We have written previously about the profound changes underway in the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s approach to transportation planning (MTR #’s 477, 482). In brief, the Dept. is revolutionizing its response to traffic congestion by beginning to work with municipalities on siting future development in transportation-efficient locations and recommending subtle strategies like the reconnection of older street grids to move traffic more efficiently than the hierarchical "traffic sewer" approach favored by engineers in the second half of the 20^th Century.

This development is an extremely hopeful one for transportation planning and the future of smart growth strategies in the United States. Perhaps even more positive is the attention NJ’s example is already getting around the country, at least here in the northeast where states face tight budgets and old methods have not improved transportation.

A conference convened in March by the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Department of Transportations explicitly to explore and promote new transportation planning methods saw attendance by nearly every northeastern state DOT (and a few of their Canadian provincial counterparts). Commissioners of the New Hampshire and Delaware DOT’s joined NJ and PA transportation chiefs Jack Lettiere and Allen Biehler, while Massachusetts sent an official from Governor Romney’s office. New York State DOT sent a delegation of five or six from its Albany headquarters.

The content of presentations was remarkable by state DOT standards – presentations pointed out the unsustainable nature of road expansion, the relationship of highways and sprawl development and the fact that street grids contain more traffic capacity than hierarchical road systems with equal numbers of lane miles. Principles like these were espoused in comments by Lettiere, Biehler, New Hampshire commissioner Carol Murray and FHWA Administrator Mary Peters. No one at the session publicly gainsaid this direction, though there likely are some misgivings within the DOTs, which have been bastions of traditional traffic engineering and paving approaches. It also seemed clear that some state agencies have more political room than others to expand their strategic repertoires, with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and perhaps Delaware leading the way.

New Jersey Department of Transportation is reportedly preparing a formal announcement of its new planning strategies, to be accompanied by an explanatory web-site.

ConnDOT lived up to its reputation as the least reconstructed, least responsive state transportation agency around with its failure to attend the New Jersey/Pennsylvania DOT conference. Inquiries made in Connecticut before the event received a response about state government’s ban on out-of-state travel, but the event organizers said they offered to pay ConnDOT’s way to the event. 

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