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The top transportation news stories, updated daily and kept on this page for one week.

Route 4 Roundabout Project In Holmdel To Be Topic Of Meeting Patch.com, 3/13/2024 — NJTPA Mention

Regional Roundup

A roundup of transportation news from daily, weekly and online outlets.

15% NJ Transit fare hike would be a ‘huge burden’ on working New Jerseyans, riders say NJ.com, 3/9/2024 - Friday was the end of a public comment period on the potential hike. NJ Transit’s board of directors is scheduled to vote on the fare increase on April 10. Pending approval it would take effect on July 1. After that, the proposal calls for an automatic 3% annual fare increase starting on July 1, 2025, and occurring annually without an end date.
Central Jersey infrastructure projects may get $25M in federal funding MyCentralJersey.com, 3/8/2024 - Projects ranging from electric passenger vans in Edison and the restoration of Camp Cromwell in Bridgewater to road projects in Plainfield, South Brunswick and Dunellen are among those in Central Jersey included in a federal funding bill passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Drivers would pay more under proposed remake of roads trust fund NJ Spotlight News, 3/8/2024 - Legislation introduced by majority Democrats in the State House this week calls for a new registration fee for zero-emission vehicles that would go into effect in July and initially be set at $250 per vehicle.
License-plate readers are coming to these N.J. bridges NJ.com, 3/7/2024 - Seeing an increasing need to better monitor those driving between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, authorities are installing license-plate-reading cameras on bridges linking the Garden State to Philadelphia and its suburbs.
Assembly panel advances bill to hike gas tax after hearing mixed reception New Jersey Monitor, 3/7/2024 - An Assembly panel in a party-line vote Thursday approved a bill that would increase New Jersey's gas taxes and impose an annual fee on electric vehicle registrations to continue funding the state’s transportation trust fund. The bill would raise the gas taxes’ $2 billion revenue target by $366 million over five years, with the first $32 million increase set to hit on Jan. 1, and it would levy an annual $250 fee on zero-emission vehicle registrations that would rise to $290 by July 2028.
Murphy proposes new fee on warehouse truck traffic NJ Spotlight News, 3/6/2024 - Gov. Phil Murphy proposed a $1 tax for every truck movement and projected that the revenue would amount to $10 million for the state’s general fund. Part of Murphy’s fiscal year 2025 spending plan presented last week, the money would go toward alleviating the impact on traffic and roads.
NJ wins money for parks, shoreline and more in federal budget bill NJ Spotlight News, 3/6/2024 - NJ TRANSIT is in line to get $1.6 million for a light transit project in Edison. The bill also contains funding for a slew of water projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete in the waters that bound New York and New Jersey, including $7 million to deepen the New York-New Jersey harbor channel, $13 million for “drift removal” in the harbor and $54.1 million to run the harbor.
After a 5-year delay, Route 23 bridge replacement has begun. Expect lane closures NorthJersey.com, 3/6/2024 - The tricky project to replace the bridge has shifted the traffic to the left to create a work zone on the right side of the bridge over the Pequannock River between Reservoir and Canistear roads. The right lane and shoulder is expected to remain closed through the summer, according to local officials. The closure will allow workers to demolish and rebuild the right side of the bridge in a staged reconstruction project.
Lawmakers eye higher gas taxes and registration fees for electric cars New Jersey Monitor, 3/6/2024 - New Jersey lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill that would raise New Jersey’s gas tax collections by roughly 18% over the next five years and create a new tax on electric vehicle registrations to fund road and bridge work in the state.
Commuters push back on NJ Transit fare increase, citing 'deplorable' conditions at hearing NorthJersey.com, 3/6/2024 - Though speakers were only allowed two minutes to share input, their unique experiences and complaints about riding NJ Transit’s buses, trains and light rail came back to the same theme: decades of under-investment and neglect of the system by state legislators and governors are having everyday impacts on New Jerseyans’ commutes.
You'll be hit with a new tax increase soon if N.J. leaders get their way NJ.com, 3/5/2024 - New Jersey is poised to gradually increase its tax on gasoline by nearly 10 cents a gallon and charge a fee on electric vehicles over the next five years, under a new plan pushed by state leaders to keep state infrastructure funding from falling off a cliff. It would also impose a fee ranging from $250 to $290 a year on electric vehicles over that period.
Here’s why the potholes are expected to be really bad in N.J. this spring NJ.com, 3/5/2024 - What’s a sign that spring is on the way in New Jersey? Forget the groundhog (is he ever correct) and the first robin. The sure sign is the appearance of state Department of Transportation crews on mass, repairing the potholes that winter has left behind.
NJ Transit needs to delay 15% fare hike, lawmakers demand NJ.com, 3/5/2024 - Retired state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg isn’t done with NJ Transit. She and state Assemblywoman Shama Haider, D-Bergen, said NJ Transit’s board of directors should delay an April vote on am 15% fare increase until more information is known about the business transit fee Gov. Phil Murphy proposed during last week’s budget message.
Weigh in on NJ Transit 15% fare hike, looming deficits, corporate tax at public hearings Bergen Record, 3/4/2024 - There's plenty to weigh ahead of NJ Transit’s public hearings this week on the agency's plan to raise fares by 15% on July 1 — the agency's first fare hikes in nine years — followed by annual, indefinite increases of 3%.
Gov. Murphy slams N.Y.C. $15 congestion pricing toll while offering to meet with N.Y. state leaders NJ.com, 3/4/2024 - Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday criticized the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plans to charge a $15 congestion pricing toll to enter Manhattan but offered to sit down at the table with New York officials to talk about the proposal.
Newark Public Schools to get electric school buses through federal grant of nearly $3 million ChalkBeat.org, 3/4/2024 - Newark Public Schools is one of five New Jersey districts slated to receive electric buses through a federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.
A New Jersey city that limited street parking hasn’t had a traffic death in 7 years AP, 3/2/2024 - Street parking was already scarce in Hoboken, New Jersey, when the death of an elderly pedestrian spurred city leaders to remove even more spaces in a bid to end traffic fatalities.

