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Left: Route 35′s current roadway configuration at Route 528/Herbert Street. Right: The same intersection, re-striped to include sidewalks, highly-visible crosswalks and bike lanes. | Image: John Boyle/Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) recently received $75.9 million in federal funding to rebuild 12.5 miles of Route 35 in Ocean County [...] NJ Transportation Commissioner Jim Simpson | Photo: The Record “The future is going to happen.” That was NJDOT Commissioner Jim Simpson’s response when asked how New Jersey is going to fund transportation in the years following the expiration of Governor Christie’s 5-Year Capital Program. “About a year to 18 months before the end of the program [...] NYSDOT’s headquarters are sandwiched between a shopping center and an interstate. ConnDOT’s headquarters are located on a divided arterial, but not far from a collection of strip malls and cul-de-sacs. NJDOT’s headquarters are located between residential and industrial areas with lots of surface parking nearby. State departments of transportation have a [...] Ridership increased on all NJ Transit rail lines in the first quarter of FY2013. | Image: NJ Transit Quarterly Ridership Trends Analysis With Governor Christie set to announce the 2014 budget sometime in late February, recently released data from NJ Transit makes a compelling case for increasing funding for transit operations in the [...] Earlier this week, the Traffic Safety Coalition released a two-minute PSA about running red lights in New Jersey. In the past year, New Jersey’s five-year Red Light Running (RLR) pilot program has come under fire by a handful of NJ legislators who have challenged the effectiveness and integrity of the program. While the program [...] 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 [...]  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:
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…  According to a Tri-State analysis of NJDOT’s $3.2 billion Transportation Capital Program for FY2013, which lays out much of the state’s transportation spending for the coming year, the agency will continue a trend towards building new roads while lessening investment in bicycle and pedestrian programs. In June, the Campaign analyzed the draft version of this capital program, and while differences emerged between the draft and final documents, trends noted in the draft plan remain in the final version. Below, we review the state’s plans. Capital Program Allocation by Project Type*
* PANYNJ Project Program funds are excluded from the New Road Capacity and Bicycle/Pedestrian Project figures for the 2012 Final Capital Program and 2013 Draft and Final Capital Programs (the funds amount to $343 million in 2012 and $353 million in 2013). The New Jersey Transit share includes the entire capital program. New Road Capacity Remains HighProjects that add capacity to the state’s roadways make up about 14% of the $1.712 billion NJDOT portion of the Final Capital Program.** Although this is down from almost 16% in the Proposed Capital Program, it is an increase from previous years when new road capacity made up less than 4% of the agency’s capital program. Furthermore, the reduction may be misleading—$20.7 million that was apparently shaved from a South Jersey interchange project (Direct Connection), for example, is simply being spent in a way that is not shown in the FY2013 Capital Program documents. The project’s overall cost has not been reduced and the final capital program means another year of ballooning state spending on added road capacity. » Continue reading… 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 [...] After calls for a complete streets website from Tri-State and other advocates, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has delivered on its promise to have one up and running this summer. The website contains examples of successful complete streets projects, helpful links to additional complete streets resources, and the reasoning behind project exemptions from NJDOT’s complete streets [...] |
 
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Copyright © 2013 Tri-State Transportation Campaign |
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