell it was large,” Leyba said. “It was crazy — I’ve never seen anything like it.

Gary Kendall, 51, died during an ice and water rescue training exercise in Point Edward, Ont. that lacked safety measures

Ice rescue training lacked safety measures, according to Ministry of Labour report on firefighter's death

Gary Kendall, 51, died during an ice and water rescue training exercise in Point Edward, Ont.

By Makda Ghebreslassie, CBC News Posted: May 09, 2017 6:00 AM ET Last Updated: May 09, 2017 9:05 AM ET
Statements from trainees and expert witnesses included in the 2010 Ministry of Labour investigation into Gary Kendall's death are expected to be re-evaluated at a coroner's inquest that begins Tuesday.

Kendall, 51, died after participating in an ice and water rescue training exercise in Point Edward, Ont., in January 2010.
Volunteer Ont. firefighter dies in mock rescue

In the ministry's final report, it concluded "every precaution reasonable in the protection of a worker" was not done.

Moving ice 'pushed him under the surface'

The report, filed by inspector Dennis Wilson, describes how the volunteer firefighter drowned during an ice and water rescue training course that took place where the St. Clair River meets Lake Huron.

The details spell out how trainees were tasked with "swimming out and climbing up onto an ice sheet."

But Kendall ran into trouble when "the moving ice pushed him under the surface of the water," according to Wilson's report.

Kendall would surface four minutes later. CPR was performed, but he died the next day.


Volunteer firefighters from the Point Edward Fire Department are among those carrying the body of fellow firefighter Gary Kendall, 51. (CBC/Heather Wright)

One of the disputed aspects of what happened is who was supervising the training.

The ministry investigator's findings point to Terry Harrison, the owner and instructor of Herschel Rescue Training Systems, and the Village of Point Edward Fire Chief Doug MacKenzie.

Harrison has always denied that he was running the course.

But in a written statement submitted for the ministry's investigation, Daniel Nelles, a Sarnia firefighter and Lambton paramedic who participated in the training exercise, said the man whose nickname was Herschel was in charge.

Nelles recalled Harrison gave the advice "not to think but to just attack the ice."

In a radio interview with CBC Toronto, Harrison said he was there as a friend of the department and to improve his own skills. He also claimed it was "a fire department training exercise. I decided to go to it as Terry Harrison, not as Herschel Rescue. Herschel Rescue was never hired."

But the ministry's report concluded both Harrison and MacKenzie met the definition of a supervisor as "a person who has charge of a workplace or authority over a worker."

Charges were laid under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. MacKenzie's were later dropped and when Harrison's case went to the Ontario Court of Justice, the judge rejected the ministry's conclusion that Harrison was a supervisor and he was acquitted.

In his decision, the judge explained that although Harrison had provided course training to the department in previous years, the evidence didn't support the claim he'd been hired to lead this course. The village of Point Edward was fined $75,000 for failing to protect its worker.


'I want there to be standards' says Myrissa Kendall, who fought to have an coroner's inquest into her father's death. (Christopher Langenzarde/CBC News)

Gary Kendall's family says after seven years fighting for an inquest, they want industry changes laid.
Daughter of firefighter killed in training exercise hopes inquest saves lives

"I hope that the recommendations are made and that they're followed through with," says Kendall's daughter Myrissa Kendall.

In particular, Kendall wants to see the province regulate private companies that offer water and ice training courses.

"I don't want just another document that's clearly filed away," she said.
Expert witnesses

Regulations may be lacking, but experts in the field say there are industry guidelines for this type of training.

In the ministry's report, William Edward Hammond, with the Office of the Fire Marshal and Ontario Fire College stated trainees are supposed to be briefed before getting in the water and that "the precourse takes six to seven hours."

He also said participants' skills should first be tested in a pool.

Charles Gordon Murray Roesch, an instructor at the Ontario Fire College, made similar statements to the ministry investigator.

When asked how many instructors would be assigned to a course for 17 participants, Roesch responded "we would have at least four and a safety officer."

Roesch and Hammond both said that a buddy system should be in place.

As for the ideal training location, Hammond said anything with a current of more than one knot is unacceptable.

The ministry's report indicates Kendall's group was in the water about two hours after the course began and there was no pool session. There was also no buddy system and a "strong current" that day of 14 miles per hour (12 knots).

The coroner's inquest is expected to last two weeks. Between 15 and 18 witnesses will testify.

