NJDOT, SJTPO Announce $5.2M in Federal Grants to Improve Local Transportation

TRENTON – New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) in partnership with the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization (SJTPO) today (May 23) announced the award of $5.2 million for six federal grants (including two in Cape May County) under the Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside (TA Set-Aside) program.
(Local grants went to West Cape May for Park Boulevard and Central Avenue Pedestrian & Bicyclist Safety Improvements, $603,000; and Ocean City for Crook Horn Creek Nature Trail, $580,000.)
“As part of NJDOT’s Commitment to Communities, we work with the three metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) 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 six South Jersey communities without having to impact local property taxes.”
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 SJTPO, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), and the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), with grants being awarded every two years. The NJTPA previously announced their grants, and DVRPC will announce their grants later this month. For a list of the six SJTPO grants announced today totaling $5.2 million, click here.
The solicitation round for applications began May 24, 2022 and ran through November 3, 2022. A total of 17 applications requesting approximately $18 million were received from municipalities in the SJTPO region. Total available grant funding is nearly $2.6 million for each of the two years. The SJTPO is a four-county region in southern New Jersey, which includes Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem counties.
As of 2021, the program now includes an equity component. 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.