Reform NJ's Transportation Trust Fund
At the New Jersey state-wide "Trans-Action" conference this week in
Atlantic City, the buzz was about pending renewal of NJ's Transportation
Trust Fund. The Trust Fund must have new revenue sources dedicated
to it this year in order to continue providing monies for New Jersey's
transit, highway and local aid capital projects. The reauthorization bill
introduced by State Senate president Donald DiFrancesco in January is tentatively
scheduled to receive a hearing before the Senate Transportation Committee
on
Thursday, May 4th at 1 pm. No bill has yet been introduced in the
Assembly.
Tri-State Transportation Campaign director Janine Bauer presented
a Trust Fund reform agenda
during a panel discussion on the topic Wednesday. Campaign
literature describing the reform program was also distributed to most
conference-goers.
The Campaign has proposed amending the reauthorization bill to enshrine
the following directives in law:
-
Adherence to the 'fix-it-first' principle.
-
Prioritizing and speeding up new transit projects
-
Protecting open space and reducing traffic by (1) Prohibiting DOT from
building new highway capacity in State Plan designated rural farmland or
critical habitat or Green Acres protected land. (2) Encouraging DOT to
seek land use agreements from municipalities where new or wider highways
are planned so that new developments do not eat away investment in better
traffic flow.
-
Increasing local aid to counties and municipalities.
-
Full funding for the projects designated in the 1999 State Rail Freight
Master Plan.
-
Reducing dependence on polluting diesel-fuel mass transit buses.
-
Providing equitable transit service for urban stations and complying with
federal anti-sprawl guidelines in planning new rail projects.
-
Investing to reduce pedestrian fatalities by 1/3 and build 200 miles of
bike lanes annually for the next five years
|