============

Volunteer Ont. firefighter dies in mock rescue

CBC News Posted: Feb 01, 2010 8:59 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 01, 2010 8:56 AM ET

An Ontario volunteer firefighter is dead after a training exercise took a deadly turn near Sarnia on Saturday.

Gary Kendall, 51, of Point Edward was taking part in a water rescue drill when he got trapped under a sheet of ice.

The man's fellow firefighters managed to pull Kendall to safety, and he was taken to Bluewater Health hospital where he died Sunday morning from his injuries.
'It's a wake up call that it's your neighbour, it's your brother right next door and you know, I think it wakes everybody up.' —Pat Cayen, Sarnia Fire Chief

The death has shaken many in Point Edward, a village of about 2,000 people at the mouth of the St.Clair River.

Its fire department is almost entirely volunteer, made up of 30 residents, and a paid fire prevention officer and fire chief.

Pat Cayen, chief of the nearby Sarnia Fire Department, said he spoke with Point Edward Fire Chief Doug MacKenzie on Sunday to express his condolences on behalf his force, and others across the country that rely on volunteers to save lives.

"It's a slap in the face, " Cayen told CBC News. "It's a wake up call that it's your neighbour, it's your brother right next door and you know I think it wakes everybody up."

Cayen said Kendall's death in the line of duty will remind all firefighters of the dangers they face each day.

Kendall leaves behind a wife and three children.

Cayen said the family has not yet made funeral arrangements but that he expects firefighters to come from across North America to pay their respects.

"[There's] a lot of sorrow in the whole fire community, not just in Point Edward, but the whole fire services is feeling the same way to lose one of our own," said Cayen. The Ontario Provincial Police Lambton crime unit and forensic identification unit are investigating. The Ministry of Labour has also been contacted

Overexertion During Exercise With Heart Trouble: Chicago Fire Department Chief Michael V. Murphy, 56, suffered a massive heart attack Chicago while he was taking part in a water polo event at Mount Carmel High School

 

SOME PEOPLE DO NOT THEIR LIMITS AND OVEREXERT THEIR HEARTS

 

Wednesday, May 10, 2017 02:00PM

CHICAGO, IL --

A Chicago Fire Department chief suffered a massive heart attack and died Sunday afternoon.

Chief Michael V. Murphy, 56, was taking part in an aquatic event at Mount Carmel High School on the South Side with his 16-year-old son when he suffered a massive heart attack, according to a statement from the Chicago Fire Department.

Murphy, of the Beverly neighborhood, was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center where he died at 3:57 p.m. Sunday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Murphy, who joined the department in October 1996, achieved the rank of Deputy District Chief and was named the Commanding Fire Marshal in February 2015, according to the statement. The position heads up the Office of Fire Investigation, which determines the cause and origin of structure and vehicular fires in Chicago.

Murphy was the catalyst for newly passed city ordinance that requires the victims of vehicle fires to report fires to the police and fire departments before filing an insurance claim to avoid fraudulent claims, according to the statement.

He leaves behind wife Sara, daughter Clara and sons John and Will, according to the statement.

Services for Chief Murphy are scheduled, with a visitation planned Thursday at St. Barnabas, 3:30-9 p.m., and a funeral Friday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Barnabas, 10134 S. Longwood Drive, Chicago.


==============



BEVERLY — Chicago Fire Department Chief Michael V. Murphy, 56, died Sunday after attending a water polo match at Mount Carmel High School in Woodlawn.

Murphy, a Beverly resident, led the department's Office of Fire Investigations. He was a member of St. Barnabas Parish and is survived by his wife of 31 years, Sarah, and their three children — Clare, John and William.

Murphy's son Will is a captain on the Caravan's water polo team, and Murphy suffered a suspected heart attack in a father-son water polo match on Sunday at the school at 6410 S Dante Ave. in Woodawn, said Dan LaCount, Mount Carmel's athletic director.

"I knew him as a father. He was a great dad," LaCount said Monday.

"All the kids on the water polo team knew him, and he was super encouraging," he said. "It's a tremendous loss for their family, and we respect their time to be together."

Murphy joined the fire department in October 1996. He was named the commanding fire marshal in February 2015 — a position tasked with determining the cause of structure and vehicle fires in the city.

Murphy was also the catalyst for an ordinance that requires the victims of vehicle fires to report such fires before any insurance claims are made. The new law has been credited for a decrease in fraudulent insurance claims involving automobile fires, said Larry Langford, a fire department spokesman.

