Overview
The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and NJ TRANSIT
spearhead a multi-agency Smart Growth partnership known as the Transit
Village Initiative. The Transit Village Initiative helps to redevelop
and revitalize communities around transit facilities to make them
an appealing choice for people to live, work and play, thereby reducing
reliance on the automobile.
The Transit Village Initiative is an excellent model for Smart
Growth because it encourages growth in New Jersey where infrastructure
and public transit already exist.
Aside from Smart Growth community revitalization, two other goals
of the Transit Village Initiative are to reduce traffic congestion
and improve air quality by increasing transit riders.
Studies have shown that an increase in residential housing options
within walking distance of a transit facility, typically a one quarter
to one half mile radius, does more to increase transit ridership
than any other type of development. Therefore, it is a goal of the
Transit Village Initiative to bring more housing, more businesses
and more people into communities with transit facilities.
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