On November 13, the Rutherford Borough Council in New Jersey unanimously approved a new road striping plan for the first phase of the Rutherford Bike Ring. In an ironic twist for the bike plan, this first phase of the striping did not include bike lanes or any other Complete Streets design components. Read the full story on the Tri-State Transportation Campaign Blog.
The next Rutherford Borough Council meeting is Tuesday, November 26, 2013 (tomorrow) at 7 pm. (Agenda). If you live, work or bike in Rutherford then please plan to attend and say a few words during the public comment period.
If you can't make it then please send a note or call the borough administrator and tell them to reverse their decision on the bike ring and implement the project according to NJDOT's recommendations.
Call in to the borough office administrator: 201-460-3004
Or send an email to the borough:
The borough of Rutherford adopted a complete streets policy in 2011 and finalized plans to create a bicycle circulation plan known as the bike ring this summer. The key street in the bike ring; 60 foot wide Orient Way was undergoing plans to right size the street for all users. The plan required a public participation process that included several public meetings. But at the last minute Borough Council did an end run on the 2 year planning effort and approved a new road striping plan for Orient Way that strips out the bike lanes, center turn lane and the high visibility cross walks. The street has now been repaved and re-striping is imminent.
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| Orient Way Line Striping Proposal |
Rutherford Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan
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Update on the Rutherford situation: The Borough Council is convinced that adding shoulder lines to Orient Way is traffic calming, even though the lanes they created are 13 feet wide. Orient Way previous to the repaving had no shoulder marked; just a center line. This is the kind of warped thinking out there- that adding paint anywhere on the road is traffic calming.
The mayor also stated that the proposed lanes are not truly 13 feet wide,as the center line paint and the shoulder line paint take up some inches, so the travel lane is really about 12 feet, 6 inches wide. This is a ridiculous viewpoint, as when a road is described as 11 feet wide or 10 feet or 12 feet- the same applies- the painted lines take up some inches. So the reality is that Rutherford has created a neighborhood road where 85% of traffic will travel at speeds close to 53 mph, and they plan to put a 35 mph speed limit on it.
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