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 2000s | 1990s | 1980s | 1970s | 1960s | 1950s | 1940s | 1930s | 1920s |
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Between 1961 and 1973, local governments in the Region acquired 210 square miles of additional parkland, including $2 million in federal funds for acquisition directly conforming to RPA proposals. Significant acquisitions included Fire Island, Sandy Hook and Breezy Point, much of which were later incorporated into Gateway National Recreation Center. RPA led the effort to create Gateway, which in 1972 became the first major federal recreation area in an urban setting RPA helped foster the creation of NJ TRANSIT and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The Mass Transit Act of 1964 adopted RPA's principle of federal assumption of capital costs for urban mass transit. RPA convinced New Jersey officials to establish the Capital Needs Commission, which recommended a bond program that generated almost a billion dollars for critical infrastructure and capital investments. RPA lobbied for limited automobile access to the region's core: convincing the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to route new highway lanes to the George Washington Bridge, instead of to the Lincoln Tunnel; challenging a proposal to add a third tube to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel; and opposing a bridge across the Long Island Sound from Rye to Oyster Bay. RPA examined economic and demographic projections on which the need for a fourth major airport in Hunterdon County was based and built a successful campaign against the plan. | |
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