NJ lines up $2.4 billion muni bond sale for transportation fixes

New Jersey is poised to sell $2.4 billion of bonds for its transportation infrastructure, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. 

The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority is expected to issue $1.3 billion of transportation system bonds and roughly $1.1 billion of transportation program bonds through a negotiated sale in October, the Fitch report said. 

The fund is charged with modernizing statewide transportation infrastructure like highways and bridges as well as providing additional capital funding for NJ Transit — New Jersey’s public transit agency. The state is expected to extend as much as $8.8 billion in bonding authorization to the authority over the next five years, or approximately $1.76 billion annually, according to a March press release.

Fitch has rated the upcoming bonds as A, a grade that is one-notch lower than the state. The bonds are backed by annual appropriations, wrote analyst Douglas Offerman in the report.

The deal comes after NJ Transit was riddled with a spate of cancellations and massive delays earlier this summer, prompting an investigation into its rail infrastructure. 

While the probe is ongoing, Amtrak and NJ Transit haven’t identified the root cause of the service disruptions, according to a report released Tuesday by the agencies. The report said there was no “systemic” failures to pantographs — which is the overhead equipment that links trains to power wires. Amtrak also didn’t find any necessary critical repairs to substations and maintain that signal and track systems “continue to perform consistent with historic norms.”

Commuters were bombarded with transit meltdowns during a record-breaking heat wave. Last week, Governor Phil Murphy announced that fares will be waved for all modes of transportation between Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 to provide commuters with some relief after the bruising rounds of delays in June and July.