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
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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
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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 LandingACCC 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,
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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.
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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)
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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
# of Interchanges
# of Inter-Links
Total Track Length
665
518
0
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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