Mobilizing the Region » Zoe Baldwin

Christie: An Anti-Transit Governor?

Zoe Baldwin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:22:57 +0000

Christie, during his budget speech.

Addressing a joint session of the state legislature yesterday morning, Governor Christie announced that he will cut state funding to NJ Transit by $33 million as part of an effort to close the state’s $2 billion budget deficit. He charged the agency with “patronage hiring” and suggested that it look to service cuts and fare increases to make up the difference. The cut comes on top of a $62 million cut enacted last year, and Christie’s transportation transition team has warned that the agency will face a $200 million budget gap in the next fiscal year.

“It’s increasingly looking like we have an anti-transit governor,” Tri-State Transportation Campaign executive director Kate Slevin told the Associated Press in response. Christie ruled out increasing the state gas tax earlier this year.

TSTC and a broad coalition of business, labor, environmental, and planning groups immediately called on Governor Christie to reconsider his proposal, saying that transit fare increases and service cuts would hurt the state’s economy and environment, and that commuters will face drastically higher fares, longer waits at stations, more congestion on roadways, and worsened air pollution.

“Raising fees for transit use, instead of raising fees for road use, will dampen the years of progress that the state has made increasing transit ridership, focusing growth and redevelopment near transit stations and working to get more cars off the road,” said Peter Kasabach, executive director of NJ Future. NJ Transit ridership has increased by almost 50% over the past decade, far outpacing the increase in driving.

State Assembly Transportation Chair John Wisniewski said his committee would review the budget cuts, saying that any resulting fare hikes would represent “increasing taxes on working families.”

Opportunities to Respond

Governor Christie is sending the wrong message for the state’s transportation priorities by penalizing transit riders while refusing to consider an increase in the gas tax or other driver user fees. Luckily, the public has the opportunity to speak out:

Wednesday, February 17 – 10am in the State House Annex, Committee Room 11. The Assembly Budget Committee will be taking testimony on any of the cuts in Governor Christie’s proposal.
Wednesday, February 17 – NJ Transit Board meeting at 2pm at NJTransit Headquarters, 1 Penn Plaza East, Newark NJ.
Thursday, February 18 – 10am in the State House Annex, Committee Room 11. The Assembly Transportation Committee will hold a hearing specifically on the transit cuts.

By law, NJ Transit must also hold public hearings before implementing any fare increases or service cuts that result from the slashes to state aid. MTR will publish the dates and time of those hearings after they are announced.

Image: Matt Rainey/Star-Ledger.

Parents Take a Stand at Newark’s Speedway Elementary

Zoe Baldwin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:00:55 +0000

The new Speedway Elementary School was built near two busy roads and the Garden State Parkway.

As previously reported in MTR, the new Speedway Elementary School was built along two very busy roadways and near ramps for the Garden State Parkway, without a playground or safe access to a large park across the street. The new building will house K-5 in its first year of operation, with pre-kindergarten and middle school students moving in during the 2011-12 school year.

Officials from the Schools Development Authority, NJDOT, NJ State Senate, Essex County and the City of Newark have been invited to help the community address concerns before children move into the new building. The agenda will cover the lack of crossing guards and the need for traffic calming near the school, the lack of a permanent certificate of occupancy, the lack of a security plan to deal with the troubled public housing development next door, the lack of a playground, and lack of outside space for children in case of a fire or other emergency.

On Wednesday, February 3, the parents and community of Speedway Elementary School in Newark will meet at 6:30pm at the old Speedway school (26 Speedway Ave.) on these issues. The meeting is hosted by Councilman Ron Rice, in conjunction with the school’s Parent Liaison, the Speedway PTA, One Newark Education Coalition, and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

Image: Google Maps.

Christie Leaves Door Open for NJ Transit Hikes, Cuts

Zoe Baldwin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:18:55 +0000

Atlantic City Rail Line riders have expressed concern over the elimination of a popular morning rush hour train.

January has been an ominous month for New Jersey’s transit riders. At the press conference where he announced his picks to lead the state’s transportation agencies, Gov. Christie reiterated his opposition to a gas tax increase, saying that ”the people of New Jersey are taking too much money out of their own pocket already for the operations of state government.” But the governor refused to rule out transit fare hikes and service cuts.

