New Jersey

Ever since the first traders sought the fastest way to get from New York to Philadelphia, transportation has been of central importance to New Jersey and has greatly shaped its growth. In the mid-1820s, Hoboken engineer John Stevens built the first steam locomotive operated in the US; over the protests of the dominant stagecoach operators, his son Robert obtained a charter in 1830 for the Camden and Amboy Railroad. The line opened in 1834, and six years later it held a monopoly on the

lucrative New York–Philadelphia run. Other lines—such as the Elizabeth and Somerville, the Morris and Essex, the Paterson and Hudson, and the Jersey Central—were limited to shorter runs, largely because the Camden and Amboy's influence with the legislature gave it a huge competitive advantage. Camden and Amboy stock was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1871, and the ensuing controversy over whether New Jersey transit should be entrusted to an "alien" company led to the passage of a law opening up the state to rail competition. Industry grew around the rail lines, and the railroads became a vital link in the shipment of products from New York and northern New Jersey.

As of 2000, the major freight operations were run by Consolidated Rail (owned by CSX and Northfolk Southern), representing a consolidation of several bankrupt freight carriers, including the Penn Central, Central of New Jersey, Erie-Lackawanna, Reading, Lehigh Valley, and Lehigh and Hudson River railroads. In 2000, there were 2,353 route mi (3,786 km) of track in the state, more than 70% of which was Class I track. In addition, there were one regional, one Canadian, seven local, and six switching and terminal railroads operating in the state. About 90 daily Amtrak trains linked Newark, Trenton, and a few other New Jersey cities along the main eastern rail corridor. But the bulk of interstate passenger traffic consists of commuters to New York and Philadelphia on trains operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PA) and the Port Authority Transit Corp. (PATCO), a subsidiary of the Delaware River Port Authority.

The New Jersey Transit Corporation, called NJ TRANSIT, is a public corporation created under the Public Transportation Act of 1979. The corporation is charged with coordinating and improving bus and rail services throughout the state. It is the nation's 3rd-largest pubic transit agency, providing 223 million passenger trips annually. It operates 711 daily trains on 11 rail lines, and 2,027 buses on 236 routes throughout the state. It also owns and operates the Newark City Subway, a 4.3-mile light rail system providing service through downtown Newark.

Although associated more with the West, the first stagecoach service began in New Jersey, as part of a New York–Philadelphia trek that took some five days in 1723. For a time, colonial law required towns along the way to provide taverns for the passengers, and it was not uncommon for coach operators who were also tavern owners to find some way to prolong the journey an extra night. They traveled on roads that were barely more passable than the Leni-Lenape trails from which they originated. Improvement was slow, but by 1828, the legislature had granted 54 turnpike charters.

Road building has continued ever since. In 2000, there were 36,022 mi (57,971 km) of public roads in the state: 11,838 km mi (19,051 km) of county roads and 24,184 mi (38,920 km) of municipal roads. The major highways are the New Jersey Turnpike, opened in 1952 and extending 133 mi (214 km) between Bergen and Salem counties, and the Garden State Parkway, completed in 1955 and stretching 173 mi (278 km) from the New York State line to Cape May. There were 6,501,884 registered vehicles in the state in 2000, including 4,450,719 automobiles, 1,917,774 trucks, and 21,538 buses. There were 5,654,973 licensed New Jersey drivers in the same year.

Many bridges and tunnels link New Jersey with New York State, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Twenty-seven bridges cross the Delaware River, connecting New Jersey with Pennsylvania and Delaware.

At the gateway to New York Harbor, ports at Elizabeth and Newark have overtaken New York City ports in cargo volume, and contribute greatly to the local economy. Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Port Newark has almost 4 mi (6.4 km) of berthing space along Newark Bay, while nearby Port Elizabeth, with better than 3 mi (4.8 km) of berths, is a major handler of containerized cargo. Private piers in Jersey City and Bayonne handle both containerized and bulk cargoes. The tonnage handled by northern New Jersey port facilities, taken as a whole, make it the largest port on the east coast, and 2nd-largest overall in the United States. The Ports of Philadelphia and Camden, Inc., headquartered in Philadelphia, operates facilities along the Delaware River including the Beckett Street and Broadway Terminals in Camden formerly operated by the South Jersey Port Corporation. The port facility at Paulsboro is the most active in the state, with 26.9 million tons of cargo (primarily petroleum) handled in 2000. The Camden ports handled some 5.2 million tons during the same period.

The state's early aviation centers were Lakehurst and Newark. Lakehurst, whose dirigible operations attracted crowds of spectators during the 1920s and 1930s, was the scene of the crash on 6 May 1937 of the Hindenburg, a disaster that killed 26 people and spelled the end of commercial airship flights in the US. The state's first airmail service began in 1924 from New Brunswick's Hadley Field. Newark Airport in the late 1920s billed itself as the busiest air terminal in the world. The PA took over its operation from the city of Newark in 1948. Rebuilt during the 1960s and 1970s, Newark International Airport has become the state's busiest by far in 2000, with 17,212,226 passengers enplaned that year. Statewide in 2002, there were 118 airports, 242 heliports, and 10 seaplane bases.