New Jersey–September 5, 2013–By Jen Benepe
A popular New Jersey beach route that was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy last year is being rebuilt, but advocates say bikes lanes aren’t included in the plan, and that’s wrong.
“We got a commitment from the commissioner that all Sandy relief projects would follow the state’s Complete Streets’ policy,” said Cyndi Steiner, executive director of the New Jersey Bike Walk Coalition referring to a meeting earlier this year with the Department of Transportation Chief James S. Simpson. “So where are the bike lanes?”
Instead, DOT officials say they want to rebuild Route 35 as it was before it was damaged, and that will take two years. And they have no time to consider changes to make the route safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
“The idea is to get this road built quickly and we want to rebuild this road before another storm,” said Joe Dee, a spokesman for the DOT.
The decision by the NJ DOT to redo the road without adding those safety provisions that are included in Complete Streets is more of the same from the agency: even as early as 2011 when a teen was seriously injured on the roadway, they were promising changes.
What’s more, Steiner said adding bike lanes would add “resiliency,” to the communities that would not only reduce congestion and parking issues, and improve quality of life, but “in the next emergency evacuation, bicycle use should be part of the planning that this emergency relief is funding.”
But Dee said that the project is on fast track and has no time to plan improvements for bike and pedestrian safety.
Instead, he said their department wants to take any such considerations to the eight beachfront communities along Route 35, from Berkeley Township and Seaside Park Borough, to the northern terminus at the border of Point Pleasant Beach Borough.
“One of our positions is this is a state road with a state policy, why are you giving so much authority to the municipalities?” asked Steiner. The DOT does not consult the municipalities for any of the other road construction issues underway.
One of the reasons advocates said the lanes should be included now, is that the federally financed emergency rebuild of the popular beach route is scheduled to take 2 years. That means cyclists and pedestrians will have to wait at least until its completed before they even see plans to make it safe for them along the popular route.
Two years of crash data showed that there were 49 collisions of cyclists with drivers from 2008 to 2010, according to the Tristate Transportation Campaign, and one of those was a pedestrian fatality.
Changes after the emergency rebuild might be prohibitively expensive. “Obviously adding bike and pedestrian improvements after the completion of the project will be much more costly,” said John Boyle, Research Director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
He estimates that adding these features later would cost the state and possibly the communities $300,000 to $1M per mile depending on the need for curbs and gutters for new pedestrian-safe sidewalks:
Just striping the bike lanes without moving parking spaces or adding right of way after the project is completed could cost about $15,000 per mile, and none of that would be funded by the emergency funds that the area is receiving now for the project.
Changing the striping plans however can still happen, other amenities like additional sidewalks may require major changes to the construction contracts or additional contract and design work, added Boyle.
Advocates say that changes can be made right away, that old-fashioned front-in parking spaces that are a danger to cyclists can be converted to back-in, angle parking which is much safer because it allows drivers to see cyclists approaching from behind. It could also free up some space for a designated bike lane, said Steiner.
“The cyclists are all over the road because there is no infrastructure to make it secure,” said Steiner. “If we could make it safer, more people would be cycling.”
“Some Complete Streets elements have already been started, 1,288 ADA Compliant sidewalk ramps, 200 pedestrian countdown heads [traffic lights], and 63,000 linear feet of sidewalk,” said Dee, reciting technical terms that are already on the website and have little to do with the cycling infrastructure that are supposed to be included with “Complete Streets” plans.
Dee could not detail how much of the twelve and a half miles of roadway currently offer parking, and whether there is currently any room on the road at all for cyclists, and said there is “no additional right of way available.”
“Just about all of the roadway allows parking,” answered Steiner, who seems to know the road well, “and virtually none of it has room for cyclists.” In addition to changing the type of parking allowed, the roads can be reduced from 14 feet width to 11 feet, adding 12 feet for a bike lane in some locations. That kind of change could require redoing the road all over again if it is not done now, said Steiner.
While the rebuild is proceeding over the next two years, the DOT says they will have “three design teams” talking to the communities and getting their feedback before proceeding with any plans to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.
But Steiner says the schedule for the community “listening tour,” during which the communities can discuss bike lane options hasn’t even been made public, which limits public participation.
And although the DOT has a specific schedule for the road rebuild, there is no specific schedule set anywhere for adding bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements.
“We don’t have a specific timelines, or dates,” said Dee. Nor does he have a list of community meeting dates, nor a completion date set for the bike lanes to be constructed.
Steiner says the DOT should be acting now, and can preserve the parking spots while also creating lanes.
So far advocates have not seen a response to their request for a time schedule for the bike plan, a schedule for public meetings, or a copy of the existing emergency rebuild plan. Even a letter to Governor Chris Christie asking for these items, went unanswered said Steiner.
“We hope that we get a chance to review any additional plans before they are approved,” said Boyle.
“All we get is, they are working on it,” said Steiner.