Before joining the fire department, Murphy served as a physics teacher at St. Rita High School in Ashburn. He also coached cross country there in the early 1990s, according to a spokesman from the all-boys Catholic school.


The Ende, Menzer, Walsh & Quinn Retirees', Widows' and Children’s Assistance Fund will provide financial assistance to Murphy's children, said Bill Sullivan, who works for the group dedicated to widows and orphans of Chicago Fire Department personnel.

Visitation will be held from 3:30-9 p.m. Thursday at St. Barnabas Church, 10134 S. Longwood Drive. A funeral Mass for relatives and friends will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Barnabas.

==================




Overexertion During Exercise With Heart Trouble
by WALT PICKUT Last Updated: Oct 17, 2011




Overexertion can damage your heart and raise your risk of stroke or sudden death if you already have heart trouble, according to the Heart Failure Society of America and Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Symptoms of heart strain may occur with overexertion if you exceed target heart rates for your sex and age. Consult your physician to determine optimum exercise levels.

Heart Damage

Heart trouble can be caused by coronary artery disease. This is when your coronary arteries are too narrow to supply extra blood -- with its extra oxygen and nutrients -- to your heart muscles during strenuous exercise, according to a 2003 report published in "Clinical Chemistry" by researchers at the Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre of the University Hospital of Ghent in Belgium. When you reach a state of overexertion, your heart muscle can become too weak or can't conduct electrical impulses improperly. Over time this can damage portions of your heart muscle or cause abnormal heart rhythms, leading to a heart attack or sudden death.

Stroke

With atrial fibrillation, your atria -- the collecting chambers that receive blood from your body and lungs before your ventricles pump it back out -- twitch feebly instead of beating. This allows blood to stagnate in your atria and form clots. Overexertion can break the clots loose and allow them to travel to your brain, to clog arteries and to cause a stroke. If you have atrial fibrillation, your doctor may prescribe medicine to prevent blood clotting, which may allow you to enjoy more exercise.

Irregular Rhythm

According to a November 2009 report released by Johns Hopkins Medicine, individuals who develop erratic heartbeats during or after extreme exercise are at no excess risk of dying from a heart attack if they have a normal heart. However, the same erratic heartbeats during or after exercise in a person with underlying coronary heart disease could increase her risk of dying from a fatal heart rhythm. She should avoid arduous exercise if this is the case.

Symptoms

The Heart Failure Society of America advises people with heart trouble to become aware of the symptoms of overexertion. If you exercise too strenuously, you may become so short of breath that you can't finish a sentence without gasping for a breath, and this may persist even after you stop working out. Abnormal heart rhythms, which you may feel as skipped beats by checking your pulse, can cause dizziness or extreme fatigue, sweating, nausea and vomiting. Chest, chin, arm or back pain may also accompany overexertion. Heart Failure Society of America advises calling 911 if these symptoms persist or worsen.

WATER SUPPLY IN NEW JERSEY: More than two decades in the making, the state’s Water Supply blueprint finally has been updated

Long-Awaited Plan for Management of Water Resources in New Jersey

says the state has enough water to meet future needs provided it increases conservation, addresses the deteriorating pipework beneath the streets of many older cities, and achieves connections between systems.

Jon Hurdle | May 3, 2017
More than two decades in the making, the state’s Water Supply blueprint finally has been updated to the surprise of many who thought Christie administration would run out the clock on it 

Skeptics said it would have to wait until Gov. Chris Christie leaves office, and politicians said development plans couldn’t be made without it — but 21 years after it was last published, the New Jersey Water Supply Plan has finally been updated.

The long-awaited document, last published in 1996 despite a legal requirement for an update every five years, has been repeatedly demanded by water-supply professionals, political leaders and environmentalists who say it is an essential tool that allows the state to plan for development, make allowance for droughts, and avoid the environmental damage that comes with over-pumping streams.

The blueprint also traditionally looks at water-quality standards, what capital improvements are needed, and whether there should be interconnections between water systems.

Report says NJ has enough water

The new document, published by the Department of Environmental Protection late Monday, says the state has enough water to meet future needs provided it increases conservation, addresses the deteriorating pipework beneath the streets of many older cities, and achieves connections between systems.

Per-capita use of potable water dropped to about 125 gallons per day in 2015 from 155 gallons per day in 1990, due in part to the increased use of more water-saving devices in people’s homes, the report says. It estimates that of 1,520 million gallons a day that’s available to the state, 211 million gallons goes unused.

