NJ Long Range Transportation Plan Unveiled

NJ DOT unveiled New Jersey's long range transportation plan December 16 in Trenton. Tri-State members Jim Tripp, Ed Lloyd, Jeff Zupan, Marjorie Angelo, and Marie Curtis attended. The Tri-State Campaign would strongly endorse most of the plan, as related by DOT's chief planner, Bill

Beetle, especially goals such as preserving open space, development in centers, and preserving and providing safe and secure multiple modes of transport for mobility of goods and people. Immediate priorities were repair and maintenance, improvement and expansion of transit, and promotion of

land use planning focusing on center development.

Commissioner Wilson's reaction to the plan seemed overly cautious. He said that criteria he would apply to such a plan are relevancy, reality, actionability, consistency, resolution of tensions and facilitation of decision-making. He concluded with four tough calls he felt would have to precede the

progress of any plan: funding, land use, technology and political will.

Tronically, one if the tough calls (how to finance the New Jersey Trust Fund) is being made right now, in the Governor's office, and Wilson has so far ducked it. Achieving the goals of the long range plan is inextricably related to how the state raises and spends money on transportation investments,

and on the market signals and subsidies provided to users. The Trust Fund's renewal is the opportunity for Wilson's Department to put its money where its mouth is. When we asked Commissioner Wilson to back market-based mechanisms to raise revenue for the Fund -- and to sell that platform to

his boss -- he gave the circular reply that such a strategy was best dealt with in the long-range planning process.