'Every Transit Rider In America Owes a Huge Debt to Senator Frank Lautenberg'

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg's final tweet was about a proposed train tunnel under the Hudson River. It was a fitting coda to a career that drove transportation policy — transforming everything from smoking on airplanes to instituting stricter blood alcohol standards for drivers. 

On train travel in particular, Lautenberg never flagged, securing $6 billion in federal funding for a transit tunnel under the Hudson River and feuding with Governor Chris Christie almost until the end of his life after Christie pulled the plug on the project.

The 89-year old senator wasn't known for his oratory, or for his pithy soundbites. But when it came to transit, Lautenberg's rhetoric was unsparing.

"Your impertinence is barely tolerable," he once snapped at a senior Port Authority official during Senate testimony. But his persistence paid off — literally. “Every transit rider — not just in New Jersey but in America — owes a huge debt of gratitude to the efforts of Senator Frank Lautenberg,” said Peter Rogoff, the head of the Federal Transit Administration, at a transit conference in Philadelphia on Monday.

Lautenberg was a dogged supporter of Amtrak and he fought Republican attempts at its privatization. "When I was building my business, I learned firsthand — if you want to be successful tomorrow, you must begin laying the foundation today," he said at a 2011 hearing. "The same principle applies here. If we want to leave our children and grandchildren a better country, we must make smart investments on their behalf — and that means investing in Amtrak.”

"The reason we can get to Boston on intercity rail service in less than five and a half hours is all the work of Senator Frank Lautenberg," said Rogoff.

Lautenberg was the driving force between some of the country's most transformative transportation policies. He authored legislation banning smoking in airplanes, instituting stricter limits on blood alcohol levels for drivers, and increasing the federal drinking age to 21 — a move which experts estimate saved 25,000 lives. The senator also secured funding for a NJ Transit transfer station in Secaucus; it was named for him in 2003. On an average weekday, 23,440 NJ Transit riders pass through the Secaucus station. Lautenberg also served as a commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1978 to 1982.

In recent years, Lautenberg clashed with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over the trans-Hudson rail project known as the ARC tunnel. Lautenberg had spent years lining up billions in federal support for the project, which would have dramatically increased capacity of NJ Transit and Amtrak trains and helped address the region's infamous rail bottleneck.

Christie killed the project his first year in office.

Lautenberg called that move "tragic" and "the biggest public-policy blunder in New Jersey history." Christie responded with his trademark swagger: "I'm happy to be criticized by Senator Frank Lautenberg...it means I'm doing something right for the taxpayers in this state."

Last year, things devolved further when the Senator feuded with a Christie-appointed executive for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at a hearing that was ostensibly about toll hikes — but became a proxy for the ARC tunnel. 

In comments Monday, Christie didn't sugarcoat their relationship. "It’s no mystery that Senator Lautenberg and I didn’t always agree," he said."In fact, it probably is more honest to say we very often didn’t agree, and we had some pretty good fights between us over time." 

 "Senator Lautenberg fought for the things he believed in and sometimes he just fought because he liked to," Christie added. "I give him praise on a life well lived."

But Lautenberg got on well with another Republican, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. In 2009, LaHood said when it comes to transportation, Lautenberg "is doing it right." For his part, Lautenberg told LaHood "you're the best thing that ever happened" in a bit of live-mic theatre.

In a statement Monday, LaHood said "Frank’s tireless advocacy for transportation safety saved many lives – he truly was the Safety Senator."

Just last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced key funding to begin laying the groundwork for the Gateway Tunnel. Which led to Lautenberg's final tweet, on May 31: Worked with #Obama Admin to secure $185M for critical first segment of the new Gateway Tunnel.