Project Prioritization

This project will align the TIP criteria and scoring approach with the updated Regional Capital Investment Strategy (RCIS) and new LRTP goals. This will ensure the process reflects current regional transportation policy priorities and emerging issues and provides the most robust process for prioritization. The guiding principles behind this effort include ensuring that the process is:

• Aligned with NJTPA’s performance measures to ensure each criterion advances the agency’s established goals
• Inclusive of all project types and geographies
• Designed to differentiate between projects clearly, to support meaningful prioritization and ranking
• Forward-looking and non-redundant, to avoid overlap while accounting for future needs and risks
• Straightforward to explain, making the process understandable and transparent for staff, stakeholders, and applicants alike

This effort kicked off in July 2024 and is scheduled to conclude in 2026, with the new scoring process going into effect for the FY 2028-2031 TIP. So far, the NJTPA has conducted:

• A thorough review of best practices from Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) across the country, including in the Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and San Diego regions
• In-depth interviews with regional partners, including the New Jersey Department of Transportation, NJ TRANSIT and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to understand, to identify resources and opportunities for alignment
• Interactive decision-making exercises with members of the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee (RTAC), which is comprised of staff from NJTPA’s member jurisdictions and partner agencies, to develop weights for the goal areas and criteria
• Technical sessions with subject matter experts in safety, system efficiency and reliability, environmental sustainability and resiliency, land use, infrastructure condition, economic development, and transit to refine the scoring factors and methodologies

The next steps include finalizing the goal areas, criteria, and weights; refining the scoring factors and analysis methodologies; developing a tool to facilitate the process; and implementing the new process pending review by the RTAC and Project Prioritization Committee, and approval by the Board of Trustees (scheduled for adoption in January 2026).

In NJTPA’s current TIP prioritization framework, the criteria are organized by the goal areas from the LRTP but differentiated between local-led highway and bridge projects and state-led highway and bridge projects.

Applications for local-led highway and bridge projects, submitted through NJTPA’s Local Capital Project Delivery Program, receive ratings of High, Medium or Low based on the combination of an 800-point criteria scoring system and a 200-point screening process to identify potential environmental impacts. State-led highway and bridge projects can score a maximum of 1,000 points. NJTPA does not currently score transit projects.

Points are assigned to seven categories:

• Environment
• User Responsiveness
• Economic
• System Coordination
• State of Good Repair
• Land Use
• Safety

In addition to these criteria, NJTPA also considers additional factors when programming funds, including:

• Feasibility of project delivery – considers potential obstacles such as environmental issues, permitting delays, right-of-way acquisition, and community opposition
• Scheduling – considers potential scheduling synergies or conflicts between proximate projects
• Funding availability – considers the availability of funding from federal, state, and local sources

Recommended changes to the process include adding a third category for transit projects, revising the goal areas and criteria to align with the updated LRTP goals and RCIS principles, developing new weights to reflect stakeholder priorities, and creating a more robust tool to support the NJTPA in scoring projects.

Revised Project Categories

• Local Highway & Bridge
• State Highway & Bridge
• Transit

Revised Goal Areas

• Safety
• System Coordination, Efficiency, Connectivity & Reliability
• Environmental Sustainability & Resiliency
• Land Use Coordination, Vibrant Communities & Accessibility
• State of Good Repair
• Economic Competitiveness
• Opportunities for All

Based on results of weighting exercises conducted with the RTAC, an initial set of weights by goal area has been developed.

Proposed updated criteria have been developed and overall weights assigned to each criterion. These weights reflect the goal area weights and criteria weights coming out of initial weighting exercises conducted with the RTAC. These weights will be further vetted and may be adjusted based on feedback. The weights are proposed to apply to local and state highway and bridge projects, and may be adjusted for transit projects.

We are interested in your feedback on the draft updated goals, criteria, and weighting to be used for TIP project prioritization.

To provide feedback, please contact [email protected] with the subject line: Project Prioritization.
Input is being accepted through June 20 at 5 p.m.

Feedback can also be provided during a presentation of the project at the virtual June 16 Project Prioritization Committee meeting.