At a conference on New Jersey pedestrian issues today, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's Greg Meyer, laid out the case for additional funding for pedestrian safety and accessibility projects in the State.

This year, New Jersey has allocated $4.7 million for pedestrian projects. Of that sum, a bit over half will be dedicated to five pilot pedestrian projects in Newark and Irvington (see MTR #232), leaving $2.2 million to be allocated for local pedestrian project proposal. Competition for the money will be stiff - 206 project applications, requesting a total of $30 million, have been submitted this year. Next year, DOT plans to add federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds worth $6 million to pedestrian safety efforts, but it is still a far cry from the amount needed even to service municipal demand, let alone retrofit lethal corridors such as Routes 9, 22, or 37.

Frank Brady, a manager for NJDOT, concurred with the Campaign's assessment, saying, "Is it enough? No."

Meyer also pointed out that Governor Whitman has made cutting pedestrian fatalities in half a major policy priority, but that NJ state-wide pedestrian fatalities increased 9 percent last year.

Meyer focused on three funding areas that could supply more dollars for pedestrian projects. First, he said that CMAQ funding could be dramatically scaled up for both bicycle and pedestrian projects. Under TEA-21, NJ will receive about $80 million per year from CMAQ. Second, he noted that federal "hazard elimination" funds, which are now being used in both New York and California for pedestrian safety, should be used similarly in New Jersey (NJDOT has said it would look into doing so). Finally, he said that the state Transportation Trust Fund, which supplies moneys for the pedestrian program now, needs to expressly deliver $20 million per year in pedestrian funding, which would still amount to less than 1% of Trust Fund spending.

The conference, "Walk NJ," was organized by the Rutgers Transportation Policy Institute and the NJ Chapter of the American Planning Association.