Sandy Repairs Will Put NJ's "Complete Street Cred" To The Test

Six months after Hurricane Sandy damaged roads and bridges in New Jersey's coastal zone, plans are moving forward to make repairs on major roads.  Most notable is Route 35 between Point Pleasant and Island Beach State Park that was severely damaged to the point of obliteration in Mantoloking. Concurrently Sandy repairs are also helping to expedite planned improvements to the Route 72 Manahawking Bay Bridge between Stafford Township and Long Beach Island. At various points NJDOT officials and press releases have indicated that complete streets treatments will be included in both projects. But the slowly emerging project details are pointing to marginal improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians, and it looks likely that this once in a lifetime opportunity to make significant safety improvements for non-motorized users on these corridors will be punted decades into the future.

Bike / Ped investments critical as Hoboken PATH Station remains closed

News 12 New Jersey is reporting today that demand for bicycle parking at the Newport PATH Station has skyrocketed as the Hoboken PATH Station remains closed due to flood damage from Hurricane Sandy.  This is not surprising to us here at WalkBikeJersey.  With the opening of the Newport section of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway in 2009 the cities of Hoboken and Jersey City are connected for bicyclists and pedestrians like never before.  The Newport walkway has proven to be very popular with locals and exceptionally useful to commuters during normal circumstances.  In the Summer of 2011 the East Coast Greenway Alliance conducted trail counts and found that over 1,100 trips occurred on this section of the walkway between 4 and 7pm on one particular weekday.     

Locals walk and ride from Hoboken to Jersey City on the Newport section of the walkway, Summer 2011. (c) AJ Besold

With the Hoboken PATH Station remaining closed due to extensive damage, the walkway is now proving to be critical transportation asset.  By bike and using the walkway, the trip between the two stations is stress-free and takes about 5 minutes.  By road, cyclists would have to travel on treacherous Observer Highway, Marin Blvd and Washington Blvd (all roads even this LCI would rather not ride on) and its nearly twice as far (Note - WBJ realizes that those living in western Hoboken would find it more direct to use Marin Blvd to get to the Newport PATH Station).


View Hoboken PATH to Newport PATH in a larger map

This sudden emergency demand for bike parking at the Newport PATH didn't just materialize out of the blue after Hurricane Sandy.  Under the leadership of Mayor Dawn Zimmer, the City of Hoboken has been working hard to make the city and the Hoboken Transit Terminal much more accommodating for those looking to use a bike.  Back in October, Hoboken was named a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.  With the Hoboken PATH Station remaining closed, the Newport PATH Station has become an obvious alternative for those looking to access the PATH system by bike.  Without the Newport walkway the PATH system would have remained much more difficult to access for many Hoboken residents.

Restore the Shore Better than Before!

You have seen the disaster photos over and over, but what I noticed in these photos was that the most basic forms of transportation - walking and biking were the only viable ways to get around in the hours immediately after the storm. In the absence of subways, traffic signals and even gas stations, Bike Portland did an excellent job of documenting the surge of bicycle traffic in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. On a lesser scale pictures from the barrier islands showed the same thing. Roads were either destroyed or covered with sand and debris that made car travel impossible.

Buried within the $30 billion dollar price tag are miles of damaged boardwalks and multi-use paths.Check out the shambles left over from the Sandy Hook Bikeway and the Henry Hudson Trail.  The tourist packed boardwalks will be rebuilt very quickly (perhaps too quickly). But the lesser used off-road paths may be pushed way down the priority list and perhaps in the case of the frequently damaged Bayshore section of the Henry Hudson Trail,a discussion about a total redesign. It is going to take a concerted effort by bicycle and walking advocates to bring these trails back up to speed

Multi-Use Path at Sandy Hook

The discussion of sustainable redevelopment of the coast is focused around the restoration of natural features to buffer the damage that robust coastal storms bring as well as implementing stricter building codes. But this rebuild is also an opportunity to create a more sustainable and safer transportation system as well.

Route 35 between Island Beach and Pt. Pleasant is a great example. In the 50's and 60's this road was expanded to create a four lane highway through some of the most densely built beach communities in the state. While there are wide shoulders, much of the road lacks sidewalks, crosswalks and even landscaping. To reform minded planners and landscape architects Route 35 looks like a blank slate.






View Larger Map
We can make this a complete street! Photoshop anyone?

The need to cross major arterials in shore communities is very strong. Accommodating all those beachgoers with beachfront parking would require huge and unsightly parking fields. So most renters and weekend visitors use the best ways available to get there - on two feet or two wheels (or sometimes 3 wheels). These roads are often the biggest barriers to get to the beach and can be especially frightening for groups with lots of gear and small children.

The rebuild of roads like Route 35 and Route 71 will put the NJ's complete streets policy to the test. County roads such as Long Beach Blvd are not subject to the State's policy, but the discussion to make all roads ravaged by Superstorm Sandy safer begins Today!

Parks, Trails and favorite bike roads likely unsafe and closed this weekend

Stay out of the parks!  Stay off the trails!  And be careful when you ride your bike on the road this weekend!

Most state parks are closed due to storm damage mostly in the form of downed and dangerously hanging trees.  D&R Canal State Park (includes Six Mile Run) and Allaire are on the list.  Both parks are popular with mountain bikers and casual cyclists alike who ride on multi-use trails.

Many county parks are likely in the same condition.  Checking the Monmouth County Parks Department webpage didn't find any mention park closures but its hard to imagine that they are in any better shape.  Hartshorn Woods reaches several hundred feet in elevation only a half mile from the Atlantic.  With such exposure to the brutal winds of Sandy, it's easy to imagine that the forest receive significant damage there.

Elsewhere in Monmouth County, it is highly probable that the Henry Hudson Trail will also have tree as well as flooding damage.  The exceptionally scenic Bayshore Trail portion of the Henry Hudson (between Highlands and Atlantic Highlands) was damaged by storm surge in the March 2011 Nor'easter.  With stories coming in of catastrophic flooding damage in many Raritan Bay communities the trail must be in much worse condition after Sandy.

Scenarios like these are sure to be repeating themselves in many parks throughout the state.  If you haven't been specifically informed that the park and or trail is safe for you to walk, hike or bike, you should stay out!  There is no need to put more demands on our strained emergency management systems.

The same amount of caution applies to us road cyclists too.  While the roads may be open to traffic, hazardous conditions remain.  Tree and other debris still liter roadways, particularly on the edge of the roads that cyclists frequent.  Not only could one crash into unexpected hazards deposted at the side of the road but branches, leaves and other litter can cause one to slip and crash, particularly when riding a bike with narrow tires.

Again, be safe and maybe wait till next weekend to go out and have fun.  We got too much cleaning up to do this weekend anyway.

Post Your Bikes After Sandy Photos

Tired of looking at photos of gas lines? How about photos of bikes being used for transportation in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy? We would like to see them, tag them as bikesandy on Flickr.