Transportation Alternatives Set-Asides grants will help municipalities in South Jersey

(Trenton) – New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) in partnership with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) today announced the award of more than $1.9 million for three federal grants under the Transportation Alternatives Set-Asides (TA Set-Asides) program.

“As part of NJDOT’s Commitment to Communities, we work with the three regional planning authorities to provide federal funding to counties and municipalities for local transportation projects that improve safety and strengthen the cultural, aesthetic, and environmental aspects of our transportation system,” NJDOT Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said. “The grants announced today will fund projects to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists in three south Jersey communities.”

The competitive TA Set-Asides program provides funds to build pedestrian and bicycle facilities, improve access to transportation, create safe routes to school, preserve historic transportation structures, provide environmental mitigation, and create trail projects that serve a transportation purpose while promoting safety and mobility. It is administered by the NJDOT in partnership with the DVRPC, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), and the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization (SJTPO). The NJTPA and SJTPO will announce their grants later this month.

The three grants announced today totaling nearly $2 million in the DVRPC region include:

• Edgewater Park Township’s Heritage Trail in Burlington County ($400,000) - This project includes a continuous on and off-road path for safe travel to four of the town’s existing parks/recreation fields, a nearby school, and the NJ Transit Light Rail.

• Cooper River Bike/Ped Bridge Project in Camden County ($1 million) - This project will consist of the construction of a two-span, truss bridge across the Cooper River in Camden City, which is a critical piece of infrastructure connecting two major portions of the planned Camden County LINK Trail. This new route will serve to divert bicyclists and pedestrians from traveling directly alongside the congested Admiral Wilson Boulevard and provide easy access to the River Birch Connector Trail.

• City of Trenton Greenwood Avenue Streetscape Project in Mercer County ($519,000) - This project is for safety and streetscape improvements on Greenwood Avenue from South Clinton Avenue to Chambers Street, with features such as sidewalk and curb improvements, traffic striping, crosswalks, pedestrian flashing beacons, ADA-compliant ramps, and additional safety improvements. The goal of this project is to create a functional and safe corridor along Greenwood Avenue, making it easier and more desirable for residents and visitors to choose alternative modes of transportation.

The solicitation round for applications was July 31, 2020 to November 24, 2020. A total of 28 applications requesting approximately $23 million were received from municipalities in the DVRPC region. Total available grant funding was $1.9 million. The DVRPC is a nine-county region with five counties in Pennsylvania and Mercer, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester in New Jersey.

New this year was an equity component to the program. Projects in eligible communities received additional technical assistance with the grant application, as well as additional points during the scoring process. Eligible communities were determined by U.S. Census data identifying low-income residents, racial and ethnic minorities, those with limited English proficiency, persons with disabilities, children, and older adults.

Each individual municipality is responsible for implementing their Transportation Alternative Set-Aside projects. For further details on a specific project, we recommend reaching out to the municipality.

For more information about Local Aid programs go to www.njdotlocalaidrc.com; email DOT-LocalAID.ResourceCenter@dot.nj.gov or call 609.649.9395. For NJDOT news follow us on Twitter @NewJerseyDOT and on the NJDOT Facebook page.