Advance the full Trans-Hudson Gateway Program between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station, including the Hudson Tunnel Project, Phase 2 projects, and a transformed and expanded Penn Station in order to double rail capacity and unlock regional economic growth. RPA research estimates that Gateway will deliver over $400 billion in economic output once complete. New Jersey must also remain an active partner in the rehabilitation and expansion of New York Penn Station to deliver the full capacity of the new and renovated Hudson River tunnels. Without a modern, expanded station, the state risks a continued bottleneck that would hinder the economic growth and job opportunities that the Gateway Program is designed to create.

As one of the region’s most visible rail hubs, Newark Penn Station is the primary gateway into New Jersey for tens of thousands of daily commuters and visitors. The next administration must complete the Newark Penn Station Modernization Project and ensure the station becomes a true crown jewel for New Jersey’s largest city.

As the country’s third-largest transit agency, NJ TRANSIT is essential to statewide mobility and prosperity. In fact, RPA research finds it creates more than $13 billion in annual economic value. To make crucial investments in workforce, infrastructure, and technology for reliable rider service, the agency needs stable, long-term funding.

• Renew or replace the Corporate Transit Fee well before its 2028 sunset to prevent another fiscal cliff and secure real dedicated funding.

• End the automatic 3% annual fare increase which raises costs for working families without delivering better service or meaningful improvements. Regular incremental fare increases are better than episodic large ones, but they should run below the rate of inflation.

• Implement a statewide Fair Fares program to reduce the burden on low-income riders through discounted fare options that expand access to jobs, services, and opportunity.

Improve service reliability and frequency through a comprehensive effort to fix longstanding pain points for bus and rail riders. Partner with county and municipal governments to implement bus priority lanes in high-ridership corridors.

New Jersey has been a national leader in transportation innovation, and should have transportation leaders with the vision and experience to build on that legacy. The next governor should select agency heads with a deep understanding of how transportation intersects with land use, climate goals, economic development, and equity, as well as a proven ability to deliver major infrastructure projects and everyday service improvements.

Prioritize maintaining and modernizing existing infrastructure before pursuing new expansions. Reassess costly and outdated highway widening projects, like the proposed expansion of the NJ Turnpike between exits 14A–14C, which would increase traffic and emissions without solving core mobility challenges.

Our state has made significant progress in elevating EV charging infrastructure and promoting clean truck sales. These investments lower carbon emissions from the transportation sector and improve air quality for communities that experience the worst air pollution in the state.

Traffic-related deaths and injuries have risen sharply across New Jersey, including a 14% increase in total fatalities and a staggering 32% spike in pedestrian deaths between 2023 and 2024. Last year alone, 650 fatal crashes claimed 687 lives. The next administration must prioritize the work of the state’s first-in-the-nation Target Zero Commission, a multi-agency initiative committed to eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2040. In addition to planning, achieving this goal will require real investment in the physical infrastructure that keeps people safe, including protected bike lanes, accessible sidewalks, safe crossings, and complete streets in every community. Projects like the Essex Hudson Greenway can improve public safety while connecting communities and should be prioritized.

Promote Housing Growth Across the State by standardizing state policy on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), Transit Oriented Development (TOD), and mixed-use zoning to reduce municipal inconsistencies and encourage infill where infrastructure already exists. These strategies, particularly the adaptive reuse and NJ transit village program, will bring significant economic revitalization to areas that would benefit immensely from redevelopment.

• Legalize Accessory Dwelling Units statewide to support multigenerational living, expand gentle density, and unlock new housing options without requiring major new infrastructure.

• Facilitate adaptive reuse, such as supporting the conversion of underutilized commercial spaces like empty retail centers and office parks into vibrant mixed-use housing developments—especially in areas near jobs and transit.

• Strengthen the existing NJT Village Program by expanding funding, technical assistance, and planning incentives to help more municipalities participate. Prioritize communities with high-capacity transit service, affordable housing gaps, and strong potential for walkable, mixed-use development.

Uphold and Strengthen the Mt. Laurel Doctrine by enforcing the most recent round of fair share obligations and supporting municipalities with funding and technical assistance for compliance. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) plays a key role in enabling towns to meet these obligations through funding and incentivizing housing development. With a shortfall of nearly 290,000 homes affordable to residents earning 50 percent or less of area median income, dedicating at least half of the newly expanded mansion tax revenue—roughly $150 million—can help grow and sustain the AHTF.

The State Development and Redevelopment Plan guides growth and development in New Jersey. It coordinates State and local planning efforts to promote a balanced approach to land use, housing, transportation, and environmental protection, and is expected to be updated before the end of 2025. The new administration should support a robust Office of State Planning Advocacy to ensure continued implementation of the State Plan.

Additionally, the State should align resilience and housing strategies with the Plan. By comparing local attributes associated with flood risk and smart growth potential, the State can help municipalities make smarter development decisions:

• In high-flood-risk areas with high potential for growth, the State should require comprehensive planning to promote growth while protecting these existing communities and infrastructure through flood-resilient design and other adaptive measures.

• In low-risk, high-potential areas, prioritize TOD, infill, and multifamily housing—with sustained infrastructure investment to ensure communities are healthy, welcoming, and affordable.

• In low-risk, lower-potential areas, avoid sprawl by using middle-density zoning and targeted interventions like adaptive reuse, parking reform, and housing trust contributions.

• In high-flood-risk areas with low potential for growth, prioritize climate adaptation, not new construction, and align land use planning with long-term environmental and fiscal sustainability.

