New Jersey: Permitting Backlogs Cut Sharply as Public Dashboard Launches
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced in Bordentown on October 28 that state agencies have sharply cut permit backlogs this year, and that a public view of the NJ Permitting Dashboard Pilot is now live at Permits.NJ.gov.
Since January 2026, the Department of Environmental Protection's Freshwater Wetlands Letter of Interpretation backlog has fallen 74 percent, with applications pending six months or more down from 927 to 240. The Department of Transportation's Minor Access Permit backlog is down 83 percent, from 653 to 108, including 523 long-stalled permits resolved. DEP's Remedial Action Permit backlog is down 25 percent, from 656 to 493, and DOT's Major Access Permit backlog is down 19 percent, from 262 to 211.
The dashboard pilot began in June and tracks 10 pilot projects across DEP, DOT and the Department of Community Affairs (DCA); DEP is working with the New Jersey Innovation Authority to automate it.
On staffing and process, DEP has hired and onboarded 49 new employees under the FY27 budget, created Operation FAST for clean-energy permitting with more than 25 solar and battery projects, and formed strike teams. DOT created a Division of Transportation Permitting and fully digitized Major Access Permits. A new Energy Cross-Agency Working Group spans the BPU, DEP, DCA and Agriculture, and DCA is building a unified construction permitting system with the Innovation Authority.
Agencies are also developing end-to-end "shot clock" timelines under Executive Order 5, so applicants know the maximum wait from the day they apply.
Sherrill, NJDOT Commissioner Priya Jain, DEP Commissioner Ed Potosnak, DCA Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suárez and Chief Innovation Officer Dave Cole said the goal is to make permitting progress fully visible instead of a black box.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 新泽西州议会大厦，位于特伦顿（资料图）。CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The New Jersey State House in Trenton (file photo). CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
