The Oil Drum

One great example of New Urbanist, mixed use development in the Northeast is the New Jersey Transit Village program. Qualifying towns and villages get a high level of cooperation from important state agencies in helping reshape the area and up to $1 million a year in state grants. This would be a great program to emulate along the MTA's commuter rail lines in Westchester, Long Island and Connecticut.

While we continue to discuss congestion pricing as a way to curb the number of people using automobiles to enter the Manhattan Central Business District (south of 60th), there is already a de facto congestion pricing policy in place for New Jersey at all the major Port Authority Crossings - Holland, Lincoln Tunnels and George Washington Bridge. And those crossings are completely maxed out in terms of capacity so, New Jersey state agencies have been working harder and harder on ways to increase the capacity of its heavy and light rail, buses and building transit oriented development. That's where the NJ Transit Villages come in.