Recession-Induced VMT Reduction May Not Apply to Long Island

The recent economic recession has slowed and in fact reversed the growth in the nation’s total vehicle miles traveled (VMT). It’s common for this to happen temporarily during a recession as job losses mount or people travel less to save money, but there is compelling evidence that the slowdown this time might be more [...]

Sheridan-Hunts Point Land Use Study Takes Large Step Toward Finish Line

Last week in a room packed with community leaders and organizations, residents, elected officials and their staff, the NYC Departments of Transportation and City Planning presented preliminary scenarios leading up to final recommendations from its nearly two year long Sheridan-Hunts Point Land Use Study. The federally-funded (TIGER II), multi-agency study is analyzing how modifications to the Sheridan [...]

BK Gateway Vision Panel is This Saturday

The BK Gateway Transportation Vision (click to view report)

Last chance to register! The BK Gateway Vision Elected Official Panel is this Saturday, March 16. Space is filling up so RSVP now to Ryan Lynch (rlynch@tstc.org).

Tri-State Transportation Campaign — in collaboration with the Office of New York City Council Member Letitia James, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood [...]

Elected Officials and Advocates Push for Comprehensive Transportation Plan in Brooklyn

TSTC Executive Director Veronica Vanterpool (left) and New York City Council Member Letitia James (right) spoke at Tuesday’s release of BK Gateway Transportation Vision at DeKalb Station in Brooklyn. | Photo: Ryan Lynch

Population and transit ridership have skyrocketed over the last twenty years in Brooklyn, but the New York City Departments of [...]

A Megamall in New Jersey Already Turning Into a Mega-Menace

Rendering of American Dream Meadowlands | Image: www.americandream.com

Editor’s Note:  East Rutherford passed a budget last night with a 17% municipal tax hike (or an average $400 property tax increase) to cover the financial hole left by NJSEA.

While construction on American Dream Meadowlands is not slated to begin any time soon, the megamall is [...]

Sandy an Opportunity to Refocus New Jersey’s Transportation Priorities

Source: NJTransit. Damaged tracks between South Amboy and Matawan Stations

New Jersey’s transportation infrastructure got hit so hard by Superstorm Sandy that three weeks after the storm, the state is still reeling from the impacts.  The devastation delivers a key message–sustainable transportation investment and policies are needed to weather the next storm.  The [...]

Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan—Public Meetings on November 27 & 29

The Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan’s second set of public meetings will take place on Tuesday, November 27th at 6:30 PM in Kaplan Hall’s Great Room at SUNY Orange’s Newburgh Campus and Thursday, November 29th at 6:30 PM at the Westchester County Center.

The evenings will include presentations about the current draft of the Plan and allow [...]

AARP Offers Transportation Solutions for Boomers – And the Rest of Us

AARP's recent report highlights new challenges for aging baby boomers.

For decades, the transportation preferences of baby boomers have shaped transportation policy in the U.S.  As this generation ages, the once automobile dependent segment of the population is faced with a new mobility challenge throughout the country: how to get around when driving [...]

NJ Future Report: Strategically Target Investment in Transit-Oriented Development

Click through to read about the report on New Jersey Future's website.

As New Jersey municipalities (and developers) continue to show enthusiasm for development near transit hubs, the state and its local communities have just gotten a valuable resource that could help foster better land use patterns. Over three years in the making, New Jersey Future’s latest report and an accompanying dataset contain valuable information on the state’s extensive network of transit stations and the areas surrounding them, and suggests that New Jersey avoid one-size-fits-all transit-oriented development decisions. Instead, the report and dataset help the state and its communities strategically target investment in transit-oriented development:

A comprehensive and objective assessment of conditions around all of New Jersey’s transit stations would help identify those stations that pose the greatest opportunities for TOD in general, and for which variety of TOD. This in turn will help to direct limited public and private investments more efficiently and strategically.

While the dataset provides exceptionally detailed information on New Jersey’s transit stations, the report shows the tremendous opportunity for further transit-oriented development in general. Although 11.2% of New Jersey workers take transit to their jobs—the second-largest statewide figure in the nation, and one that rose between 2000 and 2010—there is much more opportunity for New Jersey communities to pursue sustainable development.  According to the report, “out of the state’s 1,944 Census tracts (as defined for the 2000 Census), 657 fall at least partially within half a mile of one or more of the [state’s] 215 rail stations.” These tracts contain approximately 2.8 million people, or roughly one third of the state’s entire population. And that figure does not include stations that are only served by bus or ferry. » Continue reading…

Borough of Dunellen Named Most Recent Transit Village in New Jersey

Yesterday's Transit Village designation announcement lays the groundwork to encourage new businesses and residents to locate to Dunellen’s downtown, a short walk from the Dunellen train station.

Yesterday, at a press conference on the platform of the Dunellen, New Jersey rail station, New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno officially announced that the Borough of Dunellen has become the 26th [...]