New Jersey (NJ) Transit hosted more than 140 attendees from 54 private and public entities to kick off the Innovation Challenge at the Meadowlands Sports and Entertainment Complex, where they discussed the challenges and possible solutions to moving more people to and from popular venues.
Another 80 participants also joined in via live stream. Participants included construction, engineering, manufacturing and planning firms; on-demand transportation providers; colleges and universities; public transportation agencies; and other interested parties.
“Transportation is critical to the success of any major destination, and the Meadowlands is one of the premiere entertainment venues on the East Coast,” said Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, New Jersey Department of Transportation commissioner and NJ Transit Board chair. “The ideas discussed here are very exciting, and I look forward to implementing the innovative projects that saw their genesis today.”
The Meadowlands provides unique challenges to mass transit, including: sporting events and concerts at Met Life Stadium; the American Dream which will have 20,000 employees and 40 million visitors annually; highly sensitive environmental features including the famous meadows and Hackensack River; highly traveled existing roads; and an existing rail line to the stadium.
NJ Transit expects to issue a Request for Expressions of Interest in the coming weeks for potential partners to propose their ideas and possible projects to meet peak capacity requirements between Secaucus, American Dream and Met-Life Stadium. The agency is seeking partners that can provide end-to-end solutions, including design, build, operations and management as well as identifying the financial resources to make a proposal a reality.
“We are looking at all possible solutions to get our customers to and from the Meadowlands, not just the existing rail, light rail and bus technologies we currently operate,” said NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin Corbett. “The goal at today’s Innovation Challenge is to bring new ideas and modes of transportation to the table not just for the Meadowlands, but new solutions and methods with the potential to transform mass transit in the Garden State.”
