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The Garden State has more railroad and highway mileage in proportion to its size than any other state and the highest ratio of multi-lane highways to other roads among the states. Because New Jersey is a small state that shares large metro areas with two other states (New York and Philadelphia), New Jersey has large numbers of residents traveling daily within the state and to and from neighboring states. The estimated daily travel usage per mile of highway in New Jersey is close to four times the national average and significantly higher than any neighboring state.
New Jersey currently has 10,609 lane miles of state highways, and traffic on these roads is getting worse with each passing year. Transit alone cannot solve the problem, because as our land use patterns change, more and more people are commuting from one suburb to another, where mass transit isn't available or viable. However, smart growth can help. Providing people with more transportation choices is a key aim of smart growth, and land-use patterns could be shaped to reduce demands placed on New Jersey's beleaguered transportation system. High density land uses supported by mass transit could be encouraged with land controls that cluster development, preserve open space, contribute to energy conservation, and improve our quality of life.
Traffic Woes
Traffic congestion is worsening across the country, and New Jersey is no exception. Where in 1982 65 percent of travel occurred in uncongested conditions, by 1997 only 36 percent of peak travel occurred did so. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, congestion over the last several years has worsened in nearly every major metropolitan area in the United States. Below is the data from the Texas Transportation Institute for New Jersey's two metropolitan areas (the study only looked at metro areas around the country, and did not break it down state-by-state). Note how dramatically roadway congestion has increased over the past 20 years, and how this has dramatically affected the number of hours people spend in traffic, how much fuel people waste sitting in traffic, and how much this wasted time has cost our economy.
| Traffic Congestion Data for NJ's Metro Areas, 1982-2000 | |||||||||||
| For the New York/Northeastern New Jersey Metro Area: | |||||||||||
| 1982 | 1984 | 1986 | 1988 | 1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | % Increase, 1982-2000 | |
| Number of "Rush Hours" (Time When System Has Congestion) | 3.4 | 4 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 6 | 6 | 6.4 | 6.8 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 1.12 |
| Amount of Congested Travel (Percent of Peak VMT) | 28 | 32 | 36 | 46 | 54 | 54 | 57 | 64 | 66 | 69 | 1.46 |
| Annual Excess Fuel Consumed (gal) per Peak Road Traveler | 32 | 33 | 37 | 70 | 93 | 68 | 83 | 97 | 111 | 120 | 2.75 |
| Congestion Cost per Peak Road Traveler ($) | 220 | 235 | 270 | 535 | 810 | 625 | 805 | 1010 | 1185 | 1400 | 5.36 |
| For the Philadelphia/Camden Metro Area: | |||||||||||
| Number of "Rush Hours" (Time When System Has Congestion) | 4 | 4.4 | 5 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 6 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 7 | 0.75 |
| Amount of Congested Travel (Percent of Peak VMT) | 31 | 34 | 41 | 45 | 45 | 47 | 52 | 54 | 59 | 60 | 0.94 |
| Annual Excess Fuel Consumed (gal) per Peak Road Traveler | 20 | 23 | 31 | 38 | 38 | 47 | 49 | 56 | 67 | 68 | 2.4 |
| Congestion Cost per Peak Road Traveler ($) | 140 | 165 | 235 | 295 | 340 | 440 | 470 | 580 | 705 | 780 | 4.57 |
| Source: Texas Transportation Institute, 2002 Urban Mobility Study. mobility.tamu.edu/ums/study/mobility_data/ | |||||||||||