NJ may decrease safety funding
Budget step follows high pedestrian death rate
By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... After New Jersey recored the deadliest year for pedestrians in 36 years, Governor Phil Murphy has proposed a budget for the 2026 fiscal year that reduces funding for local pedestrian safety projects.
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The decision to cut this funding comes after Murphy emphasize d in his State of the State address earlier this year [2025] that he was making road and pedestrian safety a priority. Two of his invited guests were Saneeta and Sunil Badlani, whose 11-year-old son, Nikhil, died in a car crash 14 years ago.
..... "In Nikhi's honor, we must now enact polices that prot4ect our children," Murphy said during the speech, in which he also recognized the Badllanis, who received a standing ovation.
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Francis O'Connor, commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, acknowledged the cuts at the annual budget hearing in May [2025] when asked about them by Assemblyman Michael Venezia.
..... "Yes, the grants were reduced, but I don't think it;s going to affect our way of helping the cities and helping the safety of the pedestrians and the cyclists," O'Connor said. "Whatever we have, we will make sure that safety is a priority for the pedestrian and bicyclists."
..... Natalie Hamilton, a spokesman for the governor, said the Murphy administration has made "record investments" not seen in previous administrations.
..... "Governor Murphy is fully committee to making New Jersey's road safer for drivers, pedestrians, and everyone who calls the Garden State home," Hamilton said.
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There has been some policy movement in New Jersey to focus on road safety. Murphy signed a law this year [2025] to crate a statewide "Target Zero" commission to end traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2040. the stage Transportation Department also identified 10 dangerous intersections in the state grades and tech improvements.
..... O'Connor also walked with Burlington City High School students recently along Route 130 in front of the school, where there are multiple lanes of fast-moving traffic and no sidewalks. a crossing guard for the school in December, 2024 while he prevented two city students form being hit by a car at a marked crosswalk.
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"That block in front of that [school] has gone through a road diet, has gone through mandatory speed 25 mph, and folks are not following it," O'Connor said when describing the visit during the Senate budget hearing in May. [2025] "We know people are going to make mistakes. How do we get our infrastructure up to limit those mistakes?".
..... Corey Hannigan, an active transportation program manager at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, said the proposed budget decreases send a message that these projects aren't a priority.
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"I keep kind of thinking about the Joe Biden quote: Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget and I'll reel you what you value," Hannigan said. "If this is a priority, it needs to come from the governor's office and the Legislature."
..... In 2024, there wee 227 pedestrian deaths in New Jersey. The last year with that many deaths was 1986. there were 22 cyclist deaths in 2024, the third-highest number in the last 25 years. A 2023 study found that New Jersey has the most dangerous roads for pedestrians in the country.
..... To add another hurdle, federal infrastructure funding that goes toward "green" projects, including pedestrian and cyclist safety, has been frozen by the Trump administration.
..... "This is a time for New Jersey to lead and step up and protect families and children in an area where the federal government is dropping the ball," Hannigan said. "We should be increasing this funding to meet that gap."
..... Because of budget challenges this year, [2025] the Murphy administration asked all state department and agencies to shave 5% off their budgets, which included certain grant programs like those that fund local road safety projects.
..... The Murphy administration proposed decreasing the local transpiration project funds to $27 million in fiscal year 2026, which starts July 1, [2025] down form $38 million in fiscal 2025 and $67.5 million the year before that. Money for local aid and economic development grants - which fund Transit Villages, Safe Streets to transit and Bikeways grant programs - would get slashed to just $8 million. Last year, [2024] the budget was $16 million, and the year before that it was $20 million.
..... Stephen Schapiro, a state transportation spokesman, said the Transit Villages, Safe Streets and Bikeways grant program used to be funded at $1 million in fiscal year 2024 and 2025.
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"In the proposed FY26 budget, the three programs will continue to receive $1 million each through the TTF and additional funds through the Grant-in-Aid allocation," Schapiro said, referring to the state's Transportation Trust Fund.
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And even with the cuts proposed this year, [2025] the investments for pedestrian and cyclist programs were in total $408.6 million form focal year 2019-2026, according to the Murphy administration. By comparison, these programs received $23.5 million during the eight years of the Christie administration.
..... But the program that municipalities and counties rely on to help fund these projects will still get less money than they received the two previous ryes if the budget is passed as is - even as more towns, villages, cities and counties are adopting their own "Vision Zero" plans to reduce pedestrian and cyclist fatalities in their communities.
..... Paul Penna, director of government affairs for the New Jersey State League of Municipalities,s aid the cuts will make it harder for local officials to invest in projects to increase pedestrian and cyclist safety.
..... "It means delayed and deferred projects, because like everything else, there's a priority list and there are things that have to be funded, and while this is something that is very worthy to be funded, it's not something that there's always available money for," Penna said. "Uncertainty is never good while it comes to municipal budgeting."