NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Statewide Expansion of Bicycle Facilities

RACM Analysis

Michael Baker Jr., Inc. Page 1

Control Measure:

This project covers the expansion of existing bicycle facilities and the creation of 

entirely new facilities throughout the state. This will encourage bicycle use for 

work and other trip purposes, replacing some motorized trips and leading to a 

reduction in emissions

Description:

Counties throughout the state of New Jersey have a number of programmed 

(funded) and proposed bicycle facilities. These new and expanded facilities will 

help to attract shorter distant trips away from autos and will have a corresponding 

reduction in emissions. Both commuter trips and recreational trips will be 

attracted to these new facilities.

Methodology:

The NJ-AQONE software package, specifically the “Bicycle Improvements” 

project type, was used in the evaluation of the impact of the proposed bike trails. 

Separate runs were done for each county to reflect local conditions.

One of the major inputs into the analysis was the length of the existing bicycle 

facilities and the total length of new facilities to be created. The GIS based 

inventory data supplied with the NJDOT Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Planning 

Phase Two CD ROM was used for this Information. These bicycle facility 

inventory databases contain the follow information for both on and off road 

facilities:

1) A list of know, existing facilities

2) A list of programmed (funded) future facilities

3) A list of proposed (unfunded) future facilities

For the purposes of this analysis, the total amount of existing bike trails was set 

equal to the total on-road and off-road recorded in the database. For the length 

of the future (2009) bicycle trails, all of the programmed and 10% of the proposed 

trails were included. The service area captured by the proposed bike trails was 

assumed to be a 1 mile wide band along the total length of new the trails.

Inputs/Assumptions:

 The length of the existing and future bicycle trails was obtained from the 

NJDOT Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan Phase 2 Facility Inventory and is 

summarized in Table 1

 Project impacts were estimated using the NJ-AQONE Bicycle Improvements 

methodology. This methodology estimates the total number of commuter and 

recreational trips that the proposed facility would attract currently using auto
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Statewide Expansion of Bicycle Facilities

RACM Analysis

Michael Baker Jr., Inc. Page 2

 The length of the additional trails was assumed to include all programmed 

(funded) facilities and 10% of proposed facilities. The relatively low 10% 

figure was based on the assumption that most of the proposed trails, if built at 

all, would not be completed within the next 4-5 year (the timeframe of the 

RACM analysis)

 For the remaining inputs, the default values supplied by the NJAQONE 

software were used

 The service area (an input required by the software) was approximated by 

multiplying the total length of the new facilities by 1 mile, yielding an estimate 

of the total service area

 Each county was analyzed separately and results totaled statewide and by 

non-attainment area (both Ozone and PM 2.5). Output from the software is 

found at the end of this documentation.

Table 1: Inventory of Existing, Programmed and Proposed Bike Trails in New Jersey

County Existing 

(Miles)

Programmed 

(Miles)

Proposed 

(Miles)

10% of 

Proposed 

(Miles)

Total 

Effective 

Future 

(Miles)

Estimated 

Service 

Area 

(Miles)

Atlantic 38.78 14.90 191.44 19.14 34.05 36.05

Bergen 15.22 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00

Burlington 88.95 0.00 158.00 15.80 15.80 17.80

Camden 26.66 10.14 35.94 3.59 13.73 15.73

Cape May 23.05 12.22 2.73 0.27 12.49 14.49

Cumberland 0.67 0.00 80.08 8.01 8.01 10.01

Essex 40.46 20.48 5.53 0.55 21.04 23.04

Gloucester 4.43 3.65 9.30 0.93 4.58 6.58

Hudson 3.22 2.68 2.31 0.23 2.92 4.92

Hunterdon 120.99 3.63 182.03 18.20 21.84 23.84

Mercer 78.34 2.21 3.68 0.37 2.58 4.58

Middlesex 30.81 21.47 205.09 20.51 41.98 43.98

Monmouth 118.82 8.62 33.36 3.34 11.95 13.95

Morris 292.95 6.52 263.95 26.39 32.92 34.92

Ocean 21.98 4.61 21.90 2.19 6.80 8.80

Passaic 40.16 11.14 1.76 0.18 11.32 13.32

Salem 8.04 0.00 105.71 10.57 10.57 12.57

Somerset 52.38 23.28 0.00 0.00 23.28 25.28

Sussex 64.87 5.70 41.35 4.13 9.84 11.84

Union 14.15 0.00 16.41 1.64 1.64 3.64

Warren 5.94 1.57 1.32 0.13 1.70 3.70
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Statewide Expansion of Bicycle Facilities

