Campaign priorities
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign and its allies claim to have achieved their goals of changing transportation planning and policies—particularly in reducing funding for road widening—over the past 13 years. In New Jersey, the organization was a key proponent of the New Jersey Department of Transportation's policy of connecting land use planning with transportation projects and has opposed many road improvements. In New York, TSTC has consistently promoted additional funding for transit services, especially suburban bus systems, obtaining grants from the New York State Department of Transportation for the same purpose.
Increasing funding for mass transit
TSTC seeks to convince policymakers to maintain and increase subsidies for mass transit operations and construction projects. It opposed a planned 2010 fare increase for NJ Transit [2] and plans to cut service on New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority-run transit systems. [3]
Revitalizing cities
TSTC works with community groups in Newark, advocating for streets that are more walkable and more attractive for development. In Trenton, TSTC supports the city's plan to convert a portion of Route 29 into a waterfront boulevard. Working with groups in the South Bronx, TSTC succeeded in inserting plans for removing the Sheridan Expressway into New York State Department of Transportation studies for the area. [4] In Connecticut, TSTC is working to build support for a removal of Route 34 in New Haven and its replacement with a boulevard and mixed-use development. [5]
Consistent analysis of spending and project priorities in New Jersey resulted in a significant diminution of spending for new highway capacity in the state. In the mid-nineties, the NJDOT was spending over 50 percent of its capital dollars on new or wider highways. In 2008, that number had decreased to 1.5 percent. The New Jersey DOT is adopting transportation-efficient land use planning, which seeks to reduce the heavy car trip generation that characterizes sprawl development. The Connecticut Department of Transportation and New York Department of Transportation are now also considering ways to incorporate land use into project design and planning. In 2008, NYSDOT announced a GreenLITES program to incorporate sustainability into transportation projects, and made the redesign of Route 347 on Long Island a model project for the program.
Mitigating truck impacts
TSTC broadcasts projected truck traffic increases throughout New Jersey and New York City and works with environmental justice groups and neighborhoods to win better management of truck traffic.
Bus rapid transit & suburban bus systems
TSTC advocated for CTfastrak, which is the first true bus rapid transit system in the region. In Long Island, Tri-State worked with civic groups to provide support for bus riders calling for adequate funding and reliable service. And for over 10 years, TSTC has been advocating for improved bus service over the rebuilding of the Tappan Zee Bridge, and was a member of the Transit Task Force that developed specific recommendations for implementation on the new bridge.
Complete streets
TSTC advocates for Complete Streets, not only for communities to adopt policies or ordinances, but to fund their implementation as well. In 2014, TSTC worked with the City of Stamford, Connecticut, to draft a Complete Streets ordinance, and partnered with BikeWalkCT on Connecticut’s first ever Complete Streets Forum. In 2012, TSTC was a lead advocate for the successful passage of New York’s Complete Streets law. TSTC advocated for local Complete Streets policies throughout New Jersey: Cranford, Newark, Trenton, Fanwood, Linden, Mantua Township, Camden, and Woodbury. TSTC's advocacy contributed to half of the Smart Growth America's top eight NJ Complete Streets policies in 2013 [Trenton, Linden, Camden, and Cranford]. In New York, TSTC successfully campaigned for a Complete Streets implementation fund for Suffolk County, which was created in June 2014, a year and half after the County adopted a Complete Streets policy. Also, in conjunction with regional partners, TSTC developed a “Complete Streets in a Box” toolkit to help local legislators and advocates advance safer streets policies in their own communities. In 2013, TSTC developed two webinars (1,2) demonstrating how to successfully implement Complete Streets after policy adoption.
Route 31 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States. It runs 48.93 mi (78.75 km) from U.S. Route 1 Business /US 206 in Trenton, Mercer County, north to an intersection with US 46 in Buttzville in White Township, Warren County. Along the way, Route 31 heads through the communities of Flemington, Clinton and Washington. Most of the highway is state-maintained; however, the section within the city limits of Trenton is maintained by the city. Much of Route 31 is a two-lane highway that passes through farmland, woodland, and mountainous areas. Two portions of the route—from Trenton to Pennington and from Ringoes to Clinton—consist of more development.
