Southern New Jersey Summary



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Lucia Bonilla

Southern New Jersey Summary
The southern division of New Jersey is composed of Atlantic County, Cape May County, Cumberland County, Gloucester County, and Salem County.

The Jersey Shore in the area includes various attractions such as: Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, Long Port, Ocean City, Sea Isle, Avalon, The Wildwoods, Cape May, and Cape May Point. Cape May County is famous for its 30 miles of beaches. Cumberland, Cape May, and Atlantic county all have various golf courses.

All the counties are very important historically. Cumberland County stems from a Colonial, Federalist, and Victorian heritage. Atlantic County has historic sites that have been preserved for centuries. Somers Mansion is an example, which has furniture from the 18th century.

Salem is located in the southwest part of NJ. As NJ's oldest county, it is also the least populous and least densely populated. Primarily a rural county, the PRT network will serve mostly to transport Salem's residents to the more metropolitan areas surrounding it.

Cape May County has a style that reminisces of the 50’s. The County is New Jersey's second most popular tourist attraction.  Since its summer population is over 6 times its winter population, it's important that the PRT System serve these tourists.    An interesting feature about Cape May is that its coastal areas are densely populated while inland Cape May consists primarily of swampland.

Gloucester County's importance stems from its proximity to all of the major metropolitan areas near southern New Jersey.  Indeed, the county lies only 6.9 miles south of Philadelphia (across the Walt Whitman bridge), 18 miles north of Wilmington, Delaware, 47 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and 93 miles south of New York City.  Thus, the county's PRT system is likely going to service individuals either traveling through Southern Jersey towards these locations, or residents within this county who work in many of these metropolitan areas.

Cumberland County is most interesting for a PRT system because, despite being split into a couple separated semi-urban/suburban agglomerations with much rural area surrounding and in between, the system can still serve the needs of both urban, suburban and rural passengers, eliminating the need for automobiles in many of the cases where they are now almost required, especially as the county currently lacks practical public transportation.

Atlantic County, known for its gaming would truly benefit from PRT. Both for getting visitors to the Atlantic City and Brigantine boardwalks, as well as for helping the residents reach their local destinations.

The total size of the regional network includes 2,207 stations, 2,063 interchanges, 375 inter-link links and a total track length of 2,310 miles. The cost is slightly more than $7 billion. While a heavy PRT network might seem too dense, it is necessary. Currently, the transportation in the area consists of busses from one county to the next. There are areas of urban, suburban and rural zones. Southern New Jersey is a hotspot for vacationers, particularly in the summertime. The benefits from helping commuters would more than outweigh the monetary costs.
Atlantic County
Atlantic County was once the home of the Leni-Lenape Indians. In 1837, the county was established starting with Mays Landing. Today, the county encompasses about 561 square miles. New Jersey’s total square mileage is 7,417, thus by area it is close to 8% of New Jersey. According to the 2000 Census, there are about 450 people living in each square mile in Atlantic County. While the population of the county is slightly over the one quarter-million mark, the county also has various activities that attract 35 million people on vacation per year. PRT would be a very efficient form of transportation in Atlantic County.
. Also it is worth noting that Atlantic County is divided into the following municipalities:

*Absecon *Atlantic City * Brigantine *Buena Boro *Buena Vista Township *Corbin City *Egg Harbor City *Egg Harbor Township *Estell Manor *Folsom Boro *Galloway Township *Hamilton Township *Hammonton *Linwood *Longport *Margate *Mullica *Northfield *Pleasantville *Port Republic *Somers Point *Ventnor *Weymouth Township


