NJ senators welcome buses from DOT to aid Sandy recovery

By Ramsey Cox - 11/05/12 05:47 PM ET

New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D) and Robert Menendez (D) thanked the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Monday for sending buses to help alleviate their state’s transportation problems caused by Hurricane Sandy.

“Getting our transportation system back up and running is a critical part of New Jersey's recovery from Superstorm Sandy,” Lautenberg said in a statement Monday. “The buses being dispatched to New Jersey by the federal government will add much needed capacity so that residents can go to work, reach their families, buy groceries, and resume their daily lives.”

The DOT has contracted with private operators to provide 200 buses to New Jersey, 70 of which were supposed to arrive Monday. The rest will come later this week.

“As a new work week begins, it's absolutely critical to provide New Jerseyans with more options to get to school and their jobs,” Menendez said Monday. “I thank the Department of Transportation for providing these buses which will help New Jersayans get back on the road as our transportation system struggles to get back on line. I hope this effort, combined with our efforts to increase access to fuel supply and power, will soon enable our residents to reach some semblance of normalcy in this difficult recovery process.”

President Obama and the DOT released $10 million in emergency highway funding. The funding is being distributed to the New Jersey Department of Transportation to help restore traffic services, establish detours and perform emergency repairs on roads and bridges that were damaged by Sandy.

Many in the Northeast, especially in New Jersey and New York, lost power because of the storm last week. There has also been a fuel shortage since roads have been flooded by heavy rainfall.

“As we continue working to make gas accessible, these buses will give residents another transportation option,” said Lautenberg, a member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on transportation and chairman of the Commerce Surface Transportation subcommittee. “The federal government is working vigorously to provide the resources necessary to get New Jersey moving again. We will continue to ensure the federal government is responding swiftly and thoroughly to the needs of our state.”