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The top transportation news stories, updated daily and kept on this page for one week:

Regional News Roundup

A comprehensive roundup of transportation-related news – from daily, weekly and online media outlets – compiled and posted every few days.

Through May 21, 2012:

Butler's road repaving project's moving forward
Suburban Trends, 5/21/12. The Borough Council's Roads Committee will soon announce which streets have been chosen to be repaved this summer, committee Chairman Robert Fox said last Tuesday.

Legislators Propose 'Tax Credit for Tolls' Law
Matawan-Aberdeen Patch, 5/21/12. A group of state legislators have proposed a bill that would allow commuters to claim a tax credit if they spend $1,000 or more on highway tolls per year.

North Bay Avenue To Connect To OCC
Toms River Patch, 5/21/12. Amid an approved $18.5 million in spending for improvements to the campus at Ocean County College are plans to add a North Bay Avenue entrance to the growing college.

Oceanic Bridge Finally Reopens
WOBM, 5/21/12. After seven months of construction, the Oceanic Bridge is reopened to vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

How to beat the morning commute: for 2 N.J. men, it's by kayak
Star-Ledger, 5/21/12. HOBOKEN — At dawn, the two commuters rise and join the caravan of caffeine-addled New Jerseyans traveling to Manhattan. Zach Schwitzky and Erik David Barber head out in their vehicles, along with the hundreds of thousands of bridge and tunnel people trying to get across the Hudson River. Only theirs is a different sort of commute.

***NJTPA Mention***

Zellman honored for years in office
New Jersey Herald, 5/21/12. SPARTA -- Freeholder Susan Zellman was glowing Sunday as the first political figure to be honored by the League of Women Voters of Sussex Highlands.

***NJTPA Mention***

Hunterdon County Freeholder Matthew Holt to lead North Jersey transit authority
Express-Times, 5/20/12. The new chairman of the group that decides how federal transportation money is spent in northern New Jersey said he’ll move board meetings from Newark to Flemington. That way, he said, transportation officials will get so fed up by traffic that they’ll have to bring rail service to the Hunterdon County seat.

New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Deploys TransCore’s Adaptive Signal Control System; Will be the fourth largest deployment of adaptive signal technology in the country
Sun Herald, 5/21/12. WASHINGTON -- Intelligent Transportation Society of America Annual Meeting – TransCore was selected, through an open public bidding process, by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) to deploy the SCATS adaptive traffic control system, encompassing more than 128 intersections throughout the 30-square miles of the Hackensack Meadowlands District. The $3 million contract was predominantly funded by the Commission’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery or TIGER II grant to implement the Meadowlands Adaptive Signal System for Traffic Reduction (MASSTR) program. The four-phased program will be complete by December 31, 2013.

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Road Warrior: Red-light camera paranoia adds safety
The Record, 5/20/12. Add Arthur Metzler to the legion of motorists who blanch at the sight of cameras mounted atop red lights.

Perth Amboy train station chugs toward renovation
Star-Ledger, 5/20/12. PERTH AMBOY — The 84-year-old Perth Amboy train station is a step closer to getting a $50 million makeover.

Commuter tax is a way for N.J. to pay fair share
Star Ledger (blog, guest column), 5/20/12. New Jersey residents, like millions more from Connecticut, the Hudson Valley and Long Island, are increasingly coming to New York City to work — and they are doing so by public transportation. A new study of commuting patterns shows that from 2002 to 2009, the greatest growth rate in Manhattan commuting was from northern New Jersey, where there was a 21 percent increase. PATH ridership has soared 35 percent since 2005, hitting an all-time high in 2011, and NJ Transit trains are more crowded than ever.

NJ Transit, NY Waterway offers new joint pass for riders
Jersey Journal, 5/18/12. NJ Transit and the NY Waterway ferry and bus network will launch a new joint pass for riders using the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and NY Waterway ferries between Port Imperial in Weehawken and Midtown and Lower Manhattan. June monthly joint passes, with the Light Rail, ferry and bus combination, are on sale tomorrow wherever Light Rail tickets are available, and at the ticket vending machines at the Port Imperial Ferry Terminal.

Hooray! The Oceanic Bridge Reopens
Two River Times, 5/18/12. RUMSON — It was all smiles and congratulations as local, county and state officials gathered on the Oceanic Bridge Friday morning to celebrate the completion of the renovation project that closed the bridge since last fall.

NJ Transit preps for customer onslaught as state hosts Devils playoff game, major music festivals
Star-Ledger, 5/18/12. A confluence of three major spectator events in New Jersey is turning this weekend into a logistical nightmare for NJ Transit planners, who say it could be the busiest weekend in the history of the statewide transportation agency.

Many NJ Transit bus routes could face delays thanks to repair near Lincoln Tunnel
Star Ledger, 5/18/12. WEEHAWKEN — As if the perfect storm of three major spectator events in New Jersey this weekend wasn’t enough... Beginning Saturday, one of two eastbound lanes on South Marginal Street in Weehawken is scheduled to close for repairs, resulting in a significant reduction in traffic capacity along the roadway adjacent to Route 495 in the area of the Lincoln Tunnel, officials said.