The report divides the state into 20 “watershed management areas,” of which four are “stressed” and another 11 would become stressed if their waterways were pumped at rates allowed by current permits. It says that withdrawals from surface water sources and aquifers should strike a balance between human and ecological needs.

Its recommendations include working with farmers to better assess future needs, planning for droughts, and coordinating policy with the local management plans for the Highlands and Pinelands regions.

The biggest challenges for water-supply planners, the report says, include shifts in residential populations and industries, the unpredictable weather that is expected to come with climate change, and dim public awareness of the need to invest in decaying water infrastructure.

Calls for ‘improved asset management’

“This Plan promotes improved asset management, targeted investment in our existing infrastructure and new projects that will improve the interconnection and operability of our existing water supply assets,” the 92-page document says.

The report’s release in the final months of the Christie administration surprised many observers, some of whom had said the governor didn’t want to release a report that might be negative for development interests. Skeptics had predicted that any update would have to wait for a new governor.

“New Jersey has been flying blind with respect to the sustainability of its water supply,” said Chris Sturm, managing director for policy and water at New Jersey Future. “It’s going to take some time to review this, but it’s a great step forward, and frankly, a big relief to have what looks like a comprehensive framework for balancing traditional water use with protection of our water resources.”

Sturm said the document would “finally kick off an important conversation” which will include three public meetings on the plan at different locations in July.

Published after ‘decades’ of waiting

But Bob Kecskes, who headed the DEP’s water supply planning section for 25 years until he retired in 2011, criticized the report’s division of the state into broad watershed management areas which he said ignore serious water shortages in smaller sub-watersheds.

In reality, Kecskes argued, there are about 150 watersheds in New Jersey, of which about a third are in “deficit,” meaning that they are being ecologically damaged because too much water is being withdrawn from them. He said he made the deficit assessment before leaving the DEP but after the last report was published in 1996.

“When you look at the state water supply availability from 150 watersheds, it doesn’t look good,” Kecskes said. “So they combined everything into the bigger watershed management areas. There’s so much masking that can occur, that it becomes of limited utility.”

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-9th) welcomed the plan, saying he was pleased that Gov. Christie had finally published it after “decades” of waiting. “Clean water is a precious resource that should not be wasted,” Pascrell said in a statement. “Thankfully, the wheels have been put in motion to ensure just that.”

‘Flawed and incomplete’

Jennifer Coffey, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, and a member of the state’s Water Supply Advisory Council — which repeatedly urged the administration to release the plan — also said the new document represents a step forward. “I’m happy to see that the State of New Jersey is taking its obligations seriously by putting forward a plan that is more than 20 years overdue,” she said.

But Coffey said some sections of the report, such as where water comes from, appears to be a compilation of data that was already on the DEP website, while other sections such as promoting the efficient use of freshwater resources don’t qualify as policies. “That’s a given, not a policy,” she said.

The most negative review came from New Jersey Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel who called the document “out-of-date, flawed and incomplete” and accused it of failing to address groundwater contamination, climate change and sea-level rise.

“We’ve waited 20 years for the Water Supply Master Plan update and it is so flawed that it shouldn’t have been released,” Tittel said in a statement. “It is no wonder the DEP kept the plan quiet for so many years because it doesn’t come up with a plan to protect our water supply.”

NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY'S MASSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEM: The last two months have seen two derailments at Penn Station and a train carrying 1,200 passengers stranded for three hours in a Hudson River Tunnel.

 INFRASTRUCTURE HELL-STATES

The mass transit system has not been kind to New Jersey commuters.

The last two months have seen two derailments at Penn Station and a train carrying 1,200 passengers stranded for three hours in a Hudson River Tunnel. Due to chronic delays, NJ Transit now offers “late passes” for commuters who as a result arrive late for work. Unfortunately this is nothing new, and treating hard-working professionals like high schoolers is insulting. From January 2011 through July 2016, NJ Transit experienced 157 accidents — more than any other commuter railroad in the nation.

