Who We Are
The NJTPA is the federally authorized Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for 7 million people in the 13-county northern New Jersey region. The region has 384 of the state’s 564 municipalities. The NJTPA partners with local and state agencies to help fund more than $3 billion in transportation investments annually and provides a forum for interagency cooperation and public input. It also sponsors and conducts studies, assists county planning agencies and monitors compliance with national air quality goals.
A MPO is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation planning agency made up of representatives from local government and key transportation agencies. Congress created MPOs to give local elected officials a stronger role in guiding federal transportation investment and to ensure that these decisions are based on a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive (“3C”) planning process. A list of short videos explaining MPO planning are in the box.
The NJTPA Board of Trustees includes 15 local elected officials representing 13 counties—Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren—and the cities of Newark and Jersey City. These are called the NJTPA “subregions.” The Board also includes a Governor’s Representative, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the President & CEO of NJ TRANSIT, the Chairman of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and a Citizen’s Representative appointed by the Governor.
The Mission of the NJTPA
- Create a vision to meet the mobility needs for people and goods;
- Develop a plan for transportation improvement and management to fulfill the vision;
- Partner with residents, counties, cities, state, and federal entities to develop and promote the transportation plan;
- Prioritize federal funding assistance to make the plan a reality; and
- Link transportation planning with safety and security, economic growth, environmental protection, growth management, and quality of life goals for the region.
Goals & Objectives
The NJTPA’s is guided by goals established in our long-range transportation plan, as well as federal planning factors. Visit our Long Range Plan page to review our current goals.
Host Agency
A host-agency arrangement was established in 1993 with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), a state-funded university. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which governs all aspects of the arrangement, the NJTPA is an affiliate of the university. NJTPA staff members are employees of NJIT with the same health, education, leave accrual, collective bargaining, and pension benefits.
NJIT (as host agency) provides the cash flow for the NJTPA operation. They are reimbursed in the following manner: All funds flow from the USDOT to NJDOT, and from NJDOT they flow to NJIT. Federal transportation funds, including applicable metropolitan planning funds authorized by IIJA, are first allocated to state departments of transportation. For an organization to receive federal funds, it first must document that its accounting, auditing and control procedures confirm that federal monies are spent for the purposes intended. NJIT has been audited and reviewed successfully by the Department of Health and Human Services.
NJIT receives an annual administrative fee for providing NJTPA services such as payroll, human resources administration, purchasing and grants management. In addition, NJIT’s grants management and accounting systems furnish accurately detailed records of allowable expenditures for “pass through” grants from the NJTPA to city/county member agencies (subregions). Such records are required by federal funding agencies.
The NJTPA has no financial accounts independent of NJIT. Therefore all accounting is conducted by NJIT (with oversight by the NJTPA, NJDOT, FHWA and FTA). NJIT retains a team of internal and external auditors who conduct a single annual audit on all university accounts, including the NJTPA. A program-specific audit is also conducted annually for the NJTPA’s UPWP.