Transit riders found more cause for concern when NJ Transit cut nine train runs on the Main/Bergen, Montclair-Boonton, Atlantic City Rail and Raritan Valley Lines and made changes to 51 bus routes as part of what the agency called “adjustments” based on declining ridership and changing travel patterns.

Riders have a different vantage point. Atlantic City Rail Line riders, for example, say that cuts to morning rush hour trains will force them to arrive at work either too early or late.

In a statement, the Tri-State Campaign warned that without stable funding from Trenton, these cuts could be the first of many. The Campaign also asked NJ Transit to hold public hearings and list the number of riders affected by each cut, which the MTA did when it announced service cuts last year.

Image: Atlantic City Line train near Ashland station. Via Jeremiah Cox.

Experienced Picks For NJ Transportation Agencies

Zoe Baldwin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:32:32 +0000

From left: NJDOT Commissioner nominee Jim Simpson, NJ Transit Executive Director nominee Jim Weinstein.

Moments ago, incoming Governor Chris Christie announced that Jim Simpson is his nominee to head the NJ Department of Transportation and Jim Weinstein will lead NJ Transit. Both come to their positions with plenty of transportation experience.

New NJDOT nominee Jim Simpson was head of the Federal Transit Administration between 2006 and 2008, where he supported the ARC Tunnel. He served for 10 years as a board member of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority as a member of the Finance, NYC Transit, and Governance Committees. Taking the reins at NJ Transit will be Jim Weinstein, a former NJDOT commissioner under Gov. Whitman and most recently a senior vice president at AECOM.

Despite Simpson’s support for then-Gov. Corzine’s 2008 “asset monetization” plan to fund transportation, Governor Christie reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to finding a transportation funding solution that does not involve raising new revenue. PolitickerNJ quoted the incoming Governor as saying, “I’ve had extensive conversations with Jim Simpson and Jim Weinstein about the Transportation Trust Fund situation, and again, we’re not going to be raising the gas tax,” he said. “Their charge is to figure out how we’re going to fix this without raising the gas tax.” That may prove difficult.

Images: Federal Transit Administration/Burlington County Times.

Speedway Elementary: Where Kids Learn to Dodge Cars

Zoe Baldwin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:56:38 +0000

Speedway Elementary School in Newark (seen under construction in this photo) is at the intersection of two major roads that feed into and off of the Garden State Parkway.

We learn some of our most important lessons in elementary school: how to share, how to read, how to study. For the students slated to move into Newark’s newly constructed Speedway Elementary School on February 12, there’s a new lesson — how to dodge traffic.

The aptly titled elementary school (named after its former home on Speedway Avenue) was built at the intersection of two busy roads, South Orange Avenue and Oraton Parkway, which take traffic to and from the Garden State Parkway. The new school also lacks an on-site playground, meaning students will have to negotiate this intersection to get to a nearby park for recess, as well as before and after class.

The elementary school is located within a few blocks of several on- and off-ramps of the Garden State Parkway.

Outraged parents and community advocates are working with members of the Newark City Council, the Essex County Freeholders, and state representatives to make sure there is some protection in place for students when the school opens in February. Unfortunately, most Newarkers know that this is not the first time a busy road has threatened the lives of city students. In March 1997, every parent’s worst fear was realized when 8-year-old Terrell James was killed by a car speeding past Belmont-Runyon Elementary toward the I-78 ramps. Terrell’s senseless death led to the adoption of the “Terrell James Law,” which prohibits the state from building schools within 1,000 feet of highway on- and off-ramps. Unfortunately for Speedway students, the law was not signed until January 2008, after the new site was selected.

Initial plans for the school included a pedestrian bridge across South Orange Ave. to help students safely cross to Vailsburg Park for recess, but the bridge never materialized due to a $5 million price tag. In the long run, heavy traffic calming measures may be the ideal solution. In the near term, parents and members of the Safe Streets, Safe Kids coalition are working with Speedway administrators to develop a safety plan, with the city to ensure that crossing guards will be present, and with county freeholders in the hopes of getting basic infrastructure improvements, such as flashing lights and more visible crosswalks.

Thankfully, Speedway is among the ten schools included in NJDOT’s 2010 Safe Routes to School program, which will provide resources for school staff working with parents and students on the safest ways to get to and from school. Hopefully the transition will be smooth, and students will be safe come February 12. But the lesson for policymakers is the need to learn from past tragedy, and make certain that a child’s pursuit of knowledge is not a gamble for their life.