RACM Analysis

Michael Baker Jr., Inc. Page 3

Results: Statewide Summer Day/Annual Benefits

Total VT Reduced = 992 trips/day Statewide

Total VMT Reduced = 2,591 miles/day Statewide

Emission Reductions (Statewide):

Pollutant

Type

Analysis Year 2009

Tons/Day Tons/Year

VOC 0.0027 -

NOx 0.0018 0.47

PM2.5 - 0.02

SO2 - 0.01

Ozone Analysis – Daily Benefits in New Jersey

Benefits 

(Reductions)

Ozone Non-Attainment Area

New York-N. New 

Jersey-Long Island,

NY-NJ-CT

PhiladelphiaWilmington-Atlantic City

PA-NJ-MD-DE

VT 839 153

VMT 2,193 398

VOC (Tons/Day) 0.0023 0.0043

NOx (Tons/Day) 0.0015 0.00029

PM2.5 Analysis – Annual Benefits in New Jersey

Benefits 

(Reductions)

PM2.5 Non-Attainment Area

New York-N. New 

Jersey-Long Island,

NY-NJ-CT

PhiladelphiaWilmington

PA-NJ-DE

VT 204,500 534,000

VMT 19,500 50,750

NOx (Tons/Year) 0.38 0.041

PM2.5 (Tons/Year) 0.017 0.0016

SO2 (Tons/Year) 0.010 0.0010
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Statewide Expansion of Bicycle Facilities

RACM Analysis

Michael Baker Jr., Inc. Page 4

Cost/Benefit Analysis

Total costs were estimated as follows:

For Off-Road Facilities:

Capital Cost: $150,000/Mile over 15 Years

Operating/Maintenance: $6,000/Mile/Year

Total Annual cost: $16,000/Mile/Year

For On-Road Facilities

$4,500/Mile over 5 years = $900/Mile/Year

Total cost for the various non-attainment areas are as follows:

County

Estimated Cost For Each AQ Region

Ozone PM 2.5

NY-NJ-CT PA-NJDE-MA NY-NJ-CT PA-NJDE

Atlantic $0 $30,642 $0 $0

Bergen $0 $0 $0 $0

Burlington $0 $151,138 $0 $151,138

Camden $0 $74,948 $0 $74,948

Cape May $0 $148,908 $0 $0

Cumberland $0 $24,809 $0 $0

Essex $59,084 $0 $59,084 $0

Gloucester $0 $49,182 $0 $49,182

Hudson $2,624 $0 $2,624 $0

Hunterdon $24,157 $0 $0 $0

Mercer $0 $41,237 $41,237 $0

Middlesex $348,920 $0 $348,920 $0

Monmouth $111,905 $0 $111,905 $0

Morris $432,186 $0 $432,186 $0

Ocean $0 $103,530 $0 $0

Passaic $104,893 $0 $104,893 $0

Salem $0 $9,514 $0 $0

Somerset $110,063 $0 $110,063 $0

Sussex $145,873 $0 $0 $0

Union $1,477 $0 $1,477 $0

Warren $3,531 $0 $0 $0

Total $1,344,712 $633,907 $1,212,388 $275,268
NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Statewide Expansion of Bicycle Facilities

RACM Analysis

Michael Baker Jr., Inc. Page 5

Cost/Benefit Results

Pollutant

Cost/Benefit for Each Pollutant

Ozone* PM 2.5

NY-NJ-CT PA-NJ-DEMD NY-NJ-CT PA-NJ-DE

VOC ($/Ton/Day) $2,345,969 $5,898,172 - -

NOx ($/Ton/Day) $3,485,440 $8,847,258 - -

NOx ($/Ton/Year) - - $3,190,496 $6,660,958

PM2.5 ($/Ton/Year) - - $69,788,164 $171,040,616

SO2 ($/Ton/Year) - - $116,387,456 $287,033,677

*Daily Costs used in calculation of cost/benefit ratio are Annual costs divided by 250