The NJTPA region increased its public transit ridership by more riders than any other large metropolitan area in the country from 1990 to 2000. Transit ridership increased more than 11 percent over the decade in the region, which spans 13 counties in northern and central New Jersey. This translates into an increase of more than 31,600 riders to a total of 313,181 transit commuters.
This jump in ridership put the NJTPA region at the top of a list of the 36 largest metropolitan regions in the United States, according to a recent study conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission of the San Francisco area.
The study looked at US Census data for these regions. Transit ridership increased in 17 regions and fell in 19, including Washington D.C., New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago. Rounding out the top 10 in the study were Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Portland, Boston, Denver, Phoenix, Sacramento and Salt Lake City. Other increases in ridership in the top 10 regions ranged from 26,823 new riders in Seattle to 5,180 in Salt Lake City.
Nationally, transit ridership fell by more than 68,600 riders between 1990 and 2000. Only 4.6 percent of Americans use public transit to commute, as opposed to 10.8 percent of commuters in the NJTPA region.
The Newark Liberty International Airport rail station, opened in October 2001, has helped boost ridership.
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| The Newark Liberty International Airport rail station, opened in October 2001, has helped boost ridership. |
NJTPA’s own analysis of Census data shows that the rate of transit use increased in 11 of the region’s 13 counties. The table on page 2 gives specific county-by-county information. Further analysis of 2000 census data is available at the NJTPA web site, www.ntjpa.org.
Monmouth County Freeholder Theodore J. Narozanick, who serves as Chairman of the NJTPA Board of Trustees, said this trend shows that an intermodal transit system that offers travelers a variety of options will attract riders.
"Improving our transit system is critical to bettering the quality of life of our residents,” Chairman Narozanick said. “Better public transportation is a key element of the Smart Growth approach we are taking to meet our region’s needs.”
NJTPA Executive Director Joel S. Weiner said increased use of transit is critical if the region is to manage its future growth and development.
“Our region is experiencing tremendous growth,” Mr. Weiner said. “This increased transit ridership reflects the extensive investments the region has made in our system. New services such as MidTown Direct, the Newark Liberty International Airport rail station and the Hudson Bergen Light Rail, as well as investments in better rail cars and system maintenance have created a better, more user-friendly transit system. Further federal investments, such as the Secaucus Transfer and eventually another Hudson River rail crossing, will improve the system even more.”
The NJTPA’s commitment to funding transit remains strong. The current Transportation Improvement Program dedicates $2.87 billion to transit maintenance, improvement and expansion over the current and next two fiscal years. In addition, the agency is funding several studies in the region that aim to improve the efficiency of the transit system.
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Under the auspices of the NJTPA’s Freight Initiatives Committee, the NJTPA and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) convened a new task force in March to guide the Portway Extensions Concept Development Study. The task force includes representatives from a wide range of public agencies, private companies, and industry trade groups with an active interest in the future of freight container movement in the region. The NJTPA and NJDOT are joint sponsors of the study.
The panel on April 22 held its second in a series of three planned meetings to provide stakeholder input into the study, an element of the NJDOT’s “Portway Program.” This program ultimately will result in a semi-dedicated truck route connecting Port Newark and Elizabeth with the region’s major rail yards. The Portway Extensions Study will guide subsequent phases that could extend the freight corridor into new areas where major intermodal terminals are located.
“The movement of containers to and from the New York/New Jersey port district is critical to the economy of the region and is expected to increase dramatically in the future,” emphasized Freight Initiatives Committee Chairman Freeholder Peter Palmer.
“While contributing to the economic vitality of the region, this increased activity is expected to place a tremendous strain on the existing transportation infrastructure.”
The Portway Extensions Task Force is charged with providing input to the study; identifying key impediments to container movement; assisting in the development of meaningful solutions; and helping to fashion a consensus on alternative improvements. These improvements will improve the efficiency of goods movement and also help meet Smart Growth goals.
The panel’s final meeting, to be held in early June, will focus on the draft set of recommended alternatives and prioritization of improvements. Previous meetings have concentrated on preliminary concept strategies and improvements designed to facilitate container movement. A draft report of the Portway Extensions Study is expected in late June.