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Issues & Insights

A list of links to recent articles, reports and announcements relating to transportation policy, legislation and research.

Amtrak’s ridership touching record highs The Economist, March 14, 2024 - Amtrak is recovering well from the pandemic. In the latter half of last year, ridership was just 3% below its levels in 2019 — previously the firm’s best-ever year. And through his infrastructure law of 2021 President Joe Biden, an Amtrak superuser as a senator, has put aside $66bn for investment in passenger-rail infrastructure. Is a new golden age of train travel down the tracks?
Is Massachusetts Ready for Congestion Pricing? StreetsBlog Massachusetts, March 13, 2024 - Massachusetts drivers already pay an extremely high price for the congestion they create. INRIX, a transportation data company, estimates that the average driver in the Boston region wastes 134 unpaid hours every year stuck in traffic.
It’s nearly impossible to understand how our tax dollars are spent on transportation Transportation For America, March 13, 2024 - In negotiations over the 2021 infrastructure law, the Senate discarded most of the ambitious policy improvements in the House’s INVEST in America Act, instead opting to create scores of new good but small discretionary grant programs for lowering emissions or investing in transportation options while increasing funding overall for the same flexible pots of money that states can spend with few restrictions. 
Los Angeles awarded $900M for transit improvements ahead of 2028 Olympics KTLA.com, March 12, 2024 - The Biden Administration has awarded the Los Angeles region nearly $900 million for public transportation and infrastructure improvements ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics. Of that batch of federal dollars, more than $860 million is earmarked for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, aka LA Metro.
Bike lanes are good for business Business Insider, March 7, 2024 - In many cases, only certain kinds of businesses benefited from bike lanes and street improvements. And just slapping a bike lane on a hectic thoroughfare didn’t do anyone any good. But overall, retail areas benefited from better streets. Sometimes nothing changed, but more often the areas near bike lanes wound up with more employees and more revenue.

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