Thesis advisor: Richard, S.J. McGowan / The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority (NJTTFA or TTFA) is an independent agency of the New Jersey state government that is responsible for administering the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF of “the Fund”), which is used to fund transportation capital project expenditures by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and the NJ TRANSIT commuter-rail and bus system. The TTF is essential for maintaining, improving, and repairing New Jersey’s infrastructure system. However, since the TTFA was created in 1984, it has been inadequately financed by the state government and has irresponsibly issued enormous amounts of debt. Because of this, it has now it has run into major financing problems. Currently, the TTF’s revenues are insufficient to cover its increasing debt obligations. Because of this, the TTF is expected to be bankrupt by July of this year (2011). If this happens, New Jersey will be left without any financing for its already-troubled infrastructure system.This has become a major cause of concern for the State of New Jersey. For years, politicians and residents across the state have been unable to come to an agreement on how to best solve this growing problem. Because of this, financing strategies in the past have amounted to little more than temporary “Band-Aid” solutions focused principally on the issuance of massive amounts of debt. Now, the outstanding debt of the TTF has built up to the point that, in just a few short months, revenues will be insufficient to cover existing debt obligations. The New Jersey state government needs to take drastic action and adopt a long-term financing strategy that will allow the TTFA to meet its debt obligations and pay down outstanding debt, while still being able to fund essential transportation and infrastructure projects across the state.This paper will examine the causes and effects of the current funding deficit, as well various proposed solutions and strategies. After an in-depth examination of these topics, I will devise a recommended solution for solving the current deficit crisis faced by the TTF and for providing long-term financing for transportation requirements. The results will show that the most logical and effective long-term financing strategy will hinge upon an increase in state gasoline taxes, which are currently among the lowest in the nation. However, solving the problem will also require new sources of revenue and stringent financial management. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Carroll School of Management Honors Program.

As a result of the changing needs of society since the early 20th century, approaches to transportation planning have been continually shifting from highway-focused to multimodal, an approach which takes multiple modes of transportation into consideration. This evolution has been reflected in federal transportation legislation and continues to have many implications for transportation agencies, especially state departments of transportation (DOTs). The objective of this thesis is to analyze what state DOTs have done in order to adapt to the shift. More specifically, the project focuses on the organizational and funding structures of state DOTs. First, an organizational structure analysis of all 50 state DOTs was carried out. This analysis looked at how state DOTs incorporate multiple modes of transportation into their organizational structure. Secondly, the results of a statewide multimodal planning survey, to which 35 states responded, were analyzed. The survey gauged to what extent the representative from a given state DOT thought that their agency was conducting multimodal transportation planning. It also analyzed state DOT modal responsibilities, funding options, and characteristics that influence multimodal transportation planning. Lastly, case studies were carried out for six state transportation agencies: Florida DOT, North Carolina DOT, Oregon DOT, Virginia's Transportation Secretariat, Maryland DOT, and Massachusetts DOT. These case studies focused on organizational structure, funding, and multimodal efforts. Findings from the three different aspects of this thesis support the notion that highway is still the dominant mode in statewide transportation planning in most state DOTs. However, this research also supports the idea that this situation is changing, though more rapidly in some states than in others. Though it is not evident that one type of organizational structure is better than another, states have used the reorganization of these structures as a method for adapting to multimodal transportation planning. Overall, state DOTs tend to incorporate multiple modes of transportation into their organizational structure through multimodal divisions, separate modal divisions, or a combination of both. In addition to the organizational structures, some states have also restructured their funding mechanisms in order to make funds more flexible across all modes of transportation so that they may be able to better accommodate multimodal transportation planning. Those state DOTs with transportation trust funds and separate modal programs have generally shown more initiative in embracing a more multimodal approach to transportation planning. Besides organizational and funding structures, leadership, organizational culture, and institutional issues have been recognized as factors that influence the extent of multimodal planning.