NJ Transit looking to remove No. 75 bus from Butler to Newark
The Record, 5/17/12. Residents looking to take the bus from Butler to Newark might have to find alternate means of transportation in the future due to New Jersey Transit preparing to 86 the No. 75. New Jersey Transit sent out a press release on May 14 stating that the organization is looking to optimize its service by eliminating redundant and underutilized routes. The No. 75 route, which runs from Butler to Newark, is among 11 buses that are in New Jersey Transit's current scope, according to the press release.

Installation of LED lights in Jackson begins
Tri-Town News, 5/17/12. JACKSON — The installation of 100 energy-efficient light emitting diode (LED) streetlights is under way in Jackson.

Parking restrictions still on in district 4
Ocean Star, 5/17/12. POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The inability to enforce the recently passed pilot parking program on county roads will not stop borough officials, here, from putting the plan into effect in the only way they can — on municipal roads only.

Yearlong Streetscaping Projects to Begin on Clinton, S. Orange Avenues
Newark Patch, 5/17/12. Streetscaping projects affecting two major thoroughfares in Newark will begin next Monday and will continue until May 2013, city officials announced.

Train shed in Liberty State Park in Jersey City designated one of state's top 10 endangered historic sites
Jersey Journal, 5/17/12. The train shed at the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal at Liberty State Park in Jersey City has been named one of the top 10 most endangered historic places in the state.

Gas gets cheaper, but drivers are still reluctant
Daily Record, 5/17/12. Cheaper gasoline won’t be enough to get many more Americans on the road this summer. They’re still too worried about their jobs and the economy.

PolitiFact N.J.: Bill Pascrell says Jersey has largest transit system in USA
Star-Ledger, 5/17/12. New Jersey's transit system could see more passengers on its trains and buses if the Port Authority raises tolls later this year, as planned. And while that might mean more revenue, the system is already overburdened, said U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell.

NJ Transit looking to remove No. 75 bus from Butler to Newark
Suburban Trends, 5/17/12. Residents looking to take the bus from Butler to Newark might have to find alternate means of transportation in the future due to New Jersey Transit preparing to 86 the No. 75.

South Brunswick High School Students Seek Sidewalk
South Brunswick Post, 5/17/12. At this month’s New Jersey Department of Transportation complete streets workshop in Mercer County, South Brunswick High School (SBHS) Student Council President Ian Moritz and Recording Secretary Dan Gorzynski might have seemed a bit younger than the rest of the crowd, but they came for the same reason as everyone else: they were interested in making streets safe for pedestrians.

***NJTPA Mention***

NJ Transit Launches New Hospital Bus Route
South Brunswick Patch, 5/16/12. Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno and New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman James Simpson Monday joined Princeton Hospital CEO Barry Rabner and local officials to mark the launch of NJ TRANSIT’s No. 655 bus route to serve the new University Medical Center of Princeton and Plainsboro hospital facility, as well as other key area locations.

Route 35/36 construction to be completed by mid-July
Atlanticville, 5/16/12. Steps taken to expedite construction have put the Route 35/36 project back on track and work is scheduled for substantial completion in mid-July. The completion date for the Route 35/36 intersection reconfiguration project has been pushed up to mid- July as originally planned, according to officials from the Department of Transportation (DOT).

NJT offers plan for Bay City train station
mycentraljersey.com, 5/16/12. PERTH AMBOY — NJ Transit has come up with a conceptual design to renovate the Perth Amboy Train Station — where the platform is below street level and there is no elevator — and make it compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The only thing the transit company hasn’t come up with is a way to pay for the work. No funding has been identified for the construction, which is expected to cost about $50 million, according to NJ Transit officials.

No Hope for Hudson Tunnel, Says Transportation Secretary
Forbes, 5/16/12. There’s no hope left for a crucial rail tunnel that was to have doubled commuter capacity into Manhattan from New Jersey, said transportation secretary Ray LaHood Wednesday morning. “I would say it’s not even on life support at this point,” he said, responding to my question following remarks to launch a new safety data repository. Access to the Region’s Core was to have been a double-track tube connecting New Jersey’s vast commuter system to Penn Station in Manhattan, supplementing the two single-track tunnels, built 100 years ago by the Pennsylvania Railroad, that Amtrak and New Jersey Transit currently share. Those tunnels already operate at capacity during rush hours. Construction began on the tunnel in 2009.

Ho-Ho-Kus bridge partially reopened, officials say
The Record, 5/15/12. HO-HO-KUS – The Warren Avenue truss bridge that has taken almost two years to repair has partially reopened to commuters, say borough officials.

Cost-cutting push is end of the line for Bus 75
The Record, 5/15/12. The NJ Transit No. 75 bus, which runs from Butler through Pompton Lakes, Pequannock, Wayne and Little Falls on its way to Newark, could be eliminated.

***NJTPA Mention***

LOOSE ENDS: Circle of life: Bittersweet endings, new beginnings
The Princeton Packet, 5/15/12. The upcoming three days — May 20, 21, 22 — for me will be monumental mile-markers on this journey called life — a birthday, a death and a birth. ... I am happy to say that there was another birth on May 14 that is fueling a great celebration in my life by facilitating my walking to work — actually walking to a place that will get me to work. A new bus service, the 655 from Princeton to Plainsboro, running from early in the morning until late at night, travels the following route and stops at the bus stops along the way: Harrison Street Shopping Center, Terhune Road, Witherspoon Street, Nassau Street, Palmer Square, University Place, Dinky Station, Alexander Road, Route 1 and out to the new hospital.

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