Images: Google Street View/Maps.

NJ Transit Digs It! Trans-Hudson Tunnel Work to Begin

Zoe Baldwin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:28:25 +0000

The $583 million ARC contract is for the first of three tunnel segments and was awarded to a partnership of two firms, one based in NJ and another based in NY.

Governor Corzine today addressed NJ Transit’s board of directors for the last time, as he took the podium to praise the agency for moving forward with the first tunneling contract for the Access to the Region’s Core Tunnel. In a short, bittersweet speech, the outgoing governor touted the project’s merits, stating that, “On almost any analytic front, this is an enormous contribution in turning around an economy in need of economic drivers.” The Governor went on to thank NJ Transit board chair Stephen Dilts, executive director Rich Sarles, and the project team for ” their vision and tenacity… all of work that has been done and all of the work that will be done.”

In a related move, the NJ Transit Board approved engineering and design funding for a project to upgrade the Portal Bridge, a drawbridge which brings Northeast Corridor trains across the Hackensack River but sometimes stays open for hours, snarling traffic for tens of thousands of NJ Transit and Amtrak riders. Sister projects, ARC and the Portal Bridge go hand in hand, as the new bridge is necessary for enhanced service once the tunnel opens.

Image: Via NJ Transit.

What’s Up With Route 1? NJDOT Can’t Say

Zoe Baldwin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:01:42 +0000

According to an article in the New Brunswick-based Sentinel paper earlier this month, an NJDOT project to relieve traffic in the Route 1 corridor has moved to the top of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, a list of planned transportation projects. But the story focused solely on a possible widening of the roadway, omitting any mention of the land use and transit components suggested when the Route 1 corridor was named a “NJ Future in Transportation” smart growth project. In fact, the Route 1 project page focuses on bus rapid transit and transit-oriented development, and does not even mention a widening.

Has NJDOT changed its smart growth approach to Route 1?

Has the emphasis of the project shifted within NJDOT, or did the reporter just miss the point? NJDOT did not return requests for comment, and it appears that state budget cuts may be hurting the department’s ability to articulate its philosophy. The department’s press office no longer has voice mail and when MTR finally got through to a spokesperson, we were told not to expect a quick response because that spokesperson was the only one working. This might explain why the Sentinel article quotes a South Brunswick official and parts of the project’s webpage without input from NJDOT officials.

If plans have changed for the Route 1 corridor, it would represent a serious backslide for the department and its NJFIT program. Route 1 is one of NJ’s major North-South corridors and is in an area that has seen significant growth in the last decade, making it an ideal candidate for corridor planning, not an old-fashioned widening that is likely to induce new traffic.

Image: Via NJDOT.

Google Bike Directions Could Be Useful Tool For Cities

Zoe Baldwin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:46:00 +0000

Bicycle directions haven't been added to Google Maps yet, but they may be coming soon.

Soon to be added to the Google empire are “Bike There” directions on Google Maps, offering cyclists information about nearby bike paths, lanes and trails. The announcement garnered no more than a sentence and a half in a larger company update, but has many in the cycling community waiting on bated breath.

Since adding the ‘Take Public Transit” option to Google Maps, Google has regularly shown site visitors that their trip can be accomplished outside of a car. With 22% of the online map market share, Google’s endorsement of public transit and its efforts to make it more accessible are a resounding boon for sustainable transportation. “Bike There” would take that multi-modal approach a step further, by offering non-motorized users directions that encourage the use of bike-specific infrastructure. “Bike There” directions would also reinforce bikes as a viable and appropriate means of transportation, especially in urban areas.

Several good map services already exist for cyclists, including Ride the City in NYC. But Google would become the largest provider of cycling directions, and the most likely to attract new riders. Cities that are trying to reduce traffic and pollution by promoting cycling would do well to assist the Google team if requested. Similar to the way that Google’s transit directions rely on information from transit agencies, local knowledge of biking conditions and frequent changes to the cycling network in some cities means that local input may be important for this feature to succeed.

Much of the impetus for the feature arose from an online petition that has been circulating the Internet for over a year. To sign the petition, visit googlemapsbikethere.org.

Image: Via Google Maps ‘Bike There’ petition.

