How
would you reduce traffic congestion in New Jersey? Can
you identify any workable projects that could help relieve
congestion? As the newly appointed chairman of the "Congestion
Buster Task Force," I will be leading a group of
business, transportation and local government leaders
charged with identifying 10 workable projects that could
help relieve congestion in New Jersey - and doing it
within one year.
Created
as part of the "Congestion Relief and Transportation
Trust Fund Renewal Act," (c.27 P.L. 2001), the
task force will make recommendations to reduce traffic
congestion, develop a commuter options plan to "cap"
peak hour vehicle trips, and identify projects to relieve
congestion or improve safety. The recommendations will
be provided to the Governor and the Legislature in one
year.
Most
people in New Jersey agree that traffic congestion is
a serious problem that will only get worse in the future.
Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, chairman of the Assembly Transportation
Committee and sponsor of the Transportation Trust Fund
Renewal Act, has stated that congestion costs us nearly
$5 billion a year and that it is a serious "Quality
of Life" issue. State planners tell us that in
the next 20 years New Jersey's population will grow
by more than one million people. Improvements in the
New York-New Jersey port will bring a four-fold increase
in the number of containers moving through the port,
with each new container adding one additional truck
to regional roadways. Similarly, the growth in e-commerce
will increase airfreight activity in and around airports.
The
task force will examine regional solutions as well as
programs in other states, such as California, that face
congestion problems. We will look for new ideas. Some
people see congestion as a problem that can be addressed
by building new infrastructure - new roads, redesigned
existing roads, better signalization, or alternative
transportation (trains and buses). Others see congestion
as a social issue - sprawl and congestion as a by-product
of individual land use decisions involving housing,
economic development, personal safety, and education.
The
private automobile has given us the power to live where
we want, and the market has given us an opportunity
to live where we can afford, often adding miles to our
daily commutes. New thinking "smart growth"
has state planners trying to revise these trends by
redeveloping urban areas while shutting down new development
in rural areas. Using governmental policies to shape
human behavior, however, does not always work in real
life. We saw the difficulty of changing individual commuting
behavior in the great social engineering experimentation
of the federally mandated "Employer Trip Reduction
Program."
As
a result, a key component of our charge is to develop
"doable" proposals. We can recommend more
public transportation, mandated car-pooling and so-called
"smart growth" all we want. But if the public
doesn't want to take the bus to work, car-pool or live
in cities, those solutions will accomplish nothing.
That's
why we need to hear from as many members of the public
as possible. Your comments and ideas will help us develop
recommendations that reflect the real world of business
and employment, not some utopia created by a government
planner. Please click here
to e-mail me your suggestions.
New
Jersey's demographic and economic development projections
necessitate a fresh look at what we can do to relieve
congestion and solve traffic problems. This requires
innovative solutions that are fiscally sensible and
politically doable. New Jersey businesses want to attract
and retain good employees who arrive unstressed and
on time. Our industrial supplies need to arrive at our
facilities in a timely manner, and our goods must travel
to our customers on schedule. Our customers should not
have to overcome gridlock to shop at our stores or visit
our world-class tourist destinations. Congestion is
a problem that requires our best thinking.
