Sussex County
Land Use Description
Sussex County is the northernmost county in New Jersey. Of all New Jersey counties, Sussex contains the highest land area of the Appalachian Mountains, though most of this land covers the western half of the county. This leaves the rugged eastern half available for agriculture, chiefly dairy farming, and suburban development. Sussex has little industry due to its hilly and rugged landscape, climate, and geographic location. Since agriculture is declining, most residents commute to work in neighboring counties and New York City.
Sussex County covers 536 square miles, of which only 2.75% is water. Of the land area, 40% is preserved through state and federal conservation efforts and is divided into eight protected areas: Stokes State Forest, High Point State Park, Swartswood State Park, Wawayanda State Park, Kittatinny Valley State Park, Allamuchy State Park, Hopatcong State Park and the Delaware Water Gap.
The ubiquity of farmlands and protected parks is evidenced by the 2000 census data.
Sussex County / New JerseyLand area, 2000 (square miles) / 521.26 / 7,417.34
Persons per square mile, 2000 / 276.7 / 1,134.5
The unusually low number of persons per square mile indicates that much of the land is uninhibited. This land is instead used for agriculture or protected by government conservation efforts. The land that is used for residential and commercial purposes is fractured. It is not connected due to the geographic landscape of Sussex County. This makes the trip between townships and municipality centers lengthy and inconvenient.
Description of Existing Transit Systems
New Jersey Transit does not have any train or bus stations in Sussex County. The only public transportation available is the Sussex County Bus Transit Route. As the map indicates, there are two bus routes, Route 101 (red) and Route 102 (green). These routes make stops in Sussex, Newton, Franklin and Sparta, among other Sussex County municipalities. Each route runs only six times per weekday and neither route runs on the weekends. Because these buses travel on the same roads as personal vehicles do, the travel time is extremely vulnerable to traffic congestion on their routes.
According to 2000 Census Data and the Sussex County Public Transportation Department, most users of the bus route do not own a vehicle and only 4% of Sussex residents do not own a vehicle. Only 1.1% of the Sussex County population uses the bus route to commute to work. As a result of infrequent scheduled stops and susceptibility to travel time delays, the Sussex County Bus Route is used minimally by residents and visitors.
Census Data also recorded information on travel times to work for Sussex County residents. The results are summarized below.
Sussex County / New JerseyAverage Travel Time to Work (minutes) / 38 / 30
Average Time to Work Using Public Transportation / 94 / 57
Average Time to Work Using Other Transportation / 37 / 27
Public transportation is nearly 3x slower than private transportation. In Sussex County, there is little public transportation available; even so, the public transportation that is available is unreliable and inconvenient. The need for a more accessible and efficient transportation system in Sussex County is undeniable.
There are three airports in Sussex County. Aeroflex Andover Airport, Newton Airport, Sussex Airport are all privately owned. These airports mostly cater to vocational pilots.
PRT Network
The final PRT network in Sussex County had 408 stations, 37 interchanges and approximately 765 miles of guideway. Each station has only arc coming into it and one arc coming out of it. Interchanges have several arcs coming in and out of them. Because the geographic landscape has created a fractured county, most of the population and commercial centers are located in certain township areas. As a result, most stations were placed in or around the denser municipality centers. Other locations of stations include the borders of the protected forests and parks. As a result, there are some long stretches of guideway connecting dispersed stations of different townships. The economic and environmental cost of the guideway will be minimized by laying the guideway above existing roads, eliminating the need to cut down trees and buildings. In addition, no stations were placed within the protected forests and parks as this would only create larger political obstacles. Only one guideway crosses a protected area. This guideway crosses High Point State Park and connects two interchanges. It is designed to be built over Route 395, therefore not interfering with the protected forest. The PRT network efficiently connects the distinct townships of the somewhat fractured Sussex County.
The following sections detail how station locations were chosen and trips per day were calculated. The PRT system includes stations that will serve employment, shopping, recreation, education and residential purposes.
Service to Employment
Many adults in Sussex County work in neighboring counties or New York City. Major employers that are located in the county are widely scattered among the denser areas of the townships. Mean travel time is 38.3 minutes and most traveling is done by personal vehicle.
