FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWARK – The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) was set today to adopt a plan that represents a vision for the future of transportation in the 13-county northern New Jersey region. Federal law requires the NJTPA to update its regional transportation plan every three years to maintain the region’s eligibility for federal transportation funding. The Board was slated to vote on the plan today at its 1 p.m. meeting.
Entitled Access & Mobility 2025, the plan serves as a regional investment guide for approximately $40 billion in transportation funding (roughly $1 billion per year in federal funds, as well as additional amounts from the state Transportation Trust Fund) over the next 25 years.
"That sounds like an awful lot of money, and, of course, it is," Robert Janiszewski, NJTPA Chairman and Hudson County Executive, said at a press conference today prior to the NJTPA Board of Trustee’s monthly meeting. "But viewed against the vast needs of this region, with its aging infrastructure, dense population and bustling economy, it does not begin to meet all of our needs. Still, we must plan for the smartest possible investments."
To accomplish this, the plan calls for a "multimodal" approach to congestion and other problems. This approach considers various strategies – including road, rail, pedestrian, ferry and other improvements – depending on the circumstances in each locale. The plan focuses on 18 major travel corridors in the region. In each corridor, the plan identifies projects now being considered for funding and issues and problems to be addressed over the long-term. The plan and related documents are available through the agency’s web site, www.njtpa.org.
The NJTPA developed the plan over the last two years with extensive input from the public, interested organizations and state and county agencies. In just the last eight months, NJTPA staff worked with county agencies to hold 27 public meetings in the region to gather input for the plan. Cooperation with the state’s transportation operating agencies, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and NJ Transit is especially critical in creating and implementing the plan.
While the plan identifies projects and studies, it also contains a wealth of valuable data about the region and its vast transportation system. According to the plan, each day in the northern New Jersey region:
* People make 19 million trips and spend 140,000 hours traveling
* Cars and trucks travel more than 100 million miles
* Shippers move 2 million tons of freight
* Transit users make more than 600,000 trips on bus, commuter train and light rail
* Ferry passengers make approximately 24,000 trips
* Residents walk more than 3.5 million miles
The plan also contains projections about the future of the region. This analysis finds that:
* By 2025, our 13-county region is expected to be home to over a million more people than today, bringing the population over 7 million
* The size of households is shrinking at the same time population is growing, with an average of 2.7 people per household down from 3.5 a decade ago. This trend, which translates into more trip making, will continue.
* Overall, the mileage traveled by vehicles is likely to increase by up to 20 percent over the next 25 years.
* Freight traffic arriving at our ports is likely to double by 2010 and triple by 2040.
"Clearly, the challenge before us is great – and the resources we have to meet that challenge are limited," Chairman Janiszewski said. "The plan attempts to strike a balance among our region’s critical needs. The ‘fix it first’ approach means that rather than spend the bulk of our resources on expanding capacity, we instead create a pattern of investment that makes our existing infrastructure – on which we’ve already spent billions of dollars – safer and more efficient. The plan also emphasizes transportation projects that preserve our natural environment and make a transportation system that is more accessible to all our citizens."
Taking fiscal constraints into account, the plan balances road, rail, ferry, pedestrian and bicycle modes of transportation. It takes into consideration the needs of the region’s urban, suburban and rural communities through a planning framework that can adapt to the region’s needs as they evolve and is coordinated with the State Development and Redevelopment Plan.
"The plan is a milestone, but it is not etched in stone," Janiszewski said. "The adoption of Access & Mobility: 2025 means that the NJTPA has delivered a strong, vibrant blueprint for our transportation network's future. It is thoughtful, comprehensive and fair, and delivers the best and most prudent governmental investment strategy for ensuring our transportation system's health well into the future."
The NJTPA is the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for 13 northern New Jersey Counties. Under federal legislation, MPOs provide a forum where local officials, public transportation providers and state agency representatives can come together and cooperatively plan to meet the region’s current and future transportation needs. It establishes the region’s eligibility to receive federal tax dollars for transportation projects.
The NJTPA Board consists of one local elected official from each of the 13 counties in the region (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren), and the cities of Newark and Jersey City. The Board also includes a Governor’s Representative, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the Executive Directors of NJ Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and a Citizen’s Representative appointed by the Governor.
Contact:
David Behrend, Public Affairs Manager
(973) 639-8423