Index of:
Previous Issues
Current Stories

Study Helps Communities Maximize Benefits of Transit Access

The New Jersey School of Architecture (NJSOA) is helping to make a model town out of Riverside, N.J.

Through a $47,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), faculty and students of the NJSOA Master’s in Infrastructure Planning Program (MIP) completed a study modeling possible development scenarios for the area surrounding a planned station site along the Southern New Jersey Light Rail System. When complete, the $450 million system will serve a corridor that includes 17 towns and more than 400,000 residents along the existing right-of-way of the former Camden and Amboy lines. Riverside, a town of 9,000, is located at a midway point between the light rail’s terminus cities, Trenton and Camden.

"Although we used Riverside as the specific focus of our study," said Darius Sollohub, MIP associate director. "We plan to use our findings to develop some general rules of thumb about the use of light rail in providing transportation support to communities."

The modeling project is a new approach to help towns maximize the benefits of transit access by planning the areas around stations. The state advocates the concept and launched a "Transit Village Program," in March 1999, to restore stations to their historical role, enhance investment in urban areas and promote community leadership. Communities that create Transit Villages are given priority consideration for funding from NJDOT’s Local Aid for Centers program, the Transportation Enhancements program, and bicycle and pedestrian projects. Five communities have started implementing Transit Village initiatives, including Morristown, Pleasantville, Rutherford, South Amboy and South Orange.

"Communities are the bedrock of our state, and promoting programs that center on our communities must always remain our priority," said James Weinstein, NJDOT commissioner. "The NJIT study provides an example of best practices for towns to follow in developing Transit Village initiatives across New Jersey."

NJIT’s model of Riverside involved two phases. In the first phase, the students inventoried local conditions and modeled the area around the rail line to demonstrate three different scenarios for creating a transit village. One model has a waterfront residential area and regional sports facilities. Another scenario builds around a craft industry in the Watchcase Factory building, with a fishing pier for recreation, as well as essential services, such as a supermarket and daycare center. The third model focuses on commercial development along the rail line.

The models were presented to representatives from the town at a meeting hosted by Burlington County, and reviewed by local government agencies. In the second phase, students used concepts and features from each model to develop a comprehensive urban design proposal, which includes the renovation and reuse of the Watchcase Factory building for residential apartments and various commercial uses, such as craft and industry workshops, galleries and professional offices. The proposal also recommends creating a sequence of public places, including a town square, pedestrian avenue and public park.

MIP is the only interdisciplinary, post-professional program in North America designed to produce professionals capable of acting across the spectrum of disciplines involved in infrastructure development. Through a curriculum that concentrates on comprehensive infrastructure planning and design, students with previous degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and civil or environmental engineering combine their skills to help plan more livable and efficient urban environments.

.

back to top| Home