There will be a public meeting held tomorrow at:
Camden County Boathouse
Cooper River County Park
7050 North Park Drive, Pennsauken, NJ
APRIL 20, 2011 6:00 P.M.
Work will start this fall on the reconstruction of the intersection of US 130 and North Park Drive (Cooper River Park) adjacent to the old driving range. As some of you already know this is a very difficult intersection to cross on foot or bike, especially heading from the park into Camden. While this hearing focuses on the right of way acquisition of a tiny piece of Cooper River Park it is the design of the intersection that is of the most concern.
While the crosswalk shown in the diagram is an improvement (vs nothing) it still forces a westbound cyclists to cross the intersection at the crosswalk. This means that cyclists will be riding across to a narrow sidewalk instead of a 10' multi-use path. For pedestrians it is much worse - the skewed unprotected intersection will mean that they will have to cross at least 70 feet of roadway across a skewed intersection, very difficult for the young, elderly and disabled.
US 130 has been cited by the Tri State Transportation Campaign as one of the most dangerous roads for pedestrians in the state. we should demand that at a minimum that the crosswalk geometry is fixed, with a pedestrian refuge added in the center median. In addition a pedestrian activated "no turn on red" phase would allow pedestrians to safely cross US 130. The design should also include a westbound bike box for cyclists in front of the stop bar on North Park Drive to get ahead of the turning traffic.
The details of the entire 130/30 project is here.
Click on the image to enlarge - The main section of Cooper River Park is on the bottom of this drawing while the old driving range on the top side.
Meeting announcement
1 comment:
Wow!
Considering that NJ DOT is taking parkland to build this project, the ped improvements (I see no bike improvements of any form on the detailed overview) are paltry at best if not worse than the preexisting conditions I see on Google Maps. Oh wait, there are sidewalks south of the bridge (woopie!).
For example, there are no sidewalks proposed on the north side of North Park Drive (I guess pedestrians will have no need to access the businesses located there like Goodwill, the health center, etc.).
Also, NJ DOT sees no reason to replace the "historic" steps on the south side of the Rt 130 bridge over the Cooper River on the parkland they propose taking. I just guess no one would ever want to walk along the waterfront of the Cooper River to avoid the constant hum of traffic on Rt 130.
God! This proposal, while needed I'm sure, has so many shortcomings on the ped and totally absent bike amenities, that I could just go on and on!
Post a Comment