Morris County

Sam PowellJennifer Lee

Introduction• Morris County is located in

Northern New Jersey, 25 miles west of New York City

• Affluent County• Recent residential growth• Serviced by existing

roadways, buses, and New Jersey transit Rail

• The proposed PRT system will reduce congestion, reduce commute times

Land Use: Municipalities

• 469 square miles of land• 12 square miles of water• 39 municipalities• Urban towns such as

Morristown• Less dense in the south

and west• Congestion of roadways

linking urban centers

Population statistics

• Over 470,000 residents• 124,907 Families• 169,711 Households• Population density 1,003

per square mile• 60,000 households with

children under 18• Sixth highest median

household income in the country

Productions and Attractions

Productions• 2000 Census housing data• 7,129 census blocks• 470,000 people• Geocoded to visualize in

google earth

Attractions• 5,861 Attractions of note• Included schools, with

enrollment• Offices and businesses, with

number of employees• Rail stations and park and

rides, with number of trips served daily

• Restaurants, retail, and small businesses

Trip Types: Education

• 90,000 children between 5 and 19 years old

• 165 elementary schools• 33 middle schools• 29 high schools• 3 Colleges

Trip types: Employment, Commercial

• Not only an attractive place to live, but an attractive place to work!

• 240,000 workers• 50,000 employees at headquarters buildings located within

the county• Honeywell, Novartis, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, Sun

Chemical Corp.• Malls, retail space, restaurants, movie theatres all generate

trips• But many people commute to New York City (25 miles east).

Existing transportation infrastructure

• Three New Jersey Transit lines serve NYC– Morristown and Gladstone

Branch– Montclair Boonton Line– Serve 11,400 passengers a day

• Numerous Bus transit systems within Morris County– Morris County Metro System– NJT Bus– WHEELS– Multiple lines to Port Authority,

Manhattan

PRT Design Goals• Service 90% of all

productions and attractions within ¼ mile

• Minimize number of stations and interchanges ($$) without sacrificing coverage

• Minimize length of guide ways ($$)

• Minimize round trip distance (one way links)

• Constraints– Stations have only one

upstream and downstream node

– Interchanges have up to 4 links

– Network must be strongly connected

• Solution– LOOPS!

Daisy Chain• Due to the design

constraints, we use loops – minimize round trip

distance– maximize coverage– reduce the complexity and

number of interchanges• suburban areas

– daisy chain loops to section off neighborhoods

Urban mesh

• In more urban areas, we link the loops up on all sides, making a mesh of stations

Conclusion

• The PRT is expensive, but it is also valuable!

• Will reduce commute times to NYC

• Increase access to schools

• Connect town centers• Ease congestion• Save lives!