Communicating the Benefits of Transit-Oriented Development. (2006).
By Cali Gorewitz and Gloria Ohland, Reconnecting America’s Center for Transit-Oriented Development, Carrie Makarewicz, Albert Benedict, and ChaNell Marshall, Center for Neighborhood Technology and Dr. Jan Wells and Martin Robins, Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center. (Prepared for the US EPA’s Development, Community and Environment Division)
Communicating the Benefits of Transit-Oriented Development, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, examines two sub-regions that have capitalized on the benefits realized from transit-oriented “redevelopment” — Hoboken and Jersey City in New Jersey, and Evanston, Illinois. Formerly in economic decline, both areas are now economic engines, attracting businesses and residents to a growing inventory of new development.
In the Hoboken and Jersey City example, Dr. Jan Wells and Martin Robins, both of Rutgers University’s Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, trace how once derelict and abandoned properties facing Manhattan are now large, mixed-use real estate gold mines. The recent introduction of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line which serves the area has added a positive mobility dimension to these locations. In the Evanston example, Carrie Makarewicz, Albert Benedict, and ChaNell Marshall, of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, recount how the city launched its 1986 economic revitalization plan to transform the downtown by attracting new construction to locate near its under-utilized Metra and El rail stations. Both sub-regions now boast healthy and vibrant economies that appeal to urban dwellers who are taking advantage of the ready access to the New York and Chicago metropolitan areas via public transit.