Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman CAROL A. MURPHY
District 7 (Burlington)
SYNOPSIS
Provides for representation of Burlington County on SJTA.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning the South Jersey Transportation Authority and amending P.L.1991, c.252.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.1991, c.252 (C.27:25A-2) is amended to read as follows:
2. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. It is the public policy of this State to provide for the coordinated development and planning of the State's transportation system both on the State and regional level. Through the medium of the Transportation Executive Council, established by Executive Order No. 10 of 1990, the activities of the various transportation related authorities are coordinated on the State level. In the northern region of the State the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, the North Jersey Transportation Coordinating Committee and other organizations exist to provide for the support and planning of the transportation system in that region.
b. In the southern region of the State an increase in residential development, the completion of Interstate Route 476 (also known as the "Blue Route") in Pennsylvania, the establishment of casino gaming in Atlantic City, and other factors, have caused an increase in vehicular traffic in southern New Jersey and have highlighted the need for a more coordinated effort on a regional basis to deal with the operation and possible extension of the region's highway system, the improvement and expansion of its aviation facilities, and the coordination of Atlantic County's transportation system within the larger regional system.
c. Concomitant with the development of the transportation system in southern New Jersey the need exists for the ancillary establishment of economic development facilities directly related to transportation projects in that region to be funded by a transportation authority.
d. It is in the public interest to create a South Jersey Transportation Authority, encompassing the counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem, as a successor to the New Jersey Expressway Authority and the Atlantic County Transportation Authority, to provide more coordination of the region's transportation system and to deal particularly with the highway system, aviation facilities and the transportation problems of Atlantic County through the acquisition, construction, maintenance, operation and support of expressway and transportation projects and economic development facilities directly related to transportation projects authorized by this act. However, the activities of a transportation authority are not to supplant or replace the funding of projects by the Transportation Trust Fund Authority or the operation of public transportation services by the New Jersey Transit Corporation.
(cf: P.L.2013, c.253, s.7)
2. Section 3 of P.L.1991, c.252 (C.27:25A-3) is amended to read as follows:
3. As used in this act:
"Air passenger service" means any service which involves the carriage of persons for compensation or hire by aircraft.
"Atlantic City Expressway" means the expressway project known as the Atlantic City Expressway constructed by the New Jersey Expressway Authority pursuant to section 40 of P.L.1962, c.10 (C.27:12C-40).
"Atlantic City International Airport" means the airport authorized by section 24 of this act.
"Atlantic County Transportation Authority" means the county transportation authority authorized pursuant to P.L.1980, c.44 (C.40:35B-1 et seq.).
"Authority" means the South Jersey Transportation Authority created by section 4 of this act.
"Bond" means any bond or note issued by the authority pursuant to the provisions of this act or issued by or for an original authority or any predecessor authority thereof, as the case may be.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Transportation.
"Construction" or "construct" means the planning, designing, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, replacement, repair, extension, enlargement, improvement and betterment of expressway projects and transportation projects, and includes the demolition, clearance and removal of buildings or structures on land acquired, held, leased or used for those projects.
"Cost" means all or any part of the expenses incurred in connection with the acquisition, construction and maintenance of any real property, lands, structures, real or personal property rights, rights-of-way, franchises, easements, and interests acquired or used for a project; any financing charges and reserves for the payment of principal and interest on bonds or notes; the expenses of engineering, appraisal, architectural, accounting, financial and legal services; and other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the acquisition, construction and maintenance of a project, the financing thereof and the placing of the project into operation.
"County" means a county in South Jersey.
"Department" means the Department of Transportation.
"Economic development facility" means any area, place, building or other improvement or structure related to, connected with, or in the vicinity of, a transportation project which may serve the users of that project or assist in, enhance or stimulate its operation or development.
"Expressway project" means the acquisition, construction and maintenance of the Atlantic City Expressway as transferred to the authority pursuant to this act and of any express highway, super highway or motorway at the locations and between the termini as may hereafter be established by law and acquired or to be acquired or constructed or to be constructed under the provisions of this act by the authority, over which abutters have no easements or rights of light, air or direct access by reason of the fact that their properties abut thereon, and shall include but not be limited to all bridges, parking facilities, tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, traffic circles, grade separations, entrance plazas, approaches, toll houses, service areas, stations and facilities, communications facilities, administration, storage and other buildings, and other structures related to the use of the express highway, superhighway or motorway, intersecting highways and bridges and feeder roads which the authority may deem necessary or desirable for the operation of the project, together with all property rights, easements and interests which may be acquired by the authority for the construction or the operation of the