-- Transportation - Overview
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-- Overview of current system The New Jersey Department of Transportation is the principal agency responsible for public transportation in New Jersey. The NJDOT maintains the state's public road system, including interstate highways and state highways, and its New Jersey Transit unit is the principal operator of bus and rail services. Its commissioner also chairs the board of two toll-road authorities: the semi-autonomous New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which operates the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway and the South Jersey Transportation Authority, established in 1991 which operates the Atlantic City Expressway, along with managing the Atlantic City International Airport terminal, parking facilities in Atlantic City and coordinating transportation services in six South Jersey counties. State-owned highways and toll roads consist of 7% of road mileage and 66% of traffic volume. In contrast, county and municipal roads consist of 93% of road mileage and 34% of traffic volume. The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, formerly a division within the NJDOT, was restructured with a separate board through legislation enacted in 2003. Its board is composed of eight members, four of whom are appointed by the Governor and three designated Cabinet officers, including the NJDOT commissioner. In 2020, New Jersey had slightly over 6.3 million licensed drivers and 7.68 million registered motor vehicles. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, the New Jersey Department of Transportation capital budget totals $4.359 billion and is funded primarily by the State Transportation Trust Fund, federal, and third-party resources. The NJDOT total is $2.929 billion and the NJ Transit total is $1.43 billion.. The Transportation Trust Fund, which was largely exhausted in 2016 as Governor Christie and legislative leaders were unable to reach a compromise to generate new revenue, was replenished by an increase in the gasoline tax from 37.5 cents to 41.5 cents per gallon effective in 2018. All of the revenue derived from motor fuels taxes is now constitutionally dedicated to transportation purposes. * New Jersey Department of Transportation * New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission * Federal Highway Administration, New Jersey Division * State Motor Fuels Tax Rates, Tax Policy Center * Congestion Data for Your City, Texas A&M Transportation Institute -- Transit  New Jersey Transit train at Hoboken Terminal. Image: Wikimedia Commons
New Jersey's statewide mass transit system remains centered on transportation to New York City and Philadelphia, but increasing efforts have been made to expand regional and local transit to connect in-state locations.
New Jersey Transit, which was created in 1979 during the administration of Governor Brendan Byrne as a unit of the NJDOT, is the principal operator of rail and bus services in the state. New Jersey Transit is governed by a seven-member board of directors chaired by the NJDOT commissioner, with the other members appointed by the governor, four from the general public and three state officials including the NJDOT commissioner. The Governor has veto power on decisions made by the board. The agency is legislatively exempt from certain rules governing the NJDOT and other state agencies, particularly in hiring, salaries and procurement. New Jersey Transit now operates every passenger and commuter rail line in the state, with the exception of Amtrak; the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail line, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) Speedline, which is owned by the Delaware River Port Authority; two Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Regional Rail lines, the West Trenton Line and the Trenton Line; and a few short-line tourist trains in the southern and northwestern parts of New Jersey. Intercity rail is operated by Amtrak along the Northeast Corridor between major population centers. Following its establishment in 1979, New Jersey Transit acquired the bus operations of Transport of New Jersey, the state's largest private carrier and a subsidiary of Public Service Electric & Gas, the state's largest public utility. New Jersey Transit now provides local, commuter, and long-distance bus service in all 21 New Jersey counties, with its interstate bus lines terminating at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal in Manhattan, and the Greyhound Terminal in Philadelphia. Once viewed as a national model for the efficiency of its operations, New Jersey Transit has increasingly been criticized for delays and cancellations of its rail services and safety violations, with Governor Murphy pledging to overhaul the agency's management. Most of the remaining private bus companies operate with state subsidies to offset losses, with state-owned buses also provided to these carriers. Coach USA, which owns over 20 local companies in North America, is the largest private bus company in New Jersey, but other smaller carriers include private charter and tour bus operators serving niche markets, such as connecting Atlantic City with New York City, Philadelphia, and Delaware. The major interstate carriers serving the state are Greyhound, with 12 bus stations located throughout the state, and Trailways, which also has 12 stations in addition to stops at all Atlantic City casino-hotels. * New Jersey Transit * New Jersey Transit Rail System Map * Coach USA -- Transportation authorities