U.S. Route 206 is a 130.23-mile-long (209.58 km) north–south United States highway in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, United States. Only about a half a mile of its length is in Pennsylvania; the Milford–Montague Toll Bridge carries it over the Delaware River into New Jersey, where the remainder of the route is. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with US 30 and Route 54 in Hammonton, New Jersey. The highway's northern terminus is at an intersection with US 209 near Milford, Pennsylvania; some sources and signs show an overlap with US 209 to end at its parent route US 6. For much of its length, US 206 is a rural two-lane undivided road that passes through the Pine Barrens, agricultural areas, and the Appalachian Mountains of northwestern New Jersey, with some urban and suburban areas. The route connects several cities and towns, including Bordentown, Trenton, Princeton, Somerville, Roxbury, Netcong, and Newton. The road is known as the Disabled American Veterans Highway for much of its length.
Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs 35.62 miles (57.32 km) from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The majority of I-278 is in New York City, where it serves as a partial beltway and passes through all five of the city's boroughs. I-278 follows several freeways, including the Union Freeway in Union County, New Jersey; the Staten Island Expressway (SIE) across Staten Island; the Gowanus Expressway in southern Brooklyn; the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) across northern Brooklyn and Queens; a small part of the Grand Central Parkway in Queens; and a part of the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx. I-278 also crosses multiple bridges, including the Goethals, Verrazzano-Narrows, Kosciuszko, and Robert F. Kennedy bridges.
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bus, light rail, and commuter rail services throughout the state, connecting to major commercial and employment centers both within the state and in the adjacent major cities of New York and Philadelphia. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 133,463,800.
Route 440 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States. It comprises two segments, a 5.15-mile (8.29 km) freeway in Middlesex County linking Interstate 287 (I-287) and the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95), in Edison to the Outerbridge Crossing in Perth Amboy and a 8.18-mile (13.16 km) four-lane divided highway in Hudson County running from the Bayonne Bridge in Bayonne to U.S. Route 1/9 Truck in Jersey City. These two segments are connected by New York State Route 440 (NY 440), which runs across Staten Island. The freeway portion in Middlesex County is six lanes wide and interchanges with the Garden State Parkway and US 9 in Woodbridge.
The River Line is a hybrid rail line in southern New Jersey that connects the cities of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey's capital. It is so named because its route between the two cities is parallel to the Delaware River.
The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is a light rail system in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Owned by New Jersey Transit (NJT) and operated by the 21st Century Rail Corporation, it connects the communities of Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City, and North Bergen.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal is a bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving about 8,000 buses and 225,000 people on an average weekday and more than 65 million people a year.
The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportation policy, and assisting with rail, freight, and intermodal transportation issues. It is headed by the Commissioner of Transportation. The present Commissioner is Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti.
Interstate 195 (I-195) is an auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its western end is at I-295 and Route 29 just south of Trenton, New Jersey, in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, while its eastern end is at the Garden State Parkway, Route 34 and Route 138 in Wall Township, Monmouth County. I-195 is 34.17 miles (54.99 km) in length. The route is mostly a four-lane highway that mainly runs through agrarian and wooded areas in Central Jersey. It has an interchange with the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95) in Robbinsville Township and serves as a main access road to New Jersey's state capital of Trenton, the Horse Park of New Jersey, Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park, and the Jersey Shore. I-195 is occasionally referred to as the Central Jersey Expressway. On April 6, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed H.R. 4263 naming Interstate 195 in New Jersey the James J. Howard Interstate Highway, in honor of the late James J. Howard.
Princeton is the northern terminus of the Princeton Branch commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit (NJT), and is located on the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey. At the branch's southern end at Princeton Junction, connections are available to NJT's Northeast Corridor Line and peak-hour Amtrak trains. The shuttle train between the two stations is known as the "Dinky", and has also been known as the "PJ&B", for "Princeton Junction and Back". Now running 2.7 mi (4.3 km) along a single track, it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. Initial studies have been conducted to add a bus transitway along the Dinky right-of-way as part of a proposed bus rapid transit system.
