Planning for a 21st Century Transportation System
By Dianne Brake
3/99
The Times' excellent, six-part series on the South Jersey Light Rail Transit System (SJLRT) focused on one of the most important infrastructure projects to be undertaken in the region in decades. Transportation officials should be congratulated for departing from "business-as-usual" and creating a rare opportunity to affect regional land use patterns and public transit services over the next century.
The potential benefits of the SJLRT are many: it can provide a much needed incentive for redevelopment along a riverfront that is greatly in need of it; it will connect the major commuter rail services into and out of Philadelphia and New York City; and will provide an estimated 4000 temporary and permanent jobs in the region. The project will also provide an attractive travel option for those who do not or cannot drive.
Why is this one project so important? Throughout history, transportation technology has shaped land use patterns. From the times when footpaths were all that was needed, to when trains were invented, opening up whole continents for development, transportation shaped land use. Later, we built trolleys (an early form of light rail) and commuter rail lines. As these services thrived, so did the towns they ran through. The land use patterns were still compact and mixed-use, and they supported, and were still supported by, walking, cycling, and public transportation.
The widespread use of the automobile continued the history of transportation technology shaping land use patterns. We built low density, single use developments, such as subdivisions, office parks, and shopping centers, to support and be supported by the private automobile. It is not surprising then, that the old technology (trolleys, traditional buses and rail lines) proved to be no longer relevant to such a dispersed population. Transportation technology, again, had shaped land use.
But this time, something else changed. This time, new technology was not adding more choices, as it had in the past, but was removing choices. The automobile changed land use in such a way that the only the automobile works as a transportation option.
But even that is not the most serious problem. We are in danger of losing the historic relationship between advances in transportation technology and the pattern of land uses. Because we have codified our automobile-dependent land use patterns into zoning ordinances and embedded so many of our regulations and investment programs with hundreds of automobile-directed subsidies and policies, it is much more difficult for new transportation options to be offered.
Why should we worry? It is estimated that New Jersey's population will grow by about one million people, by the year 2020. Can we fit one million more cars on our existing highway network? Can we or should we continue to expand our highways? Can we afford more traffic congestion? I am confident that most people would answer NO to these questions! If we do not want gridlock, and we do not want more highways, then we must look for some alternative to the automobile if we want to continue to grow.
Although reducing our dependence on the automobile will require many, many changes in policy and behavior, the two most significant things we can do are 1.) change land use patterns and 2.) invest in new transit services. Research tells us that we cannot do one without the other. Land use and transportation must support each other.
This is what makes the Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit Line so important. It is an investment in a new transportation technology that can be used to reshape land use patterns into one that will provide the traveler with more choices. It represents a leap of faith that given the SJLRT, local decision-makers will have an incentive to change land use patterns to make them walkable, and feasible to serve with public transit. Without the land use changes to support it, however, SJLRT will ultimately fail.
None of us can afford to let SJLRT fail. We must all do our part to ensure its success. Local governments must consider changes in zoning along the riverfront to something that will support the light rail line, and along nearby highways to something that will not compete with it. New Jersey Transit must work flexibly with local governments to satisfy community design and safety concerns. They must also add services, such as jitneys and flex-route buses to bring riders to the light rail line. New Jersey Department of Transportation and the Counties must ensure that their investments support travelers' choosing the light rail line, rather than investing in highway projects that will compete with it. In addition, all of us must strive to make public transportation as attractive, convenient, safe, and affordable as the automobile, and to educate travelers on the consequences of their choices.
Dianne Brake is President, of MSM Regional Council, a non-partisan nonprofit planning and public policy organization dedicated to sound land use planning and regional cooperation in central New Jersey.