April 2 – 4 marked New Jersey’s annual transportation extravaganza, TransAction 2008. Held in Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal Casino, the conference attracts the who’s who of transportation from Commissioners to departmental staff, local officials to advocates, and everyone in between.

A highlight of the conference for TSTC was the panel entitled NJFIT: What Happens Next? Is NJFIT as it has been done, the right way to go? The NJ Future In Transportation (NJFIT) program is NJDOT’s innovative approach to linking transportation and land use planning which has been used in several corridors around the state (see MTR # 566, 543). Moderated by NJDOT Assistant Commissioner Mark Stout and featuring panelist Gary Toth, a senior director at Project for Public Spaces and the former NJDOT Director of Project Planning and Development, the panel asked a series of questions about the current efficacy and future of the NJFIT program. Stout sought to foster an honest dialogue between panelists and attendees on how NJFIT could be improved or altered. It was extremely encouraging to be in a room full of officials from every level of government, transportation and land use advocates, and current and former NJDOT staff who were all in favor of keeping this great program afloat.

The main hurdle for NJFIT identified in the session was lack of local support and understanding, especially in corridors where multiple municipalities sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU). When transportation projects take several years from design to completion (as is often the case), municipalities’ interest in the projects can wane. Local pressure to increase ratables in a given town can cause local officials to ignore these understandings and make bad development decisions like allowing traffic-attracting big box stores. Gary Toth felt that empowering the State Office of Smart Growth to better oversee these local land use decisions would foster a more holistic municipal understanding of the interdependent nature of land use and transportation.

In a second panel, Financing New Jersey’s Transportation: Alternatives and Options for Transportation Funding, Tri-State Executive Director Kate Slevin spoke alongside Regional Plan Association VP Carlos Rodriguez, Mary Forsberg of NJ Policy Perspective, and Jeff Tittel of NJ Sierra Club. Panelists discussed the state’s transportation funding crisis (the Transportation Trust Fund will run out of money by 2011), and then presented sustainable and feasible options for the future.

Tri-State’s Kate Slevin described how the state’s current funding structure favors drivers over transit riders, with stagnant gas taxes and tolls on one hand and consistent transit fare hikes on the other. All panelists agreed that an increased gas tax would be a good source of transportation funding, and would reduce New Jerseyans’ incentive to drive. The panel ended with a lively question and answer session, the only consensus being that the state needs to increase mass transit service and restructure its transportation funding mechanisms, and needs to do it soon.

NJDOT Commissioner Kris Kolluri spoke on the final day of the conference, and continued to push Gov. Corzine’s moribund fiscal restructuring plan to bond against increased tolls in order to fund wasteful highway projects and cut state debt. State officials do not have a consensus on how to replenish the Transportation Trust Fund. The Commissioner rightly pointed out that investing in infrastructure could help turn around the sinking economy and noted that for the first time, NJDOT’s Capital Plan included two tiers — funded projects and unfunded projects which could be built only if the state addresses its transportation funding issues. (MTR will soon cover the recently released Capital Plan.)

As always, TransAction participants gained a more inclusive perspective on transportation in New Jersey. Hopefully next year’s conference will highlight the completion of some NJFIT projects, and (keep your fingers crossed) a solvent Transportation Trust Fund.