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The NJTPA has updated its popular Internet website, www.njtpa.org, and added two new pages to reflect its current planning activities.
The new Smart Growth page, offers a quick look at how the NJTPA and its Central Staff support Smart Growth principles and practices in the northern New Jersey region. Highlighted efforts include regional planning; systems planning, modeling, and data; and capital programming.
The NJTPA’s website also now includes a Freight/Portway page. This page includes announcements and information about the NJTPA’s active Freight Initiatives Committee, and it spotlights the NJTPA’s increasingly busy freight planning initiatives related to port, rail, and trucking activities. Additional information is provided about Brownfields Planning and the Regional Freight Planning Support System (FPSS) being developed in cooperation with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), the NJTPA’s host agency.
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The NJTPA Board of Trustees has approved $20 million in federal funds for county and city transportation projects. Approval of the FY 2004 Local Lead Program came at the Board’s February meeting, and the projects are included in the state’s proposed transportation budget.
The program provides the NJTPA’s 13 member counties and two member cities with an opportunity to apply directly for federal funds to advance local projects through final design, right-of-way acquisition, and construction. The Local Lead Program is an annual competitive grant program. The NJTPA and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) provide guidance throughout the course of each project.
“The Local Lead Program is the NJTPA at its best,” said Monmouth County Freeholder and NJTPA Board Chairman Theodore J. Narozanick. “Locally and regionally significant projects can be paid for with federal funds under the guidance of elected officials who are aware of the needs facing our residents.”
NJTPA Executive Director Joel S. Weiner said that the Local Lead program demonstrates the region’s commitment to Smart Growth principles. “This program exemplifies the ‘fix it first’ approach to our transportation system,” he said. “All of these projects address maintenance and performance concerns for existing infrastructure.”
By county, the projects funded are:
Essex County
• $3.55 million for milling and repaving Raymond Boulevard and replacing sidewalks and curbs.
• $520,000 for milling and resurfacing of Scotland Road from Randolph Place to Freeman Street in Orange. Curbing, sidewalks and trees will be replaced.n $2.01 million for improvements to Central Avenue through Newark, East Orange, Orange and West Orange. The project will include roadway resurfacing, traffic signal improvements, construction of pedestrian ramps, road restriping and storm drainage upgrades. The project also involves curb and sidewalk replacement from Valley Road to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
Hudson County
• $460,000 for milling and resurfacing JFK Boulevard from 18th to 67th Streets in North Bergen and West New York.
Hunterdon County
• $1.2 million for reconstruction of the Old Croton Road Bridge over the Wickecheoke Creek in Raritan. The replacement bridge will be a wider structure with shoulders.
Middlesex County
• $1.9 million for the extension of Helen Street to Metuchen Road in South Plainfield to provide truck relief to residential neighborhoods in the area. Currently, trucks exiting I- 287 must travel residential streets to reach industrial areas near Metuchen Road.
Bergen County
• $1.54 million for improvements to the Passaic Street and Route 17 intersection in Rochelle Park and Paramus including the widening of Route 17 and reconstruction of its exit and entrance ramps. This project also involves the extension of Pleasant Avenue and the widening of Farview Avenue.
Morris County
• $1 million for replacement of three temporary bridges with new permanent structures and the construction of shoulders and sidewalks on the bridges and their approaches. In their current condition these bridges do not meet current design standards, have poor sight distance and are considered functionally obsolete
• $345,000 to replace the Green Pond Road Bridge in Rockaway
• $330,000 to replace the Inamere Road Bridge in Morris Township
• $330,000 to replace the Eden Lane Bridge in Hanover
• $500,000 for milling and repaving of Morris County Route 510-Columbia Turnpike in Florham Park for approximately 1.4 miles, as well as installation of pavement markings and bicycle-safe grates. The roadway is currently cracked, potholed and in generally poor condition.
Eden Lane Bridge, Morris County.
Passaic County
• $265,000 for replacement of the Barclay Street Viaduct in Paterson. The bridge is considered to be in critical condition and use by trucks and buses is currently prohibited.