New Jersey’s Candidates on the Issues: Part Two

Zoe Baldwin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:32:23 +0000

Frustrated by the lack of attention to the looming transportation funding crisis in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, TSTC sent surveys to the three major candidates late this summer. Below is a narrative of the responses to the survey, broken down by issue. Coincidentally, the surveys were received the same week that transportation entered the race in a big way. Republican candidate Chris Christie declined to comment.

Fix-It-First and Development

Christie, pictured at the Morristown train station, has called for transit-oriented development.

Raising revenue isn’t New Jersey’s only transportation need. Also important are policies ensuring that New Jerseyans get the biggest bang for their buck. Tri-State asked specific questions about codifying NJDOT’s “fix-it-first” policy and expanding it to other agencies. Neither Corzine nor Daggett supported a cap on road expansion, but both highlighted their support of smart growth policies.

Governor Corzine said he would not support a hard cap on roadway expansion, but agreed that it is not a cure-all for traffic congestion. Instead, he is in favor of implementing smart growth policies and complementing NJDOT’s existing fix-it-first policy. He felt a better solution would be to adopt an overall cap for the 10-year plan, instead of year-to-year. He also highlighted his administration’s commitment to infrastructure, specifically the doubled investment in pavement preservation, and $200 million increase in bridge rehabilitation funding.

Chris Daggett did not answer whether or not he would support a cap on widening. He reiterated the state’s need to implement smart growth, and felt that proper land use policy would negate the need for a specific limit. Daggett’s goal is to bring all the state’s roads into good or very good condition, but he wants to keep that goal in context with overall transportation strategy and funding plans.

Tri-State was unable to find any statements by Chris Christie on “fix-it-first” issues or the appropriateness of road widening, but his “urban plan” calls for “reasonable housing policies that encourage new units where rapid growth is most appropriate and desirable – in our revitalized urban areas and transit hubs.”

Traffic Safety

In 2008, 592 people died on New Jersey roadways. Of those, more 160 were pedestrians or cyclists. Here’s what the candidates said they would do to make roads safer:

Governor Corzine cited success in his 2006 goal of reducing traffic fatalities to below 700 annually. Part of that success he attributes to his $74 million pedestrian initiative, which included a Safe Routes to School program, Safe Routes to Transit program and other pedestrian infrastructure improvements and programs. The Democrat also mentioned that NJ is still working toward the goal of creating 1,000 miles of bikeways in the state, noting that the League of American Bicyclists ranked NJ the ninth most bike-friendly state in the nation.

Corzine stated that he will sign a Complete Streets policy if it should cross his desk, and is willing to accept the goal of reducing traffic accidents and pedestrian fatalities by 50% in the next five years. As evidence of his commitment to senior pedestrian safety, he cited NJDOT’s Senior Safety Study, which incorporates senior-friendly infrastructure and education into a targeted intersection pilot program. Corzine also noted that while he doesn’t often have the chance to ride a bike, he enjoys running marathons.

Chris Daggett did not specifically address our questions regarding pedestrian safety, but specified the need for investment in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure elsewhere in his responses, calling safe walking and cycling “one of the challenges of the 21st century” that the next governor must address.

TSTC was unable to find statements from Chris Christie regarding traffic safety. Both he and Gov. Corzine have been criticized for poor driving records.

Accountability and Transparency

New Jersey residents are far more likely to support increased revenue for transportation if they know where the money is going and what the investment is buying. Here’s where the candidates stand on providing the legislature and the public with up-to-date information on transportation performance measures and investments.

Governor Corzine feels that the state’s current levels of online reporting are sufficient, citing the availability of a 2007 NJDOT report on bridge conditions and the State Police’s annual report on road fatalities.

Chris Daggett supports an increase in online reporting. The independent candidate said that the state needed to be “boldly accountable” by “measuring success and performance on the beneficial social, economic and environmental outcomes of our transportation investments rather than the current input-based model that equates success with dollars spent.”

On his website, Chris Christie says that all state agencies should put their data in a searchable format online. He also writes that he will eliminate “blatant conflicts of interest” on the boards of state agencies like the NJ Turnpike Authority and Transportation Trust Fund Authority, which often include private contractors and others who could benefit from agency decisions.

New Jersey’s Candidates on the Issues: Part One

Zoe Baldwin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:01:29 +0000

Transportation Trust Fund

Chris Daggett was the first candidate to talk about the Transportation Trust Fund.

