Central NJ Forum Will Evaluate Land Development Impact on Traffic
After more than a year of meetings, the Central NJ Transportation Forum is finally closing in on modeling alternative future land development (compact, transit-friendly growth), that would reduce car trips and traffic compared to development that extends the suburban housing, office and highway sprawl trend. At a meeting this week, mayors and town planners from most of the dozen municipalities involved and other stakeholders, including the Tri-State Campaign, agreed to model a scenario for municipal consideration called managed growth. It will accommodate roughly the same number or people and jobs as trend planning, but in more compact, transit-friendly places, and will also have enhanced transit, including new intra-regional service. The non-profit Regional Planning Partnership is working with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) to develop the scenario. Assumptions will be plugged in by the stakeholders at an October charrette, after they digest the highway-build futures at a Sept. 8th meeting. The two future highway-build scenarios to be modeled include existing and approved roads, while the second will also add the highly controversial Millstone Bypass and Route 92 projects. Princeton Boro Mayor Marvin Reed predicted that the highway-build model will show that "all those expenditures won't make any difference in traffic congestion."
