Creating Livable Communities

MLUC will be bringing an exciting and important series of educational programs to communities in its five-county region during fall and winter, 2005 that will feature ways to create livable, sustainable places through coordinated land-use and transportation planning.

Haphazard growth and poor design takes a toll on many communities in Central New Jersey, undermining the region’s quality of life. One manifestation of this is an increasingly intolerable level of traffic congestion. While congestion is growing, transportation funding is declining, which limits the ability of government to meet transportation infrastructure needs. New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) acknowledges that it can no longer afford to simply build its way out of this situation.

Not only are historically conventional approaches now unaffordable, they have proven ineffective in light of continually increasing travel demand. As roadway capacity is added, roads simply fill up with additional vehicles.

The NJ DOT is pioneering new and innovative approaches to land-use and transportation planning throughout the State, working with municipalities in urban, suburban and rural areas. Its approach in addressing traffic is one that promises to build partnerships with local communities to reach consensus around a common vision and then implement the vision through the development of integrated land-use and transportation solutions.

MLUC is collaborating with the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) on a series of four workshops. These workshops will serve to unveil NJ DOT’s new way of doing business. This effort will showcase creative land-use and transportation planning strategies that communities may consider.

The workshops will be held on October 7, October 14, November 4 and December 5, 2005. Stay tuned for further details and registration materials on these workshops.