Number / PercentPopulation 16 years and over / 108,225 / 100
In labor force / 76,705 / 70.9
Civilian labor force / 76,632 / 70.8
Employed / 73,913 / 68.3
Unemployed / 2,719 / 2.5
Armed Forces / 73 / 0.1
Not in labor force / 31,520 / 29.1
Commuting to Work
Workers 16 years and over / 72,728 / 100
Car, truck, or van -- drove alone / 61,033 / 83.9
Car, truck, or van – carpooled / 6,836 / 9.4
Public transportation (including taxicab) / 1,046 / 1.4
Walked / 965 / 1.3
Other means / 406 / 0.6
Worked at home / 2,442 / 3.4
Mean travel time to work (minutes) / 38.3
The PRT system within Sussex County will be integral to both intracounty and intercounty commuters. When designing the PRT system within Sussex County, the focus was placed on major employers in the county. Major employers out of the county were included when designing the PRT system for the other counties. The aggregate PRT system will decrease the high percentage of commuters using a personal vehicle. By decreasing rush hour congestion on roads and building efficient PRT routes, the New Jersey PRT system will decrease the mean travel time of 38.3 minutes. On a recent trip to Sussex County’s Chamber of Commerce located on Hampton House Rd. in Newton, the Chamber provided a list of the top 50 employers in Sussex by number of employees. Stations were placed at all 50 locations. The top 14 employers are listed below. Some of these stations, such as ShopRite, were also shopping centers. In these cases, the station was labeled as shopping and not office. Stations were placed at approximately 80 other employers in Sussex County.
Employer / Location / Number of EmployeesMountain Creek/ Intrawest / Vernon / 1247
Newton Memorial Hospital / Newton / 1200
Crystal Springs Golf and Spa Resort / Vernon/Hardyston / 1154
Selective Insurance / Branchville / 954
County of Sussex (pictured above) / Newton / 800
Ronetco Supermarkets, Inc. (Shop Rite) / Newton/Franklin / 722
Andover Sub acute and Rehab Center / Andover / 700
Vernon Township Bd. Of Education / Vernon / 664
Sparta Board of Education / Sparta / 557
Sussex County Community College / Newton / 516
Wal-Mart / Franklin & Newton / 426
Hopatcong Bd. Of Education / Hopatcong / 400
Willow Glen Academy / Sparta / 325
Schering-Plough Corporation / Lafayette / 310
To calculate the number of trips per day for each station for work purposes, the number of employees was multiplied by 3. This assumes that approximately half of employees leave their work environment during their lunch break. The other half is assumed to take their lunch break in their work environment.
Service to Shopping
Frequently visited shopping centers in Sussex County are located among the denser township areas. A Sussex County visitor’s guide listed the most frequented shopping areas in the county. Stations were placed at each of these commercial areas and at each municipality’s downtown area, where several small businesses are located. For example, Newton’s downtown area (pictured right 12/14/07) consists of mostly small businesses. In total, 39 stations were placed to serve shopping purposes. To calculate the trips per day produced by shoppers for these stations, data was collected on how many stores were within walking distance of the station. Next, the stores were categorized as either large business or small business. Assuming that large business stores have more customers than small business stores, the trips per day was calculated by adding the trips generated by large businesses and the trips generated by small businesses.
New Jersey Visitors Network, municipality websites.
Shopping Area / TownMenlo Park Mall / Edison
Olde Lafayette Village / Lafayette
Extreme Paintballz / Vernon
McAfee Ski & Snowboard / Vernon
North Country Outfitters / Lafayette
The Lafayette Mill Antiques Center / Lafayette
Clayworks / Branchville
Sparta Shopping District / Sparta
Sussex Shoppping District / Sussex
Newton Shopping District / Newton
Franklin Wal-Mart / Franklin
Service to Recreation
Outdoor recreation is arguably the main attraction of Sussex County. The county is home to nine wildlife management areas, six state parks and two national parks. Camping, mountain biking, rock climbing and hiking are popular activities. PRT transportation to the campsites and forest paths would be convenient for outdoorsmen who do not want to worry about available parking when they arrive. Forty-four PRT stations were placed along the borders of these protected areas for the convenience of outdoor enthusiasts. In total, 88 stations were designed for recreational purposes.
