In 2007, New Jersey prioritized other policies over the smart-growth oriented NJFIT program.
New Jersey began 2007 far ahead of New York and Connecticut in terms of sustainable transportation planning. While New York and Connecticut progressed slowly toward more sustainable policies in 2007, New Jersey, unfortunately, headed backwards. Though NJDOT maintained a capital plan focused on sustainability and fix it first priorities, many of the agency’s projects linking land use and transportation stagnated as the state’s political establishment pushed highway widening projects.
2007 was dominated by talk of Gov. Jon Corzine’s “asset monetization” plan to use state assets to raise revenue. Initial thought was that the plan would involve leasing the state’s toll roads to a private corporation to raise money for any number of programs. It now appears the plan, which is being released in the Governor’s State of the State address this afternoon, will involve bonding against toll increases, with most of the money going toward reducing state debt. Speculation over the plan unfortunately eclipsed most other transportation discussions this year. DOT officials were compelled to advocate for the monetization plan, to the detriment of worthy smart growth projects whose economic and social impacts would benefit NJ communities.
NJ Turnpike Authority
The NJTA’s response to congestion on the Garden State Parkway and NJ Turnpike has been old-school all the way – widen first, ask questions never. In 2007 NJTA completed environmental impact statements and held public hearings for its plans to widen the Parkway by one lane in each direction between exits 30 and 80, and the Turnpike between Interchange 6 and Interchange 9 to six lanes in each direction (between interchanges 9 and 8A, the Turnpike is five lanes in each direction; between 8A and 6 it is three lanes). While both roads are certainly congested, the widening plans put forth by the Turnpike Authority will not solve the problem. According to NJTA documents, portions of the new lanes along the GS Parkway will fill with traffic before the new lanes are built (see MTR #552), while the Turnpike project documents show huge projected increases in traffic due solely to the widening project itself (MTR # 565).
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Connecticut began 2007 having made some recovery from the backwards policies of former Gov. John Rowland. Earlier in her term, which began in 2004, Gov. Jodi Rell worked with the legislature to pass more than $3 billion of investment in the state’s transportation infrastructure. She also took steps on smart growth, creating an Office of Responsible Growth by executive order in late 2006. Both efforts continued in 2007, and were reinforced by a push for a change in the way ConnDOT does business.
Transportation Policy Reform
After winning election in 2006, Gov. Rell continued moving on smart growth in the spring. In March, ConnDOT completed its search for a deputy commissioner to handle transit-oriented development, hiring Al Martin.
In April, growing anger over an I-84 contracting scandal and the generally corrupt culture at ConnDOT helped fuel a broader discourse over the agency’s mission. Gov. Rell announced the creation of the ConnDOT Reform Commission charged with “broaden[ing the agency's] focus beyond highways,” which will release its recommendations this month. In July the ConnDOT Reform Commission held its first meeting and the Hartford Courant, informed by discussions with Tri-State, released a scathing multi-page opinion piece titled “The Right Road” which called on the agency to incorporate smart growth and fix-it-first principles into its mission.
An omnibus bonding bill, passed in October after months of delay, included funding for a transit-oriented development program. However, the legislation was worded in such a way that the program could potentially fund non-TOD projects.
In December, ConnDOT Commissioner Ralph Carpenter announced his retirement from the public sector, and Rell said the department would conduct a national search for a new commissioner, “an opportunity for a fresh start all the way around.” Former commissioner Emil Frankel took the interim job. The changes bode well for smart-growth-oriented reform within the agency, but Rell must choose a new ConnDOT Commissioner who is a strong leader and understands the transportation-land use connection.
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Astrid Glynn, Eliot Spitzer, and Lee Sander
During his campaign for governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer repeatedly and infamously declared that “on day one, everything changes.” On transportation, Spitzer talked about the need for the state to push smart growth and transit-oriented development, leaving many advocates hopeful that state agencies would finally figure out how to connect transportation and land use. As anyone who’s followed New York politics knows, year one has not proven so transformative. The Spitzer transportation team has made some progress, but many policy reforms are either in their infancy or are stalled.
On the positive side, Governor Spitzer announced three “Smart Growth Initiatives” involving grants for land-use planning in the Central Catskills, Adirondack Park, and the Lower Hudson Valley. However, total funding for the initiative is just $2 million, with $500,000 for the Lower Hudson Valley program, and comes from the Environmental Protection Fund, rather than an overall policy change evident in NYS DOT’s spending decisions and projects. But that may change with Governor Spitzer’s recently announced “Smart Growth Cabinet,” which promises to bring together different state agencies to “review state agency spending and policies to determine how best to discourage sprawl and promote smart land use practices.” The Cabinet, which will be chaired jointly by the Governor’s Deputy Secretary for the Environment Judith Enck and the Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Infrastructure (and former NYS DOT Chief of Transportation Strategy) Timothy Gilchrist, will have its first meeting this month.
NYS DOT
NYS DOT began the year in a leadership void. Commissioner Astrid Glynn was not appointed until February, and served as acting commissioner until the State Senate approved her in May. Glynn, who is well-respected for implementing smart growth reforms in Massachusetts, has publicly discussed the need to coordinate land use planning and transportation, but implementation on the ground has been slow.
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Masthead Mobilizing the Region is published by the staff of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
Editors
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