Hunterdon County Freeholder Matthew Holt has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA).   He joined the Board at its regular meeting on January 14.

The NJTPA oversees transportation planning and controls all federal surface transportation investments throughout a 13-county region in northern and central New Jersey.  The Board is made up of elected officials from each county and the region’s two largest cities, as well as representatives of state transportation agencies and the Governor’s office.

Freeholder Holt, currently serving his first term as a freeholder, is a member of the county Planning Board and is an alternate representative to the New Jersey Association of Counties. He served as mayor of the Town of Clinton in 2004-2005, after previously serving for eight years on the town council and one year on the Clinton Board of Education.

"I'm excited to join the NJTPA’s Board,” Freeholder Holt said. “I see this as a great opportunity to help advance needed transportation improvements, not only in Hunterdon County, but across the entire region.”

Freeholder Holt is a Senior Event Specialist with Adams Rental, Inc. of Trenton.  He attended Susquehanna University and lives with his wife and son in Clinton.

The NJTPA is the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for 13 northern New Jersey counties.  Under federal legislation, MPOs provide a forum where local officials, public transportation providers and state agency representatives can come together and cooperatively plan to meet the region’s current and future transportation needs.  It establishes the region’s eligibility to receive federal tax dollars for transportation projects.

The NJTPA Board consists of one local elected official from each of the 13 counties in the region (Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren), and the cities of Newark and Jersey City.  The Board also includes a Governor’s Representative, the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the Executive Directors of NJ Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and a Citizen’s Representative appointed by the Governor.