What is Corridor and Subarea Planning?
A critical element of the NJTPA’s regional transportation planning is identifying and advancing accessibility and mobility improvements in major travel corridors and subareas. Local concerns about heavily congested streets and highways, air quality, noise, and land use development are carefully incorporated into any recommended improvements, while addressing travel that extends beyond the jurisdiction of any one town or county. Corridor studies can involve highway travel, as well as transit and bicycle and pedestrian travel.
Background 
Years ago, corridor studies mainly consisted of a highly technical evaluation of highway performance, focusing on issues such as traffic signal timing and spacing, lane widths and weaving patterns. With the goal of eliminating congestion and increasing travel speeds for automobiles and commercial verhicles, little thought was given to other modes that share the road, such as transit vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists, or to how local land use decisions were creating or exacerbating congestion and mobility problems.
All this changed in recent years with the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) by Congress in 1991, and the wider realization that “we can’t build our way out of congestion,” particularly in the urbanized northeast. This renewed approach embraces a balanced approach to vehicular and non-vehicular travel, incorporates outreach approaches to actively engage local decision makers and stakeholders and is creating transportation systems for "Livable Communities".
NJTPA Corridor and Subarea Stud
ies
NJTPA corridor and subarea studies address a variety of mobility, accessibility and safety needs. Studies often will analyze improvement options that take into account the entire transportation system within a study area, including multiple roadways, rail and bus service, park and rides facilities and bicycle/pedestrian linkages.
Increasingly, corridor and subarea studies incorporate land use considerations and "smart growth" planning, taking legislation such as the Highlands Preservation Act into consideration. Corridor studies also take into account local land use policies and plans and stakeholder input from agencies, local officials and the public.
The outcomes are well defined multi-modal solutions that can be "handed off" to implementing agencies such as the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), NJ Transit or county or local engineers. The recommendations may address not only traffic congestion, but also regional and local needs for better transit, park & rides and non-motorized transportation modes.
NJTPA also plays an advisory role in numerous transportation planning studies led by other agencies where recommended corridor scale improvements will have regional implications.
Corridor and Subarea Studies in the NJTPA Region
NJTPA-led corridor and subarea studies now underway:
- Elizabeth Downtown Multi-Modal Integration Study -This study will develop an effective integration plan between NJ TRANSIT's rail station in the City of Elizabeth and the surrounding central business district. This effort will produce a conceptual plan for "gateway" corridors with enhanced traffic circulation, safety, and infrastructure leading to the rail station, and identify opporunties to enhance multi-modal transfer opportunities to rail and bus services at the station facility. Completion in 2011 is anticipated.
- Hudson County Jitney Study - This study will identify ways to better integrate and regulate jitney operations, and provide for a safer, more efficient transportation service in Hudson County. This analysis and the recommendations that result from the study will assist state, county and local policy makers in better integrating jitney services into the overall transportation system. It is intended that the findings and recommendation of this study be applicable to other counties in the region that have a significant jitney presence. This study builds on an analysis completed in the Hudson County Bus Circulation and Infrastructure Study in 2007. This study will undertake a more detailed analysis of jitney operations, including a review of interstate and intrastate operating authorities, and research into the legal options of regulating services operated by federally licensed interstate providers.
- NJTPA sub-regional studies - NJTPA funds numerous county-led studies on a bi-yearly basis. These studies address local issues that have regional impacts. Examples of recently completed sub-regional studies include the
Jersey City Waterfront Access and Circulation Study and the
Route 202 Corridor Assessment & Multi-Modal Mobility Plan in
Somerset and Hunterdon Counties.
NJTPA-funded corridor and subarea studies to begin shortly:
- Evaluation of Next Generation Bus Service in the NJTPA Region - The study will identify opportunities to implement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and related preferential treatments and supportive land uses along major transportation corridors in the NJTPA region. The study will consider, as appropriate, potential re-use of abandoned, lightly used and former railroad rights-of-way that strategicaly connect between residential, retail, institutional and job activity centers as well as along existing roadway corridors. BRT treatments explored may include signal priority, bus-on-shoulder usage, or dedicated rights of way to allow buses to bypass congestion and improve travel time.
- Flemington Borough Rail Study - Feasibility Assessment - This effort, led by NJ TRANSIT, will look at developing initial concepts and evaluate the feasibility of instituting passenger service along the Norfolk Southern Lehigh freight rail line and the Black River and Western freight rail line in Somerset and Hunterdon Counties as far west as Flemington Borough.
Corridor and subarea studies led by other agencies now underway:
- Central New Jersey/Raritan Valley Transit Study - NJ Transit and the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission are jointly studying opportunities for potential future bus and rail service and park & ride facilities that would serve travel markets along the I-78 corridor between Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, western New Jersey, and major employment centers in central New Jersey and New York City. This effort is follow-up to NJTPA's I-78 Corridor Transit Study, completed in 2008. A 2010 completion is anticipated.
- Greater New Brunswick Bus Rapid Transit Study Phase II - NJ Transit is conducting a study to refine Phase I options for development of a Bus Rapid Transit system for the New Brunswick area in Middlesex County.
- Newark-Elizabeth Comprehensive Bus Study -NJ TRANSIT is leading a three-year study that aims to improve bus services and facilties in the greater Newark area. This multi-year study is the first comprehensive examination of bus service in the Newark area in over twenty years.
- Northeast New Jersey Metro Mobility Study - Comprehensive review of transit services in northeastern New Jersey that will focus on improved bus routes, services and intermodal connections. Integration with new rail services and rail corridors will be examined, with special attention on access to new and improved rail service resulting from ARC. In addition, an investigation of buses using the George Washington Bridge to access Manhattan will look at mobility needs around the toll plaza. This study is jointly funded by NJTPA and NJ Transit.
- Route 1 Bus Rapid Transit - The NJTPA has joined with NJDOT, NJ Transit and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) in funding a study of a Bus Rapid Transit System along the US Route 1 corridor in Middlesex, Somerset, and Mercer Counties. NJ Transit and DVRPC are currently engaged in refinement and environmental analysis of conceptual BRT service options, and are developing near-term plans for potential upgrades and expansions to the areas's local bus network. More information is available via the DVRPC's Website.
- Route 440 Hudson Bergen Light Rail Extension Study - This NJ TRANSIT led study will explore the feasibility of extending Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service farther west in Jersey City from its current western terminus at West Side Avenue Station to a redevelopment zone near Route 440 along the Hackensack Riverfront.
Various additional studies are under way under the lead of NJDOT, NJ Transit and county and municipal agencies within the NJTPA region.
Recently completed NJTPA-funded corridor studies:
- Northwest New Jersey Bus Study - This joint effort between NJTPA and NJ TRANSIT is analyzing opportunities for greater access to jobs and other destinations via buses, shuttles and carpools. The study will identify corridor-based critical needs, deficiencies and opportunities for service, passenger facilties and intermodal connections, and will recommend strategies that could create more commuting options for individuals who reside or work in the northwestern New Jersey counties of Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren. This effort was completed in 2010.
- Greater New Brunswick Bus Rapid Transit Study Phase I - NJ Transit has completed a study of options for development of a Bus Rapid Transit system for the New Brunswick area in Middlesex County.
- I-78 Corridor Transit Study - This NJDOT-funded study assessed the need, impact and feasibility of various transit strategies along the I-78 corridor between Lehigh County, Pennsylvania to the west and Somerset County, New Jersey to the east. NJDOT, NJ Transit, the Delaware River Joint Bridge & Toll Commission, study area counties and others have been active partners in this multi-modal planning effort.
Resources for communities who want to do a corridor study