Delaware River Heritage Trail
Beginning next week, the New Jersey State Legislature will be hearing testimony from the public during virtual meetings on March 22 and 23, regarding the state budget.
With this opportunity and urgency, the Circuit Trails Coalition encourages you to take a moment to contact your legislator by way of our customizable, pre-written letter asking for support to increase NJDOT’s Bikeway Grant Program funding from $1 million a year statewide to $30 million per year.
With increased support, this will allow for 40 miles of trails to be constructed in Mercer, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties, helping to meet our 500 completed miles of Circuit Trails by 2025. Below is a list of trails that can be completed in the next 5 years with your help in calling for the New Jersey Legislature to consider an increase in NJDOT Bikeway Grant funding. Since this email is targeted at your legislators, you may want to emphasize the trail projects near you.
- Lawrence Hopewell Trail in Mercer County
- Significant corridors of the Delaware River Heritage Trail between Camden and Trenton
- Union Transportation Trail in Mercer County
- The Rancocas Creek Greenway Trail in Burlington County
- The Link Trail in Camden County
- Burlington-Camden Trail in Camden County
- Elephant Swamp Trail in Gloucester County
As it stands, state funding and policies do not go far enough to ensure that we will meet our 500-mile goal by 2025. The New Jersey Department of Transportation’s (NJDOT) current Bikeway Grant Program aims to reach 1,000 miles of bikeways across the state, but at the program’s current rate of funding, this will take 1,000 years! This program only funds $1 million a year statewide for bike projects of any kind, this often means a maximum of three projects in all our 565 municipalities are funded and many projects must be put on hold. To change that, the Circuit Trails Coalition needs your help to consider this increase in NJDOT Bikeway Grant funding.
Here is a snapshot of what you’ll be sending upon entering your information to contact your local legislators. As mentioned above, this letter is customizable so we encourage you to include why the Circuit Trails are important to you and to focus on the trails that are located in the county that you reside in.
You can act now by clicking here to access the letter. If you’re interested in testifying, you can reach out to us directly at info@circuittrails.org where we will work with you to prepare your statement. There is a small window of time to act on this opportunity so we thank you for getting involved and helping these trail projects reach competition. Additionally, please share this with your network and trail advocates to increase the reach of this request!
If you haven’t already, sign up to become a Circuit Citizen to turn your passion into progress. The Circuit Citizens community is a growing, interconnected, multi-county network of people who are advocating for the advancement of the Circuit Trails network.