Bicycle and Pedestrian
New Jersey ranks third among states in the percentage of households not owning a vehicle (11.2 percent) and seventh for households owning either one or zero vehicles (44.8 percent).
Yet, since 1970, vehicle miles traveled in New Jersey has increased at a rate more than triple the rate of growth of the state’s population—thanks in large part to the sprawling, auto-dependent development that prevailed through most of the second half of the last century. This increase has helped make transportation the largest, and fastest-growing, contributor to the state’s overall carbon footprint.
With these numbers in mind, it makes sense to encourage pedestrian and bicycle behavior by constructing safe roads and routes that accommodate all users. New Jersey Future is an advocate for “Complete Streets,” ensuring that roadways are designed and operated to enable safe access for pedestrians, bikes, other non-automotive transportation options, and the disabled, not just cars.
Riding a bicycle or walking represents an affordable and convenient way to get around, particularly for short distances, and travel by bike or foot can also help people get more active. Our environment—physical, social and cultural—affects our daily behavior. If we want to encourage healthy choices every day about eating and physical activity, we need environments where such choices are available, affordable and easy. As New Jersey strives to reduce emissions from the transportation sector in order to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals, turning these short auto trips into a walk or a bike ride would be a good place to start.

Electric bicycles, along with programs intended to incentivize their adoption, are rolling out across the country and New Jersey can’t afford to be left behind in this transportation revolution. Transportation emissions, which account for more than a third of all total greenhouse gas emissions in the state, are a critical target for climate change mitigation, necessitating the use of every tool to help us drive less.

For four months last fall, my lifestyle changed dramatically when my husband and I lived car-free. As life-long suburbanites, we have always driven a lot to get around. I was the mom-in-the-minivan, and am now the professional-in-a-Prius. But when we took an overdue sabbatical, we lived near universities in three developed countries — England, Germany, and Japan — where everything we needed was within easy reach by foot, bike, bus, or train.

Electric vehicles are great, but they won’t reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector fast enough, nor will they do anything to alleviate congestion. This past October, the United Nations published the Emissions Gap Report 2022, declaring that an important action for the transportation sector is to “integrate land use and transportation planning to prioritize public transit over private automobiles.”

Street fatalities are on the rise nationally, and right here in New Jersey. The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 2021 marked a 16 year high in roadway fatalities. In New Jersey, our streets and roads claimed 699 lives in 2021, with 220 pedestrian fatalities accounting for approximately 30% of those fatalities.

Creating opportunities for more people to walk, bike, and take public transit is a critical element of growing and developing smarter. As we improve infrastructure and programs to accomplish this goal, we must make sure that we are improving access for everyone, especially those who have traditionally been, and continue to be, excluded or made to feel less safe in these spaces.

There is a significant mismatch in New Jersey between where large numbers of older residents live and which municipalities are most prepared to accommodate them. This report matches every municipality against four age-friendliness indicators, and analyzes the degree to which New Jersey’s older residents are living in places that, from a land-use perspective, are not prepared to accommodate their changing needs. January 2014.

New Jersey has 243 transit facilities, ranging from small single-track stations to major multi-line hubs. The unique characteristics of each station, of its immediate neighborhood, and of its surrounding municipality mean that a wide variety of development strategies should be brought to bear in order to maximize each location’s potential. This report shows how data assembled by New Jersey Future can be used to make decisions on how to target various kinds of transit-oriented development efforts. September 2012.

An assessment of how comprehensively New Jersey’s Department of Transportation has implemented its Complete Streets Policy. September 2011.

2013 Smart Growth Awards: A comprehensive policy, along with a strong outreach effort, is helping the State of New Jersey and its municipalities re-envision streets in order to consider the needs of all users.

2014 Smart Growth Awards: Extensive public participation helped guide the return of Newark to its waterfront roots and the planned redevelopment of its riverfront neighborhoods.
See all New Jersey Future Blog posts and articles in this category »
Reports, Presentations and Testimony
- Trenton Transit Center Strategic Action Blueprint July 2018
- New Jersey Future Demographic Trends by Age September 2017
- New Jersey Future 2017 Gubernatorial Platform
- New Jersey Future Housing Affordability and Aging-Friendly Communities
- Housing Affordability and Aging-Friendly Communities Housing Cost-Burden Municipal Data by Municipality
- Housing Affordability and Aging-Friendly Communities Housing Cost-Burden Municipal Data by Cost Burden Rank
- Creating Great Places To Age in New Jersey
- Creating Places To Age in New Jersey municipal data
- Creating Places To Age Bergen-Passaic Supplement
- 10/01/2012 Final NJ_MAP-21_letter
- complete-streets-report-FINAL-web
- ShapingNJ Community Pilot Meeting Overview 06-09-11