The number of miles driven on New Jersey’s roadways continued to grow at a steady rate of about 2 percent per year, for a total of almost 15 percent growth from 1997 to 2004. That amounts to 9.4 billion additional miles driven in the state annually. By 2004, drivers were logging almost 72.7 billion miles each year in New Jersey—almost 200 million miles daily, equivalent to 840 trips from the earth to the moon each day. It should be noted that federal government estimates are based on traffic counts at a large sampling of locations and may be subject to some error. This might explain the apparent straight-line growth in driving.
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Source: NJDOT. New Jersey's Estimated Annual Certified Public Road Mileage and VMT Estimates, 2005. |
These vehicle miles traveled (VMT) figures include a significant number of through-trips, made by nonresidents. The Turnpike, in particular, is a primary route used by interstate travelers and freight trucks.
A rough calculation dividing total statewide VMT by total New Jersey licensed drivers finds that the average driver logged more than 12,500 miles in 2004. This is significantly less than the national average of 14,895 miles per driver, and likely reflects New Jersey's higher than average transit use and relatively compact development (the real average is less still because of Turnpike through traffic and other traffic by out of state drivers). Still, New Jersey motorists are driving about 1,200 more miles annually today than they were in 1997, a growth of 10.4 percent in less than a decade.
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Source: FHWA. Highway Statistics Series, Tables PS-1 and DL-22, 1997-2004. |
Traffic on New Jersey's major north-south highways -- the Garden State Parkway and the Turnpike -- has skyrocketed in just a few years, according to Turnpike Authority data. In 2004, nearly 350 million vehicles traveled on the Garden State Parkway, up 19 percent from 1997.
NJDOT data show that growth is even higher on selected segments. For example, traffic at GSP milepoint 14 in Middle Township in Cape May County grew 44 percent from 2000 to 2004.
Traffic volumes grew even faster on the Turnpike. More than 247 million vehicles traveled on the Turnpike in 2004, an increase of 22 percent over traffic volumes in 1997. Bordentown Township in Burlington County saw a 30 percent growth in traffic. And traffic grew more than 26 percent at milepoint 106 in Newark.
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Source: New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Annual Count of Revenue Vehicles, 1997-2004. Obtained by TSTC via an Open Public Records Act request. Data show the number of vehicles paying tolls at any toll booth. |