The Northern Branch Corridor Project is a proposed extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) from its northern terminus into eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, initially proposed in 2001. If built, the new service would use the right-of-way of the Northern Branch on which the Erie Lackawanna Railroad ran passenger service until October 3, 1966, and is currently a lightly used, stub-ended freight rail line owned by CSX Transportation. The Northern Branch Corridor is at the foot of the west side of the Hudson Palisades in the Hackensack River valley, running for much of its length parallel to Overpeck Creek. After mixed reactions and extensive community input to a draft environmental impact statement (EIS), it was decided in 2013 to terminate the line at the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. In March 2017 the Supplementary Draft Environmental Impact Statement was approved by the Federal Transit Administration allowing for a period of public reaction. A separately-conceived and funded bridge at 69th St. in North Bergen, necessary for operation of the system, has been completed. In 2017 NJ Transit estimated that the line would open in 2029.
Route 85, also known as the Hoboken Freeway, was a proposed 7.60-mile-long (12.23 km) limited-access highway in Hudson County and Bergen County, New Jersey. The freeway was planned to begin at an interchange with Interstate 78 near the Holland Tunnel approach in Jersey City, northward through North Bergen on its way to Fort Lee, where the highway would interchange with Interstate 80 near the George Washington Bridge.
U.S. Route 1 is a United States highway which parallels the East Coast of the United States, running from Key West, Florida in the south to Fort Kent, Maine at the Canadian border in the north. Of the entire length of the route, 66.06 miles (106.31 km) of it runs through New Jersey. It enters the state from Pennsylvania on the Trenton–Morrisville Toll Bridge over the Delaware River in the state capital of Trenton, running through the city on the Trenton Freeway. From here, US 1 continues northeast as a surface divided highway through suburban areas continuing into Middlesex County and passing through New Brunswick and Edison. US 1 merges with US 9 in Woodbridge, and the two routes continue through northern New Jersey as US 1/9 to the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River in Fort Lee. At this point, the road continues into New York City along with I-95.
In New York City, a planned congestion pricing scheme will charge vehicles traveling into or within the central business district of Manhattan. First proposed in 2007, this disincentivizing fee to cut down on traffic congestion was approved and included in the 2019 New York State budget.
Transportation in New Jersey utilizes a combination of road, rail, air, and water modes. New Jersey is situated between Philadelphia and New York City, two major metropolitan centers of the Boston-Washington megalopolis, making it a regional corridor for transportation. As a result, New Jersey's freeways carry high volumes of interstate traffic and products. The main thoroughfare for long distance travel is the New Jersey Turnpike, the nation's fifth-busiest toll road. The Garden State Parkway connects the state's densely populated north to its southern shore region. New Jersey has the 4th smallest area of U.S. states, but its population density of 1,196 persons per sq. mi causes congestion to be a major issue for motorists.
The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) is the federally authorized metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the 13-county northern New Jersey region, one of three MPOs in the state. NJTPA's annual budget is more than $2 billion for transportation improvement projects. The Authority also participates in inter-agency cooperation and receives public input into funding decisions. The NJTPA sponsors and conducts studies, assists county planning agencies and monitors compliance with national air quality goals. The Authority provides federal funding to support the planning work of its 15 subregions. The funds are matched by a local contribution. As vital partners in regional planning work, the subregions help bring a local perspective to all aspects of NJTPA's work to improve the northern New Jersey transportation network.
Bus rapid transit in New Jersey comprises limited-stop bus service, exclusive bus lanes (XBL) and bus bypass shoulders (BBS). Under the banner Next Generation Bus New Jersey Transit (NJT), the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), and the metropolitan planning organizations of New Jersey (MPO) which recommend and authorize transportation projects are undertaking the creation of several additional bus rapid transit systems (BRT) in the state.
The Glassboro–Camden Line (GCL) is a planned 18-mile (29 km) diesel multiple unit (DMU) light rail system to be located in South Jersey.
The Monmouth Ocean Middlesex Line (MOM) is a passenger rail project in the US state of New Jersey, proposed by NJ Transit Rail Operations (NJT) to serve the Central New Jersey counties of Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex. The line would originate/terminate around Lakehurst at its southern end. It would junction with either the Northeast Corridor Line or North Jersey Coast Line to provide service north to Newark Penn Station, with potential connecting or continuing service to Hoboken Terminal or New York Penn Station.