The Business and Industry Facts come from a field analyst in Atlantic County. In 2003 there were slightly over 6 thousand private sector establishments. These establishments employed about 122,000 people. About 116,000 of the residents in the county are employed. It is worth noting that the unemployment rate in 2004 was 6.1% in Atlantic county, where as it is only 4.8% in the rest of New Jersey. Atlantic County has various delicious restaurants including the ones listed in the NJ restaurants website, http://www.njrestaurants.com/atlantic.html. There is sufficient variety of cuisine to please everyone.
Atlantic County is home to two major malls: Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing and Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township. Hamilton Mall has approximately 100 stores and a varied food court. Shore mall has 4 large department stores and houses many local/national stores. Adjacent to Shore Mall’s parking lot, there is a movie theatre. Boscov’s is a major department store found in Atlantic County.
Atlantic County has six major hospitals. Atlantic City Medical Center, Atlantic City is one of the nation’s best 100 healthcare systems. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is located in the county. Hamilton Township and Egg Harbor Township both have Specialty Care/Urgent Care Centers. Atlantic City Medical Center, Mainland Division is the general medical/ surgery arm of Atlantic City Medical Center. Kessler Memorial Hospital is located in Hammonton, NJ. Shore Memorial Hospital, Somers Point has over 350 doctors and 1,500 employees. Betty Bacharach Rehabilitation Hospital is located in Pomona.
The county has a bikeway. The park system has a 7.56 mile path going from the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Township to the Vocational Technical School in Hamilton Township. This bikeway was in part funded by a Federal Highway (ISTEA) grant. This is the major bikeway though there are other pathways in the county.
John F. Gaffney Green Tree Golf course is located in Egg Harbor Township. This is a 5,177 yard, par 70 golf course. It was acquired by the county 13 years ago, in an attempt to preserve open spaces in Atlantic County.
Atlantic County’s goal is to preserve open space. It has public open space as follows: Federal: 20,263 acres; State: 59,130 acres; County: 6,156 acres; Municipal: 3,689 acres; Beach: 14 miles; Boardwalk: 5.75 miles; Bikeways: 38.2 miles. It has thirteen parks. These parks include: Oscar E. McClinton Jr. Waterfront Park, Lake Lenape, Leeds’ Point and Veterans Memorial Park.
Atlantic County is home to Lucy, the Margate Elephant. This building is shaped like an elephant and can be found on the boardwalk. It is located in Margate city, between Decatur and Atlantic Avenues. The elephant is a national historic site because it was built in 1881 and to this day has visitors year round.
Atlantic County is the leading county in terms of blueberry and sweet potato production. It has various important historic cites. Egg Harbor for example, was named by Dutch explorers because the meadows were covered with bird, particularly shorebird and waterfowl, eggs.
Perhaps the most renowned recreational activity in Atlantic County is gambling. For the last 150 years, Atlantic City, in Atlantic County has attracted many tourists. A selection of the casinos found on/near Atlantic City’s boardwalk include: Caesar’s Atlantic City, Harrah’s, Sands Casino, the Trump Plaza and the Trump Marina.


The New Jersey Department of Education has information regarding the districts for 31 municipalities within Atlantic county. http://www.nj.gov/cgi-bin/education/directory/ directory1.pl? string= co _code01&maxhits=1000. Within each municipality there are 2 to 12 schools. The report card link given after the school type leads to further information about the school, including total enrollment. Each municipality has elementary schools as well as middle/high schools.
The county also has various colleges and vocational schools. I have listed a few with a bit of information about each one. * Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Pomona- This college is a liberal arts college where approximately 7,000 students attend. Of these, only 37% of the students are residents, thus it would be convenient to have easy transportation to the area. * Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing-

ACCC is a two year public college, where more than 6,000 students attend.

* Atlantic County Institute of Technology- This is the most wide-ranging technical education facility in the county. Approximately 900 students attend, 75% of which are high school students. *Education Technology Training Center (ETTC)-

ETTC is a training center for teaches and education staff for students in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. This center provides people with information regarding NJ Curriculum standards, as well as instructional advice.


Certain areas of Atlantic County have expanded faster than others. Mostly, Atlantic County housing is influenced by the gaming industry (found in Atlantic City). When looking at housing, three periods are highlighted for Atlantic County: 1970-1978, 1980-1988 and 1990-1998 (close to present day). During the first period in the 70’s, the county issues almost 16,000 building permits. In 1978, Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts International, opened. From 1980 until 1988 there were close to 24,000 building permits. This 50% increase was mainly due to the start of the gaming industry. During the 1990’s, most of Atlantic City’s casinos had been completed. The map shows that Galloway, Egg Harbor, and Hamilton townships had lots of residential activity, including increased housing growth in the 90’s. Recently, most new construction in Atlantic County has been geared towards single families. Also, the county has tried to construct many new age restricted/assisted living development, nursing home type areas.
Current Transportation
The county is fairly accessible by roads. The Garden state parkway has about 31 miles parkway within Atlantic County. This road follows a north-south route. Atlantic City Expressway is an east-west toll road that has about 30 miles within the county. The county has about 6,671 miles of state road. Black Horse Pike and White Horse Pike, Route 40/322 and Route 30 respectively, are also ways to travel east to west or vice versa in Atlantic County. The chart below comes from an Atlantic County master plan in 2000.

