Governor-Elect Murphy has an opportunity to set the tone for a walkable and bikeable New Jersey

The election of Phil Murphy demonstrates that pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit users across New Jersey want a change. New Jersey is ready for vigorous and strong investment in our streets. The voters of New Jersey want streets that are safe for children, cyclists, public transit users, for those with disabilities, and for all pedestrians in our suburban and urban communities. New Jersey voters support politicians and policy makers who prioritize people.

A report by New Jersey Bike & Pedestrian Resource Center suggests that, “Road diet conversions of urban arterial roads can reduce crashes by 19%. The determination of the benefits outweighing the costs was made by evaluating the value of statistical lives saved versus the cost of travel time. This included various different scenarios and includes robustness checks. The results found that over a 20 year period, the benefits exceed the costs.”

Infrastructure can save lives.

As of November 9, according to the New Jersey State Police in 2017 our roads have had 484 vehicle crashes and 512 fatalities, in those crashes.  

Eight counties and 138 towns in New Jersey have Complete Streets resolutions. Complete Streets is a design philosophy that supports and encourages accessible and safe access to our streets regardless of transportation modality. We look forward to the Murphy administration supporting Complete Streets.

“[Governor Christie’s] mismanagement of key transportation agencies resulted in dangerous roads and unsafe and unreliable rail,” from Murphy’s campaign page.

Safe streets, streets that are accessible for everyone and all modalities are what the voters want and what we at VELO Bloomfield look forward to in a new era in New Jersey transportation policies. We look forward to the state viewing walking and bicycling access as necessary connections to a fully funded public transit system.

Everyone in New Jersey has a right to walk, to bicycle, and to have economically and ability accessible connections to public transit. We look forward to Governor-Elect Murphy supporting New Jersey pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit users.