These projects ranged from new interstate connections, to garden-variety expansions of crowded suburban arteries. It has spent the money in areas that already have a lot of traffic and sprawl, like Somerset and Morris counties. Not surprisingly, both sprawl and traffic have worsened there. The more roads you build, the more sprawl you have. The excessive attention given to zoning battles, and the whims of the individual homebuyers, can almost be seen as an elaborate ruse to distract attention from the real work being done by the state Department of Transportation.
Individuals buy homes, but the public buys highways.
This equation, while direct, is difficult to see because it often appears that sprawl causes roads. This increases traffic, which builds political pressure to widen those roads and build new ones. Governments do this with taxpayer's money. Which prompts a new wave of development. Which increases traffic.