Investing in safety To help improve safety on its busy roads, Middlesex County is investing in two key initiatives: Vision Zero and DataCity. Vision Zero is an initiative that seeks to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries among road users, and to ensure safe, equitable mobility for all. Middlesex County was the first county in New Jersey to adopt a Vision Zero action plan, for which it received a Complete Streets Excellence Award in early 2024. Made possible through a partnership with CAIT, the Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation at Rutgers University, DataCity is the nation’s first smart mobility living laboratory for autonomous technology in an urban area. It is located along a 3.2 mile stretch of roadway in downtown New Brunswick, where it collects crucial information that can be used to help improve safety on Middlesex County’s roads. And Middlesex County is allocating more than $77 million through the Capital Improvement Fund in its 2024 County budget to finance critical infrastructure projects, including transportation projects such as traffic signals and other road improvements. These investments are helping make County roads safer for drivers and pedestrians. Investing in convenience and reliability The fleet of RIDE On Demand vehicles does more than get people from point A to point B, it also represents part of the ongoing evolution of the Middlesex County Department of Transportation. In May, the department hosted its first Transportation Symposium, bringing together key industry stakeholders and local officials to discuss critical transportation topics. The event included keynote addresses from former New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Diane Guitierrez-Scaccetti, who now serves as chief of staff to Governor Murphy, as well as Dr. Ali Maher, Ph.D., F.ASCE, director of Rutgers University’s CAIT. Additionally, the County’s public mobility system, previously known as Middlesex County Area Transit (MCAT), will now be called Middlesex County RIDE. The new branding is emblazoned on County shuttles and vehicles to make it easily identifiable to residents. All existing routes and reservation services that the community relies on remain intact – all that has changed is the name.
Investing in the future With an eye on the future of travel and mobility, Middlesex County commissioned a study in 2023 titled “Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan” that outlines a potential path to full fleet electrification by 2040. Similarly, the County is leveraging the information collected by DataCity not only to improve safety, but also to help position Middlesex County as a key player in the future of autonomous technology. DataCity offers full-corridor data collection, data sharing, and application testing capabilities on an open-road testbed with daily traffic averaging more than 100,000 – and real-world city and highway congestion. The data is invaluable to developing autonomous technology that will help mitigate human error, making vehicles and roadways safer and more efficient. DataCity’s command center is currently located in Piscataway but will move to the HELIX in New Brunswick when construction of that building is complete.
The County’s future-forward approach also includes the modernization of the New Brunswick Train Station and the construction of the North Brunswick Train Station. Progress has been steady on both of these large-scale, long-term projects, with each of them reaching design milestones this year. Similarly, through the Middlesex County Improvement Authority, the County has launched a new parking division in an effort to provide cost-effective parking solutions in the County’s municipalities. In its initial phase, the parking division will oversee the Carteret parking deck and the parking facility at the new Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, as well as the development of new parking accommodations at the North Brunswick Train Station and Middlesex College. The division also has projects and partnerships underway in numerous municipalities. At its core, solid transportation infrastructure does more than make it safer and easier for people to get from one place to another. It also improves quality of life for our residents and helps support a stable economy, both now and into the future. “ ” COUNTY COMMISSIONER CHARLES KENNY Chair of the County’s Transportation Committee
ROUTES | RESERVATIONS | ON DEMAND
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6 Your Middlesex | 2024 Issue 2
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