New Ideas To Make New Jersey's STROADS Safer For All

Every year the Tri State Transportation Campaign publishes the Region's most dangerous roads for walking report and Route 130 in Burlington County consistently makes the list. Between 2009 and 2013 57 pedestrians were reportedly hit by motorists on the corridor between Bordentown and Pennsauken but 14 of them (25%) were killed.

Many urbanists and pedestrian safety advocates identify Route 130 as an exemplary case of what urban planners now call a STROAD.  Charles Marohn of Strong Towns defines it better than I could in this article.

"A STROAD is a street/road hybrid and, besides being a very dangerous environment (yes, it is ridiculously dangerous to mix high speed highway geometric design with pedestrians, bikers and turning traffic), they are enormously expensive to build and, ultimately, financially unproductive"

The New Jersey version of a STROAD is particularly hazardous. They feature jug handles that function like mini on-ramps, menacing anyone walking or biking along a STROAD. Those eponymous Jersey Barriers do a wonderful job preventing head on collisions but they replaced medians for pedestrians to wait and have proven to be deadly for wildlife. The Tri State Transportation Campaign found that STROADS were responsible for 70% of the pedestrian deaths in New Jersey.

As for Route 130 The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is currently conducting a corridor wide study that builds upon the Commission's 2012 report of the bewildering 130/206 merge in Bordentown Township. The 130/206 report offers some interventions that for the first time shows in an official government document a tangible effort to tame the STROADS of New Jersey.

If we are serious about Vision Zero, complete streets and quality of life in New Jersey then we need reimagine STROADS as attractive Multi Way Boulevards. Route 130 in Delran is an area where serious pedestrian and motor vehicle crashes have occurred. Converting the 6 lane STROAD to a Boulevard would make it safer walk and bike along and across the highway, while reducing conflicts. There is already enough right of way here to accommodate everyone safely without creating gridlock.

Multi-Way Blvd with service road for commercial access and bike lanes.

Route 130 Today

10 Miles of Bike Lanes and Continuous Sidewalks for Route 35

Route 35 Bike Lane Striping Plan North Section

NJDOT announced the complete streets plans for Route 35 which includes 10 miles of bike lanes, six of which are buffered (note the left frame) and 12 miles of continuous sidewalk with ADA compliant curb cuts, crosswalks and countdown signals. This may turn out be one of the largest complete streets reconstruction projects in the Country. To learn more go to this article on the Tri State Transportation Campaign's MTR Blog.

Advocacy works! New Brunswick reworks bike sidewalk ban.

If you've been reading this blog you would know that the City of New Brunswick was looking to reinstate a 118 year old ban on cycling on all sidewalks in the city regardless of the cyclists age.  In our original November 2nd post, we looked at the likely origins of the original 1893 bicycle sidewalk ban, how a new ordinance could be better tweaked and questioned why adults were riding on the sidewalk in the first place.  Well at the November 2nd meeting, I was able to give some feedback to the City Council and was quite impressed at how well received my comments were to the Mayor and Council.

However, when I went to the next Council Meeting on November 16th, I was almost shocked into disbelief.  Not because, the Mayor and Council ignored my suggestions but because they took nearly all of them to heart and rewrote their proposed ordinance to take into account almost all of my feedback.  Way to go New Brunswick!!

Now I can't take total credit for this.  Far from it.  Somewhat unknown to me at the time, students from the Bloustein School of Planning and Public policy, namely those in Walk Bloustein, Bike Bloustein had also been talking to the Mayor, Council and most importantly, Planning Director, Glenn Paterson who was actually drafting the ordinance.

Below are photos of the draft ordinance (no pdf or other text document was made available).  Reading the text you can see that their is great improvement from the first proposal of November 2nd.  However, this is still far from a final draft.  Planning Director, Glenn Paterson shared with me a totally reworked draft that went much further.  I felt that some items in that proposal were redundant with New Jersey state law but others were absolutely superb in that they afforded legal protections from careless motor vehicle drivers not yet provided by New Jersey Title 39, namely protections from left and right hooks, careless doorings, illegal parking and even a 3-foot provision.  Unbelievably good stuff!!

After this, can't wait to see what the City will have drafted for tomorrow's meeting - December 7th at 6:30pm.