The need for transportation to Atlantic City is very important. The Miss America pageant is held in Atlantic City in September. Atlantic county is a good place to use mass transit possibilities because of its large reliance on tourism. Atlantic county is home to Atlantic City. This shore point has housed casinos since the 1980s. From 1978 until 1994, the traffic volume on the Atlantic City Expressway has grown by nearly 400%. People visit the casinos by automobiles and chartered busses.


NJ Transit also has varied bus lines that reach the area. Most of the busses provide service to Atlantic City, which neglects the rest of the county. Busses number 319, 450, 501, 503, 505, 507, 508, 509, and 552 are such examples. These busses often provide transportation to casino parking lots.
The Atlantic City line of NJ Transit reaches the area. As you can see by the circled map below, the Atlantic City line is inefficient. It does not connect to other NJ Transit lines, such as the Northeast Corridor, or the Main Line. This line only connects to 30th Street in Philadelphia. This service only services Absecon, Egg Harbor City, and Hammonton. The rest of the Atlantic City Line stops (Atco, Lindenwold, and Cherry Hill) are not even in Atlantic County.
The Atlantic County government also provides a few other forms of transportation. There is transportation mini-busses for seniors and disabled persons. An example of this bus is found to the right. Also there is the County of Atlantic Rural Transportation System (CARTS). This provides residents that live in the more rural areas with transportation to hospitals, grocery stores and major shopping areas.

New Development

The PRT source can be in Corbin City. The population of the area is only about 500 people. There is a large undeveloped area here, which can be the source of the PRT network.



PRT
The PRT network in Atlantic County would be very efficient. It would serve various attractions from the casinos to the Brigantine Beach, to Lucy the Elephant or even bird watching.
Since much of the population of Atlantic County is focused on the east side of the county, there is a much denser PRT network there. Much of the travel will also be towards the beach, with sporadic returns to home. As evident by the new housing growths, some municipalities are more populous than others. Atlantic City has more than 40,000 residents, while Corbin City has less than 500. The map here shows black squares where there are attractions. These are highly concentrated on the east side of the county.
The goal was to have a station within 3/8 mile radius of most trip productions/attractions, however I worked it out so that stations are on average 0.56 miles radius apart. There were 3 major designs for the entire county. One focused on areas like Atlantic City, where the flow from one place to another is somewhat clear. The next design was one where there appeared to be a community within another community. The last connected major areas to other major areas.


In dense areas, the PRT stations are very close together. Atlantic City is one such area, as can be seen to the left. The way Atlantic City is designed, there is one track going up the city, and one track going down the city. These tracks are connected by stations every certain amount of space, that either allow for upstream or downstream connections. Essentially these tracks create a loop, though there is parallel track. The track design also adjusts for the shape of the area. Since Atlantic City is like a strip, the track runs mostly along the strip, though there are stations that connect areas when the strip is wider.


The second track design resembles a spiral. This links a community to an outside community. (see right) There is a circular track in the center, which is connected to a larger circular track outside the area.
In areas where the population is not as large, the station to interchange distance is longer. This appears necessary as the area may be near a golf course or park area. Examples of this include the northeast corner of the county, where the Wharton State Forest is located, or in the center of the county near the Atlantic City International Airport.
The third type of track connected communities. This has dense residential and business areas connected by guide way. These different set of areas are then connected by various other stations, or connected across. The pictures below are such examples.




Summary for Atlantic County




Summary Chart

# of Stations

665

# of Interchanges

518

# of Inter-Links

0

Total Track Length

557.17

The PRT network for Atlantic County would have 665 stations and 557 miles of guide way. This is about 1/10th of the current road mileage in Atlantic County. The picture is an excerpt of the county’s PRT network. Assuming 2/3 of the guide ways will be urban, and 1/3 will be rural roads, this leads to an approximate cost of 1.9 billion. This includes 357 miles of urban guide way at $3m per mile, and 200 miles of rural guide way at $1m per mile, as well as $1m per station. Considering The Pier at Caesars on the Atlantic City boardwalk alone is valued about 200 million. The price for PRT in the county would be a small investment for efficient transportation for the ¼ million people that live in the county, as well as the other people from New Jersey that visit the area.





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