New Jersey’s transportation lifeline is fading fast as the Transportation Trust Fund, the main source of funds for capital projects, will go bankrupt as early as next year. Both Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine and Independent challenger Chris Daggett acknowledged the urgency of replenishing the fund in their survey responses, but offered different levels of specificity as to how they would do so.

Governor Corzine remained vague on the issue of raising revenue, stating only that he would consider constitutionally dedicating funds to the Trust Fund, and is open to the idea of high-occupancy toll lanes. (Since returning the survey, he has said would consider raising the gas tax to fund transportation.) He did however, describe his achievements with the 2006 reauthorization, focused on the expansion of the fund to $1.6 billion and the projects it funded, such as the ARC Tunnel. The 2006 increase in capital spending was enabled by allowing the fund to take on more debt. Governor Corzine added that he supports a strong reauthorization of federal transportation legislation, citing it as critical to filling in funding gaps at the state level.

On the policy side, the Governor responded that he would support the inclusion of greenhouse gas reduction goals in the Trust Fund. He highlighted the most recent draft of the state’s greenhouse gas reduction plan, which includes a goal of capping growth in vehicle miles traveled at 1% per year through 2020. Under his direction, the DEP is also investing 10% of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative revenue into a local grant program, which funds sustainable planning efforts. He also touted his work with the federal government to mandate that automakers reduce fleet-wide emissions by 30% by 2016, as well as his reduction of the state fleet.

Independent candidate Chris Daggett began by stating that New Jersey needs to honestly discuss its transportation needs and costs, and must therefore look at expanded user based fees. Specifically, he listed the gas tax, a sales tax on fuel, adding tolls to currently free roadways, and private public partnerships as possible revenue generators. Daggett went on to identify key points that need to be addressed when the fund is replenished such as completing the ARC tunnel, and an updated inventory and cost of bridge repair, traffic bottlenecks, and drainage problems, as well as the identification of strategic transit, freight, bicycle and pedestrian investments. Daggett also supports linking greenhouse gas goals with transportation investment.

Unlike Daggett and Corzine, Republican candidate Chris Christie has not said he will consider an increase in the gas tax or other fees as a means to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund. Instead, Christie has said the state should spend what it has and “reassess where [it is] from an economic standpoint” after a few years, a strategy he has called “pay-as-you-go.” (This is not the conventional definition of “pay-as-you-go” funding, which refers to avoiding debt financing; increasing the gas tax and dedicating the revenue to the TTF would qualify as “pay-as-you-go” under the normal definition.)

NJ Transit

Gov. Corzine has pointed to the Access to the Region's Core tunnel as one of his administration's major achievements.

In their survey responses, the Independent and Democratic candidates said they understood the value of a broad and usable public transit network, the need to incorporate land use into transportation planning, and the need to complete the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel.

Governor Corzine highlighted his success in breaking ground on the ARC tunnel, allocating 40% of Transportation Trust Fund revenues to NJ Transit, reducing agency administrative expenses, and avoiding fare increasess. He was also very supportive of bus rapid transit, explaining that the Liberty Corridor goes hand-in-glove with the wildly successful GoBus in Newark, and described the benefits of an expanded PATCO system with BRT component.

The incumbent balked at our characterization that a lack of a dedicated source of operating funds would cripple NJ Transit’s ability to fund future transportation projects. He argued that a dedicated source of operating funds would not necessarily fix anything, citing the MTA’s reliance on fluctuating real estate taxes. (However, the MTA does not use funds from its capital budget to pay for operating costs, as NJ Transit does.)

Chris Daggett emphasized the need to end NJ Transit’s capital-to-operating transfer in the long term, though he said that the state’s fiscal situation made it unlikely the transfer could be fixed in the short-term. Daggett went on to praise NJ Transit’s efforts to target development around future bus rapid transit lines. He specifically cited the Route 1 “Einstein’s Alley” corridor as an area where this smart-growth strategy would be integral.

Chris Christie has told the Bergen Record that he supports light rail expansion and increased transit that could support industrial development in northwest NJ. In the same conversation, he said the state needed to reconsider whether certain transportation projects had enough usage to justify their cost, singling out NJ Transit’s River Line.

MTR will post the second half of the survey responses tomorrow.