November 16th Draft Ordinance - Page 1

November 16th Draft Ordinance - Page 2

ADVOCACY ALERT: New Brunswick to discuss bicycle ordinance tomorrow

At the New Brunswick City Council meeting two weeks ago the Council decided to postpone their discussion of the proposed bicycle sidewalk ban ordinance till their next meeting which will be tomorrow November 16th at 6:30pm.  At the November 2nd meeting photocopies of the ordinance were presented to all attendees (see photos below).  As written, the draft ordinance would ban all cyclists from most city sidewalks regardless of age.  There was some consideration to allow cyclists to use "multi-use sidewalks" on NJ Route 18 and on several other roadways.  However in addition to the sidewalk ban, Section III, Paragraph B of the draft ordinance would ban cyclist from riding two abreast regardless if motor traffic is obstructed or not.  This is part is most disturbing because New Jersey Statute 39:4-14.2. Keeping to right; exceptions; single file grants cyclists the right to "travel no more than two abreast when traffic is not impeded."

During the public comment period at the end of the November 2nd council meeting, I addressed my concerns with the ordinance as drafted and provided some historical background and the state of cycling in 1893 when the original city ordinance banning cycling on the sidewalks was written.  From there I told the council that I was glad to see that the draft ordinance considered the needs of cyclists who use the sidewalks on Rt 18 and several other locations.  I suggested that the sidewalk ban not apply to children under the age of 14 and that it should also NOT apply to to sidewalks that are on Rutgers University property that are also not immediately adjacent to city roadways (ie. in quads and on campus between other buildings).  I did suggested to the council that a sidewalk bicycle ban was very appropriate, regardless of the age of the cyclist, in the central business district and in other select sections of the city that see constant pedestrian traffic day and night.  However I felt that the sidewalk ban was totally unnecessary on most residential streets elsewhere in New Brunswick.  I also addressed the issue of the draft ordinance's complete ban on riding two abreast which restricts the right to do so granted to cyclists in New Jersey Statute 39:4-14.2.   I wondered aloud if the city could restrict a right granted by the state and let them know that my understanding was that they could not.

Finally, I asked the council to consider why cyclists feel the need to ride on the sidewalks in the city in the first place.  Such behavior is typical when there is a dangerous on-street bicycling environment, or at least a perception that the street is a dangerous place to ride.  I told the New Brunswick City Council that the best way to solve the problem of cyclists riding on the sidewalks was to provide cyclists a place to ride in the street.  I was blunt to the Mayor and Council that New Brunswick was way behind peer university towns all across the nation that have done much, much more to accommodate cyclists.

In closing I told the Council that they could call on my expert opinion on this and other future bicycle issues in New Brunswick.  I also reminded them that some of the worlds leading experts regarding bicycle and pedestrian issues are literally a stones throw away from City Hall at the Bloustein School, namely Prof. John Pucher and the staff at the New Jersey Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center which is part of the Voorhees Transportation Center.

Photos of the draft New Brunswick City Ordinance that would ban all cyclists from city sidewalks are below.  Click on each and enlarged to read each page.

ADVOCACY ALERT: New Brunswick to discuss reinstating 118yo bicycle ban

The large, imposing and dangerous Penny-
farthing was still popular when the
original New Brunswick bicycle sidewalk
ban was put into place.

Tomorrow at 6:30pm the New Brunswick City Council will discuss the possible reintroduction of an 1893 city ordinance that would ban ALL cyclists from riding on ALL city sidewalks regardless of age.  According to a September 23rd article in the Rutgers University Daily Targum, the Victorian Age city ordinance was accidentally repealed last year (sorry but I could not find the language of the old ordinance or the proposed reintroduced ordinance O-091101).

When the ordinance was originally passed in 1893, almost all bicyclist were adults and were often called "scorchers" as they were often the fasting things on the roadways (see bottom of page 3).  The large imposing and dangerous penny-farthing was still the bicycle of choice.  Roadways were often made of dirt even in cities and most importantly, the modern traffic laws that we take for granted today were still many decades from being developed.  When one considers this, the law in its time made total sense.  But that was over 100 years ago and the law is clearly antiquated today at least in its old form.

While we at WalkBikeJersey do not usually advocate that adults ride on the sidewalk, there are some situations where it might be okay and even appropriate.  Children under 15 (give or take a year) should be allowed to ride on most city sidewalks.  NJ Route 18 in New Brunswick was recently rebuilt with wide sidewalks for bicyclists to share with pedestrians.  Reinstating the old ordinance would seem to require cyclists to ride in the highway with high-speed traffic where there is often no shoulder.  And yes, we've all ridden down the sidewalk a little bit to get a little closer to our final destination.  As long as this sidewalk riding is done with discretion, care and caution for pedestrians and traffic at intersections, all should be okay.