Sussex also has several large lakes and rivers that are major attractions for water sports, fishing, swimming and boat launching during the summer. In addition, the county has two major ski areas and twenty golf courses. Indoor recreation includes museums, resorts, restaurants and theaters. Below are several of these attractions listed by the New Jersey Visitors Network and the Sussex County tourism website.
Attraction / TownMountain Creek Ski Resort / Vernon
Space Farms Zoo and Museum / Sussex
Sterling Hill Mining Museum / Ogdensburg
Franklin Mineral Museum / Franklin
New Jersey Cardinals Baseball / Augusta
Hidden Valley Resort / Vernon
Tri-State Actors Theater / Sussex
Waterloo village / Stanhope
Bear Brook Golf Club / Newton
Crystal Springs Resort / Vernon
Lake Mohawk Golf Club / Sparta
Newton Country Club / Newton
Rolling Greens Golf / Newton
New Jersey 4H Camp / Branchville
Service to Education
Approximately 31,000 students reside in Sussex County. It has approximately 80 schools in the county, and almost all students who live in Sussex also attend school in Sussex. Therefore there is high demand for transportation between residential areas and schools. 57 stations were placed near educational facilities.
The following are the 10 largest schools in Sussex County. All data and statistics on education in Sussex County were provided by www.publicschoolreview.com and www.privateschoolreview.com
School / Student Enrollment / Station’s Trips per DayVernon Township High School / 1,590 / 3,500
Kittatinny Regional High School / 1,302 / 2,800
High Point Regional / 1,234 / 5,100
Sparta High School / 1,046 / 2,300
Lounsberry Hollow School / 1,026 / 4,300
Sparta Middle School / 964 / 4,000
Glen Meadow School / 917 / 3,800
Sparta Alpine School / 862 / 3,700
Wallkill Valley Regional High School / 841 / 1,800
Hopatcong High School / 836 / 1,800
The number of trips per day for educational PRT stations included trips for students, faculty and school workers, and parents accompanying students. These numbers were calculated using student enrollment, student:faculty ratio, and the ages of students. It was assumed that all elementary students are accompanied by a parent, half of middle school students would be accompanied, and no high school students would be accompanied. For example, Vernon Township High School has an enrollment of 1,590 students. It has a student:faculty ratio of 12:1. Because it is a high school, it was assumed that parents do not accompany their child to school. For Vernon High School, 3,180 trips come from students and approximately 270 trips from teachers. This final sum was rounded up to accommodate for irregular visitors daily.
Service to Higher Education
Sussex County Community College (SCCC) is the only higher education institute in Sussex County and is located on the border of downtown Newton. It enrolls both full-time and part-time students. The college website www.sussex.edu indicates a total enrollment of just over 3,500 students. The college has approximately 270 faculty and staff, and employs a total of about 500 workers.
The SCCC also holds theatrical performances, guest speakers and sporting events that are popularly attended by local residents. Transportation to the college would serve employment, school and recreational purposes. Because SCCC is a small and walkable campus, there is only one station placed at Sussex County Community College. It is estimated that this station will handle approximately 6,000 trips per day. This number is derived from roundtrips created by 500 employees, 2,000 part-time students, 150 visitors, 350 full-time students making trips to downtown Newton.
Service to Housing
Because so many residents of Sussex work outside of the county, PRT’s service for residential purposes is even more significant. According to 2000 Census Data, Sussex County has 56,528 housing units and 13% of these units are part of multi-unit structures. The difficulty in deciding where to build housing PRT stations is that there are few neighborhoods in Sussex County. Instead, houses are widely scattered because of the rural landscape and the history of farming. Because of cost efficiency, PRT stations were only placed in neighborhood, not amongst farmlands. An average neighborhood PRT station would handle 400 trips per day. However, if a PRT station were placed among two or three farms (the most within ¼ mile) the station would only handle about 30 trips per day. This did not seem worth the capital investment to build the station. In total, 79 stations were designed for residential purposes.
The following table indicates the number of residents of the ten most populated municipalities and the number of neighborhood stations. The trips per day were calculated by first finding the number of housing units within ¼ mile of the station. This number was then multiplied by 2.80, the average number of persons per household in Sussex County according to 2000 census data. Assuming the average person takes two trips from home per day, the number of residents was then multiplied by 4 to get the total trips per day per station.