GET THE POLICY RIGHT. Destination: Freedom finds reason to agree with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who would like to cancel the North River Tunnels To Nowhere.

In the case of the ARC project Governor Christie of New Jersey has come under withering criticism from The New York Times, first in an editorial September 30 with rumors that he was considering cancellation, and then over the past few days from columnists Paul Krugman and Bob Herbert. At no time in those denunciations did The New York Times editorial page or its columnists disclose the true size of the current project’s looming cost over-runs, and, more importantly, at no time did The Times report that the original ARC alignment had been switched from a less expensive one that went to and through Penn Station --- allowing for transportation capacity growth serving New England and Eastern Canada to the North, and allowing one-seat ride through commuter service for example Stamford-Trenton, Newark-New Haven, etc. --- in favor if an alignment ending in a deep-cavern dead-end tunnel under Macy’s Basement which would literally be a terrorist’s dream, and serve only New Jersey Transit riders.

The same issue of Destination: Freedom includes a statement from David Peter Alan of the Lackawanna Coalition, making a case for additional North River tunnels, with a connection to Long Island, and via the Hell Gate Bridge, to Connecticut.

Are any freight trains still running on the Hell Gate Bridge? If not, there's the makings of a four-track railroad from Penn Station all the way to New Haven free of freight train interference. The mind boggles at the thought of a commuter train originating at Scranton, Pennsylvania and running through to Montauk or to New Haven.