In addition to New Jersey Transit, transportation in the state, particularly in connections to New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, is operated by bi-state autonomous authorities created by legislation between the states and approved by Congress. The largest of the authorities is the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey created in 1921, which owns and operates in New Jersey the George Washington Bridge, the Goethals Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge, the Outerbridge Crossing, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, Newark Liberty International Airport, and the PATH rapid transit system, along with port facilities in Port Newark and Elizabeth. In the Philadelphia metro region, the Delaware River Port Authority operates the PATCO Speedline connecting downtown Philadelphia to Camden County, as well as the Ben Franklin Bridge; Walt Whitman Bridge; Commodore Barry Bridge; and Betsy Ross Bridge. The Authority also manages the RiverLink Ferry between the Camden waterfront and Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission established in 1934 is composed of a board of 10 commissioners, with five from New Jersey and and five from Pennsylvania. The New Jersey members are nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the state Senate. The Commission owns and operates 20 bridges--seven toll bridges and 13 non-toll bridges--on the Delaware River between the Delaware Water Gap and Trenton. On the Delaware Bay, the Delaware River and Bay Authority operates the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, a 17-mile ferry between Cape May, and Lewes, Delaware, which carries both automobiles and foot passengers. The DRBA also operates the Forts Ferry Crossing between Fort Mott, New Jersey, and Fort Delaware and Fort DuPont in Delaware. * Port Authority of New York and New Jersey * Delaware River Port Authority (Ben Franklin Bridge; Walt Whitman Bridge; Commodore Barry Bridge; Betsy Ross Bridge; PATCO transit line) * Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (20 Delaware River bridges) * Delaware River and Bay Authority (Delaware Memorial Bridge, Cape May-Lewes Ferry, Delaware City-Salem Ferry, Millville and Cape May airports) * Amtrak -- Ferries and cruise ships Several private companies operate ferries from New Jersey to Manhattan. The largest privately owned ferry companies are BillyBey Ferry Company and NY Waterway, which run ferries from Hudson County on the Hudson River, East River and Upper New York Bay and the East River. NY Waterway also operates a ferry between Edgewater and the 39th Street Terminal and a ferry from Belford to Pier 11 at Wall Street. NY Waterway also partners with New Jersey Transit in a fare-sharing program for riders transferring between the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and ferries at Port Imperial in Weehawken. Liberty Landing Ferry Service, a unit of Hornblower Ferries in San Francisco, operates from Liberty State Park in Jersey City to the World Financial Center, Ellis Island and Liberty Island. Seastreak operates ferries from Sandy Hook and Atlantic Highlands and Jersey City/Hoboken to Wall Street and midtown Manhattan. The RiverLink Ferry between the Camden waterfront and Penn's Landing in Philadelphia is operated by the Delaware River Port Authority. Bayonne has become the second largest port for passenger cruise liners among Northeast and Mid-Atlantic coast ports, with its Cape Liberty handling over 320,000 passengers annually. Opened in 2004 at the site of the former Bayonne Navy Base, the port has recently serviced liners of Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. * NY Waterway * Liberty Landing Ferry * SeaStreak * RiverLink Ferry * Cape Liberty Cruise Port |
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-- Air
First opened in 1928 under the name of Newark Metropolitan Airport and later known as Newark International Airport until assuming its current name in 2002 in recognition of those lost in the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks, Newark Liberty International Airport straddles the boundary between Newark and Elizabeth and is located about 15 miles southwest of Midtown Manhattan.. The airport, which covers over 2,000 acres, is owned by the city of Newark and leased to and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Newark served just under 37.5 million passengers and was the site of about 400,000 plane movements in 2015. United Airlines is the dominant carrier, accounting for over 70% of flights from the Airport in the year ending March 2016; the most popular destinations from the airport, each serving over 700,000 passengers, were San Francisco; Orlando; and Los Angeles. In addition to Newark Liberty, the state also has approximately 42 other operating public use airports. The largest with scheduled flights are Atlantic City International Airport, with over half a million passengers, and Trenton Mercer Airport, with slightly under 150,000 passengers. Teterboro Airport, operated by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and located some 12 miles from Manhattan, services many private aviation charter companies and private planes owned or leased by corporations and wealthy individuals. Commercial air travel is primarily regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the the state has no authority to license pilots or register aircraft. The NJDOT, however, through its Bureau of Aeronautics, licenses public use airports and almost 400 restricted use facilities, including airstrips, heliports and balloon ports. The Bureau also issues permits for air shows, aerial advertising and sport parachute centers provides information about aviation grants and explains regulations to 14,000 Federal Aviation Administration licensed aviators. The airports and other facilities in the state serve as base to approximately 4,700 aircraft. New Jersey also is the site of the William J. Hughes Technical Center operated since 1958 by the Federal Aviation Administration in Galloway Township some ten miles from Atlantic City. The Center is the nation's premier air transportation system research and evaluation laboratory, conducting tests of systems and devices in air traffic control, communications, navigation, airports, aircraft safety, and security. The Center is also home to operations of the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Air Marshal Service Training Center, Transportation Security Lab, and the US Coast Guard Group Air Station Atlantic City, as well as the New Jersey Air National Guard 177th Fighter Wing. |