The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), our local metropolitan planning organization that distributes regional transportation funding, has announced a 30-day public comment period for receiving public feedback on the draft New Jersey Transportation Improvement Program (NJTIP) Fiscal Year 2018-2021.
The NJTIP is a regional transportation capital budget and provides details on how federal and state funding will be spent on different transportation projects –trail projects that meet certain criteria are eligible for funding.
The deadline for submitting comments is 5 PM on Thursday, September 14, and we’re asking our supporters to submit their comments according to the county in which they live.
- If you live in Mercer County, use this form
- If you live in Burlington County, use this form
- If you live in Camden County, use this form
- If you live in Gloucester County, use this form
In order to ensure that these ten New Jersey Circuit Trails segments do get constructed, the Circuit Coalition thinks that DVRPC can do more to guarantee that the necessary funding will be made available. As such, the Coalition is specifically requesting that the following action be taken:
- DVRPC should dedicate funding as a down payment to build some of the ten trails that need construction funding. DVRPC can do this by creating a “line item” in the NJTIP that can be used to draw down funds as trails advance through the planning, design, engineering, and construction process. A Circuit TIP line item is critical because it will ensure construction funding is available from a dedicated, accountable source. In 2015, the five Pennsylvania counties of the DVRPC Board did this when it amended the Pennsylvania 2017-2020 TIP to include a line item for set-aside construction funding for Circuit Trails when the trails finish planning and design. See the image below.
- Mercer, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties should commit $4 Million in federal funding at their discretion toward the Circuit line item as a down payment to build the existing ten trail segments that need funding. The amount of $4 Million–$1 million per county– is comparable to the amount dedicated by the five Pennsylvania counties in 2015.
Please take 2 minutes to let your County elected officials know that you want them to dedicate $4M to construct Circuit Trails in New Jersey
- If you live in Mercer County, use this form
- If you live in Burlington County, use this form
- If you live in Camden County, use this form
- If you live in Gloucester County, use this form