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Union County's NJTPA Board Member: Freeholder
Angel Estrada |
Union County
is one of the subregions that are represented on the NJTPA Board of Trustees. The subregions consist of 13 counties and two cities. The Union County representative to the NJTPA is Freeholder Angel Estrada.
This page provides an overview of Union County's involvement in the NJTPA, including links to transportation planning studies and projects funded through the NJTPA. An overview of the transportation planning process at the NJTPA is available in the Citizen’s Guide.
Description: Union County, with a population of
531,088, is a highly urban and densely populated county that is also is home to nature preserves and quiet suburbs. Some of the county's core strengths include its centralized location and outstanding transportation infrastructure, including the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, extensive freight and passenger rail service and the Port of Elizabeth. The Goethals Bridge serves as New Jersey's gateway to Staten Island and markets beyond. More information describing the county, its demographics and travel characteristics is available at the Union County Profile.
Union County Municipalities
Union County Website: www.ucnj.org
County Planning Agency: Transportation planning for Union County is the responsibility of the Union County Dept. of Parks and Community Renewal. The County's staff representatives to the NJTPA Regional Transportation Advisory Committee are Alfred Faella, Kamal Saleh, and Liza Betz
(908) 527-4086.
Current Transportation Projects in Union County: Transportation projects funded in Union County are listed in the NJTPA Transportation Improvement Program or TIP (links below). The TIP is a four-year agenda of improvement projects drawn from the NJTPA long-range Regional Transportation Plan. Projects in the TIP--including public transit, road, bridge, bicycle, pedestrian and freight-related projects--have completed planning and are ready for final design, land acquisition, and construction. The following are links to TIP projects:
- TIP Webpage – This link takes you to a table on the TIP webpage containing PDF files of project lists.
You may have to scroll to the link to Union County’s project list. Select the date in Column 1 for the current TIP. Note: the files on this page change throughout the year. They include the adopted TIP (approved annually each July), revisions made to the adopted TIP and (when available) the draft TIP pending approval for the upcoming year. The TIP introduction provides a more detailed explanation.
- NOTIS – The NJTPA Online Transportation Information System - allows interactive searching for projects in particular locations or on particular routes, using maps and database queries. NOTIS includes projects in the currently adopted TIP as well as projects still at the planning stage (see “Projects Planned” below).
Projects Planned for Union County: The NJTPA Project Development Work Program (PDWP) evaluates the need for projects and develops alternative conceptual designs and routes. The PDWP contains a variety of work, from technical studies focusing on highly specific, localized issues to major corridor studies that cover large stretches of our regional transportation system. Projects are scored and ranked during development of the PDWP. When projects have passed through the PDWP, they are generally eligible for funding through the TIP. The following link should take you to Union County’s section in a PDF file. On some browsers, you may have to manually scroll to the county’s section on Page22.
Local Safety Program: NJTPA's Local Safety Program provides funds for quick fix, high impact safety improvements on county and local roads. The program focuses on vehicular and pedestrian improvements of critical need that can be completed within a short period of time. Priority is given to projects that address locations identified as NJTPA safety priorities, NJDOT priorities, or are well supported by crash data. (Interactive map)
The following projects have been completed under this program:
- Mountain Avenue (CR 622) at the South Street/Glenside Road intersection in New Providnece (FY 2006): Dedicated left turn lane, pavement markings, signal upgrades ($118,322)
- Park Avenue at 7th Avenue in the City of Plainfield (FY 2007): Left turn lane, crosswalks, new LED traffic signals and pedestrian signals ($221,715)
- Stuyvesant Avenue/Chestnut Street (CR 619) at West Chestnut Street (CR 626) in Union Township (FY 2008) : left turn lane widening, signal retiming and coordination ($250,000)
- East Broad Street (CR 512) at Summit Avenue (CR 657), Springfield Avenue and Summit Avenue intersections in the City of Summit (FY 2009) : Traffic signal upgrades, countdown pedestrian signals, left turn lane alignment, high visibility crosswalks ($375,208)
The following project is either in planning, awaiting federal authorization or under construction:
- Vauxhall Road (CR 630) and Valley Street (CR638) in the Township of Union (FY 2012): Single intersection improvements including traffic signal upgrades, pedestrian countdown signals, crosswalk striping, possible signal retiming (addition of left-turn phases ($299,253)
Current Studies: Union County receives funding from the NJTPA for studies of transportation issues under the NJTPA Subregional Studies Program SSP. The following study was recently completed under the SSP program.
Regionwide Studies: The NJTPA sponsors studies of regionwide transportation issues, some of which may impact Union County. These studies can be found in Vol. I of the FY 2013 UPWP, Pages 63-71. On some browsers you may have to scroll to the appropriate page:
Subregion-Specific Data:
The NJTPA regional databank is a digital repository for all transportation and related data, stored and maintained on the NJTPA’s computer network. The regional databank assists staff, agency partners and subregions in planning initiatives by providing accurate, accessible transportation and related datasets necessary for informed analysis, decision-making and reporting.
Datasets are made available to partner agencies, subregions and the general public via posting on the Internet. This section contains subregion-specific data that is maintained in a geographic information system (GIS). Included are ArcGIS shapefile layers for land use/land cover (LULC), parks (two different shapefiles), and water bodies (lakes and streams). Additional data needs can be met by going to Data & Maps section of the NJTPA website or fulfillment of individual data requests.
- Land Use
- Parks
- Water bodies
- Freight Industry Profile
The NJTPA has developed a set of alternative
freight forecasts to support transportation, land
use, and economic development decisions. The
first step in the study process was to document
current baseline conditions. This Freight Profile
offers a snapshot of key metrics – Economy and
Land Uses, Freight Flows, and Freight
Transportation Networks in 2010 and in the
forecast year, 2040