On top of this, President Trump’s proposed budget threatens to derail the Gateway Tunnel project designed to upgrade the Hudson River tunnels and double much needed rail capacity. The recent budget agreement to provide funding for the federal government through September does include extra funds for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which is an encouraging sign. But the Hudson rail drama illustrates how poor planning, chronic underfunding and fractured governance have compromised the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

The rail tunnels that carry Amtrak and NJ Transit lines between New Jersey and New York have been operating since 1910. In fact, much of the region’s transportation system — the NYC subway and PATH, the rail tunnels and major bridges — were constructed before 1940. Since the mid-1980s, the percentage of New Jersey out-of-state commuters using transit has increased from 39 percent to 52 percent, making NJ Transit the country’s third busiest transit system. According to the Regional Plan Association, Hudson rail travel increased 140 percent in over 25 years, and is projected to double even more by 2040.
There was a plan proposed in the 1990s to add new rail lines called the ARC Tunnel. The original concept was ambitious and called for building a rail link between Newark Penn Station and Grand Central. But it became so watered down, by 2008, the proposed tunnel was unconnected to any existing rails. Sierra Club’s Jeff Tittel dubbed it the “Tunnel to Macy’s Basement.” The plan was eventually canceled by Gov. Chris Christie in 2010 over funding disputes.

The Hudson tunnels were subsequently flooded with salt water during Superstorm Sandy, resulting in permanent damage. We are now left with a system that has a service capacity of less than 20 years remaining. Apparently, when it comes to transportation, we are coasting off the backs of previous generations with no apparent concern for the next.

Last year, the federal government, New York and New Jersey finally reached a funding arrangement for the Gateway project. Both Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Christie agreed to the creation of the Gateway Project Development Corp. to coordinate the effort. The construction of a new tunnel from Newark to Manhattan’s Penn Station would allow the existing tunnels to be closed and repaired. If one or both existing tunnels are closed without an alternative, as our current limitations would require, the result would be unprecedented gridlock and immeasurable lost productively. Approximately 13 percent of Manhattan’s professional workforce commutes from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, a 23 percent increase from 1990. In addition to attracting high-skilled workers, jobs and residents to the New York Metropolitan area, these tunnels are a critical component of the Northeast Corridor, which stretches from Boston to Washington, D.C., transporting over 750,000 riders per day and contributing $50 billion annually to the economy. Any disruption to this critical flow is a disaster waiting to happen.

As infrastructure deteriorates, the cost of maintenance and repair only gets more expensive. Yet the Department of Transportation estimates that the nation’s mass transit systems have a backlog of over $90 billion in maintenance costs. But the problem isn’t just one of maintenance. We need smarter planning to meet the demands of changing demographics. This includes expanding mass transit to better connect different regions, absorb population growth, and ease overall congestion and pollution.

Well-designed transportation systems are essential to economic vitality and urban renewal. Our nation’s population is expected to grow by 70 million over the next several decades. Much of that growth will be centered around cities and urban areas that rely on mass transit. As the population ages, the elderly will need transport options to stay connected. Millennials already use mass transit at higher levels than previous generations, a trend that is expected to continue.
But as the ARC and Gateway plans demonstrate, launching new projects is often frustrated by a lack of coordination and bickering over who pays for what due to divided governance and special interests. There are a myriad of separate and often competing agencies, each responsible for different modes of transport. For example, NJ Transit manages intrastate public transportation; the Port Authority of NY and NJ operates bridges, tunnels, airports, seaports and the PATH transit system; and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is responsible for public transport in New York and southwestern Connecticut. In addition, Penn Station is owned and operated by Amtrak, even though NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road account for a larger share of its use.

Last year, the city of Santa Fe commissioned a feasibility study to look into consolidating its transit system with the North Central Regional Transit District. In the 1990s, the Los Angeles County Metro Transport Authority was created from the successful merging of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which had overlapping responsibilities and frequently failed to properly coordinate.

The Tri-State region also needs to upgrade transportation governance and coordination to create a truly integrated regional system. This could include finally connecting Newark Penn Station to the Grand Central terminal. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg innovatively proposed connecting the NYC subway to the Secaucus Junction. There are also accountability issues with Amtrak operating Penn Station when less than 13 percent of the daily trains carry Amtrak passengers. One viable solution would be to merge the operation into a single entity called “One Penn Station” to govern the facility and better address local needs.

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised a trillion-dollar infrastructure investment. A good start would be to ensure long-term funding for the Gateway project. As former Transportation secretary Anthony Foxx noted, “We have too often misstated the problem as simply one of funding when it may be one of both resources and design.” The long-term success of our nation’s transportation depends upon smart planning, coordinated governance and sufficient funding for projects such as Gateway.