Promoting climate-resilient housing development also strengthens New Jersey’s broader economic strategy. More communities built to withstand storms and rising waters means fewer communities rebuilding from scratch after the next flood.

Incentivize development through programs such as Aspire and the Real Estate Gap Financing Grant administered by the NJEDA. Programs such as these help fill the funding gap in revitalization projects, particularly in communities that need it most. Continuing and expanding these tools is critical to achieving long-term, equitable economic growth.

While the need for more housing is clear, large projects can strain roads, utilities, and public services in neighboring municipalities. The State should require regional coordination for major developments to ensure smarter planning and shared benefits.

The next administration should implement NJDEP’s Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL) rules by expanding agency capacity and providing municipalities with clear, data-driven guidance. This includes identifying flood-prone and high-hazard areas, closing gaps in stormwater infrastructure, and discouraging new development in places where risks outweigh long-term viability. Rather than focusing solely on disaster recovery, the State must support proactive adaptation, including the repurposing of vulnerable land for community use and helping residents relocate to safer, more sustainable neighborhoods. Aligning land use with flood risk reduces long-term public costs and helps communities retain economic stability in the face of repeated climate impacts.

The Meadowlands is the largest contiguous urban wetland system in the Northeast and is home to essential infrastructure. A formal designation as a State preserve, park, or wildlife management area would build upon the region’s existing frameworks to cement the region’s role in climate adaptation, protect vital ecosystems, and serve as a national model for balancing urban resilience with economic necessity. Ideally, this low-cost, low-lift designation would be in place before the 2026 World Cup to showcase New Jersey’s commitment to sustainability before a global audience.

This includes expanding urban tree canopy, restoring wetlands, building floodable parks, and swapping permeable surface and materials wherever possible. These nature-based solutions reduce flood risk, lower temperatures, improve public health, and deliver resilience benefits in both urban centers and suburban communities.

The State must work closely with municipalities and business leaders to ensure land use regulations account for projected sea level rise, storm surge, and heat. These updates should incentivize resilient design, prohibit high-risk development, and ensure that communities remain habitable, functional, and insurable in the decades ahead.

Voluntary buyouts are a critical tool for reducing long-term disaster risk and offering families and businesses a dignified path out of harm’s way. The next administration should increase funding for both residential and commercial properties, streamline the process, and enable regional coordination to proactively transition flood-prone neighborhoods into protected open space. These investments protect people and reduce exposure to rebuilding costs.

Much of New Jersey’s electric infrastructure is over 40 years old and was never designed for today’s distributed, high-load environment. New energy-intensive industries, including AI data centers, will only increase demand. Although New Jersey offers generous tax incentives to attract AI and advanced tech businesses, those efforts will falter without a grid that can support their operational needs.

The next administration has the opportunity to bring the grid into the 21st century with Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATTs) and Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) that will make energy transmission more efficient and lower costs for residents and businesses. This includes replacing outdated lines with advanced conductors, installing real-time voltage sensors, and expanding capacity where demand is growing. The state should launch an incentive program to encourage utility adoption and prioritize upgrades in the JCP&L and ACE service territories, where reliability lags behind providers like PSEG and Rockland Electric.

New Jersey must fortify its grid against worsening climate impacts by retrofitting at-risk substations, hardening vulnerable infrastructure, and expanding distributed energy resources like community solar and battery storage. While much of the state is vulnerable to flooding, southern New Jersey also faces increasing wildfire risk. Wildfire mitigation should be included in the state’s broader energy resilience strategy.

Streamline approvals for solar installations on commercial buildings—including warehouses, retail centers, and data centers—to accelerate deployment, reduce peak demand, and make better use of the built environment. A single statewide standard could help municipalities avoid delays and reduce costs. Recently, the State adopted a law that will streamline permitting for residential permitting; the next step is to apply similar reforms to commercial systems.

New Jersey already has a robust community solar program that has given low-income communities and renters across the state the ability to ​“go solar” and lower their utility costs at the same time. The next administration should continue to grow the program, and pair it with incentives to install solar on commercial rooftops, parking lots, and underutilized land. These efforts can lower energy costs, support economic development, and improve equity for underserved ratepayers.

Municipalities need clear tools and guidance to proactively plan for energy infrastructure, including microgrids, storage, and interconnections. The state should link planning grants and zoning updates to climate and energy goals, helping communities align land use decisions with long-term energy needs.

The state must reestablish confidence in its offshore wind agenda through a transparent and updated roadmap that includes funding commitments, solicitation timelines, and regulatory frameworks. This should reflect changes to the State Agreement Approach 2.0, OWEDA, and other policy mechanisms. Clear guidance will help utilities, developers, and host communities plan with certainty.

Offshore wind is only as viable as the infrastructure that supports it. New Jersey must finish building the Wind Port, upgrade transmission systems to move clean power efficiently, invest in grid-scale energy storage, and ensure that temporary port uses don’t impede long-term offshore wind operations. This includes advancing and awarding the Pre-Build Infrastructure (PBI) solicitation to ensure a fully developed, onshore transmission pathway for future offshore wind projects.

The Board of Public Utilities must be equipped to regulate and lead in an increasingly complex energy landscape. That means ensuring the board is fully staffed with leadership experienced in both grid modernization and clean energy deployment—and giving the agency sufficient capacity to oversee ambitious implementation.

As energy demand continues to grow, understanding the potential for all available sources of non-emission producing energy should be explored. Strenuously reviewing existing studies of the feasibility of new nuclear development should be carried out to determine if there is a financially and environmentally responsible, community-supported path forward for new nuclear power developments in the state.