The overall goal of this project is to assess the impact of planned transport infrastructure investment projects on travel behavior and economic development in New Jersey. The proposal for this research project discusses 5 main objectives for this study. The purpose of this working paper is to review these objectives, provide basic definitions, highlight key issues and suggest methodologies to accomplish these objectives. In addition this paper suggests a general structural framework and outlines the main tasks and phases to follow.

<p>In the last 10 years, New Jersey has invested heavily in its transportation infrastructure, and numerous additional projects are planned or proposed for the next decade. Collectively, these projects have significantly improved accessibility in northern New Jersey.

One of the key factors that play a pivotal role in a region's economic well being is the presence of a reliable and efficient transportation infrastructure. This is mainly due to the fact that a well-developed transportation system provides adequate access to the region, which in turn, is a necessary condition for the efficient operation of manufacturing, retail, labor and housing markets.

<p>The objective of this working paper is to show trends in employment in different industries in the study area. Two sets of tables and figures are presented to illustrate these trends. Tables 1A through 1D, and figures 1 through 10 show trends in non-farm employment for different labor areas from 1980 to 1999. Labor areas are also called Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSA?s). In some cases, these labor areas consist of several counties. The study area consists of 14 counties that form 7 labor areas as indicated in the following table.

The main objectives of this paper are to briefly discuss the alternative modeling frameworks and address some of the key questions in anticipation to the modeling components of the New Jersey's Links to the 21st Century project. This report reviews the spectrum of modeling options seeking to balance the needs of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the practicality of the different approaches, their conceptual validity, and the corresponding potential for research contributions.

<p>A central component of the New Jersey: Link to the 21st Century project is the calibration of TRANUS, a land use-transportation model, for use in the study of northern New Jersey. The model will be used to forecast the impact of transportation investments on economic activity in the study area. Within TRANUS, the distribution of population within the region will be a function of basic (e.g., manufacturing) economic activity, which will be exogenous to the model.

<p>This working paper describes employment trends and patterns in New Jersey over the last decade. Its focus is on the relocation of firms and jobs, into New Jersey, and their transportation implications.

<p>An improvement in the transportation system in a certain area will have an impact on accessibility, which in turn may affect land use, economic development and travel patterns in that region. How large is this impact on each of the above mentioned issues? This can be measured by observing the changes in certain indicators such as population, income level, employment rate, land use patterns, and transportation system characteristics of this region.

<p>The importance of commuter rail as a transit mode has increased with the expansion of services to new metropolitan areas, such as San Diego, Los Angeles, South Florida, Dallas, and Washington, D.C., and with the expansion of existing services in areas of New York, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. This expansion of services can have economic impacts in the communities served by rail stations. Some of the economic impacts of a commuter rail service have been studied.

In the last 10 years, New Jersey has invested heavily in its transportation infrastructure, and numerous additional projects are planned or proposed for the next decade. Collectively, these projects have significantly improved accessibility in northern New Jersey. Highway and commuter rail travel times have dropped throughout the region as projects such as Midtown Direct and the completion of Interstate 287 connected networks and provided commuters with new travel choices.