Central Jersey Transportation Forum (CJTF)
For the last ten years, the CJTF has been convened by DVRPC for NJDOT to promote a regional approach to project development. PlanSmart NJ staff serves on the project Steering Committee, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Legislative and Freight Committees.
Since day one, PlanSmart NJ has advocated that the work of the CJTF focus on developing a list of the next generation of transportation projects that will reduce controversy and result in better outcomes for the region as a whole.
Early in the process, PlanSmart NJ’s Vision 2050 Plan, in which a new intra-regional transit system was envisioned to become the basis for land use and transportation planning in the region, inspired a proposal for a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System. Since then, with the support of the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association, we have advocated for the BRT to serve as the focal point around which new transportation projects and local centers would be planned.
Working with a group of state, county and local officials from the CJTF, PlanSmart NJ developed a proposal on how to get regional agreements to improve both effectiveness and efficiency of results. We called it the RAP, for the Regional Action Planning Process.
The RAP makes the county the convener and gives local government a seat at the table where regional agreements are reached to meet statewide targets. The RAP was designed to replace the cumbersome State Plan Endorsement process, which tries to review plans at the local level without any regional context.
While working on how to develop new projects, PlanSmart NJ has also advocated for the construction of projects that have already been planned, such as proposed Route 92 and the widening of Route 1 and the Turnpike, all of which have been demonstrated to be vital to the function of the Route 1 Corridor, one of the primary economic engines of the state. We have pointed out that, since most transit is road-based, the region must create a better connected highway network.
PlanSmart NJ has also advocated for new approaches to be taken to the region’s decades-old problem of local opposition to the densities necessary for transit-oriented development. Toward this end, we have pushed hard for a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, regional tax-based sharing, education finance reform, and a mechanism, such as the proposed Transportation Enhancement Districts to finance the BRT and other needed projects.