• $450,000 for replacement of the Hillery Street Bridge in Totowa and West Paterson. The bridge has difficult approaches and sight distance limitations and is considered functionally obsolete and structurally deficient.
Barclay Street Viaduct, Passaic County.
Somerset County
• $3.6 million for milling and resurfacing of various county roads in Bedminster, Bernards, Bernardsville, Bound Brook, Branchburg, Bridgewater, Franklin, North Plainfield, Raritan, Somerville, South Bound Brook and Warren.
Union County
• $3 million for milling, resurfacing and handicap ramp construction along various Union County roads in Berkeley Heights, Clark, Cranford, Elizabeth, Fanwood, Plainfield, Roselle Park, Rahway, Scotch Plains and Union.
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NJTPA Central Staff participated in the 27th annual New Jersey State Transportation Conference and Expo, known as TransAction 2003. The conference was held April 7, 8, and 9 at the Tropicana Resort Hotel, Casino, and Conference center in Atlantic City.
Central Staff members who participated in the event’s seminars included Lois Goldman, Principal Planner – Performance Planning Systems, who moderated an informative presentation focusing on the leadership role of MPOs in identifying regional transportation needs and addressing regional priorities. Central Staff speakers at this presentation included Keith Miller, Principal Planner – Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Modeling, and Amy Ansell, Senior Planner – GIS.
Mr. Miller also moderated a session spotlighting state-of-the- art developments in local and regional transportation modeling. NJTPA Manager of Goods Movement Planning John Hummer moderated a panel that highlighted brownfields and goods movement opportunities. Mr. Hummer also was a speaker at a session exploring strategies and examples of how freight can better co-exist with other land uses.
The NJTPA Public Affairs team staffed a display booth during the entire conference, providing current publications and the latest information about the NJTPA and its planning activities
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The NJTPA and many of its partner agencies participated in a nationwide Internet seminar on urban transportation and highway security held March 13.
The live, interactive event, which was sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Transportation and Development Institute and the Infrastructure Security Partnership, drew hundreds of participants across the nation. The seminar was based in Baltimore and geared toward engineers, government officials, and private transportation operators.
Speakers at the seminar noted the dilemma that lies at the heart of urban transportation and highway security – the very openness and connectivity the system requires create vulnerabilities that make securing infrastructure against terrorism that much more difficult.
A panel of other speakers touched on a range of topics that included how civil engineers can adapt to the new challenges of incorporating terrorism into the traditional list of engineering constraints; what new knowledge and skills are required; the partnerships needed among government agencies (including MPOs) and private companies; and the associated risks, costs, and benefits.
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The NJTPA on March 31 hosted a public workshop that explained the process for determining northern New Jersey’s conformity with air quality regulations. The NJTPA is required by federal law to use this process to show that the projects in its annual Transportation Improvement Program and long-range Regional Transportation Plan will not have a negative aggregate impact on air quality in the region.
The annual workshop informs the public about the many steps involved in the conformity determination process and provides an opportunity to ask questions of NJTPA Central Staff and the modeling consultants.
The workshop featured a detailed description of the procedures for determining if the region’s transportation improvement projects have an impact on air quality emissions and whether or not they are exempt from emissions estimates. The complex modeling process looks at travel supply (the transportation network) and demand (population and employment) in future years.
For more information, contact David Heller, Air Quality Planner, at 973-639-8429, or at daveh@njtpa.org.
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The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which is the nation’s principal transportation law, expires in September. In response, the NJTPA has convened a special working group composed of Central Staff and staff from the NJTPA’s subregions to work on reauthorization.
Building on knowledge gained from experience with TEA-21 and ISTEA, the TEA3 Working Group has decided to concentrate on making recommendations to the NJTPA Board of Trustees on what it knows best: MPO planning and operations provisions. The Working Group has met twice and will continue to meet until a new law is enacted.
Similar activities are underway nationwide. In late March, the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO), of which the NJTPA is a member, met in Washington for its annual policy conference.
Participants heard from Bush Administration officials and representatives of national transportation organizations that are actively developing proposals for TEA-21 renewal.
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North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, Inc.
One Newark Center, 17th Floor. Newark, NJ 07102
(973) 639-8400; Fax 639-1953
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