However, it is also appropriate to ban cyclists from certain sidewalks.  New Brunswick being a city, has a busy downtown with sidewalks that are packed with pedestrians most hours of the day and night.  It is never appropriate for cyclists to ride on sidewalks that are full of pedestrians.  In the central business district even children should refrain from sidewalk riding and walk there bikes.

Yet, the question that should be asked (and often isn't) is, "Why do adults insist on riding their bikes on the sidewalk in the first place?"  Well, the reality is that many adult cyclists have been literally scared off the roads due to poor roadway engineering, careless and sometimes reckless drivers and a long, pervasive, popular but false belief that bicyclists simply don't belong on the roadway that was "built for cars."

If New Brunswick would really like to reduce dangerous bicycle riding on sidewalks, it needs to begin providing well engineered on-road bicycle amenities that have been proven exceptionally effective in towns and cities all across the country for many decades.  Being a college town, New Brunswick is unfortunately, way behind most of its peer college cities in providing appropriate bicycle amenities.

If you would like to attend the meeting to voice your opinion about this ordinance and help begin a constructive dialog with the New Brunswick City Council to provide well engineered on-road bicycle amenities all throughout the city (and not just between college campuses), please attend the New Brunswick City Council Meeting on Wednesday at 6:30pm.  The meeting will be held in the New Brunswick City Hall, located at 78 Bayard Street in the Council Chambers on the second floor.

How is your town handling the needs of pedestrians in all this snow?

So despite being hammered with snow this winter and facing a difficult budget, my hometown of North Brunswick has been paying special attention to the needs of pedestrians this year for the first time.  Bravo!

By the typical nature of plow operations, snow gets piled up extra high at corners right where pedestrians need to cross.  For many, many years huge piles of snow were left on these street corners without any concern as to how pedestrians were to navigate the area.  Local residents, whose responsibility it would be to clear the sidewalk, just couldn't handle clearing a path for peds when heavy dense snow was piled anywhere from 6 to 12 feet high.

However this year, North Brunswick's DPW has been going out and clearing pathways through the massive corner piles with a NEW special piece of equipment.  They are doing so a day or two after the streets have been properly cleared of snow.  It does seem that they are concentrating their efforts in neighborhoods like mine which are in walking distance to schools, which would make sense and is a wise use of limited resources.

The new snow blower to the rescue after last weeks storm.  They've been back since to clear the spoils from the latest storm.

Good old- fashioned shovels work well too.

How are things going along in your town?  Are pedestrians and cyclists left to fend for themselves or are sidewalks and multi-use trails that are popular commuting routes being cleared?  Let us know!

Opinion: Allentown NJ - Hotbed of dangerous traffic, bullying, sexual harassment and criminal activities?!?!

Believable it or not, we are talking about courtesy busing to school.

Last week there was a good article in a locally distributed weekly paper called the Examiner, which covers the bucolic rural towns in far western Monmouth County. The article discussed what Upper Freehold Township is trying to do to eliminate unnecessary courtesy busing in and around the village of Allentown. In the past ten years or so a number of sprawling developments have popped up around the idyllic farm town but within very close proximity to the local schools that are with easy walking distance of Main St. Accordingly the town is looking to install sidewalks and paths to better connect these developments and the town so that local children can walk and ride bikes to school.

While these sidewalks and paths should have been built when the developments went in, it is highly commendable that the local township with the board of ed is now trying to do the right thing. By spending money upfront on sidewalk infrastructure they can avoid continuously dumping it into endless payments for unnecessary busing particularly when the kids live so close to their schools.

In 2010, Upper Freehold predicts it will spend close to $100,000 on courtesy busing. That amount could build quite a bit of sidewalk.

View Larger Map
Allentown, NJ. Rockwellian, small-town America or hotbed of crime, dangerous traffic and sexual lewdness?

However, if you read further down towards the last two paragraphs of the article you will see that some parents have already objected to the possibility of eliminating of courtesy busing. In their objection they cite that their children will be forced "to walk through dangerous intersections in downtown Allentown" and "that sidewalks would be dangerous because they are potential places for bullying, sexual harassment and criminal activities."

When I read that statement my jaw hit the floor. I'm very familiar with Allentown. It is one of the most peaceful and quaint small towns in all of New Jersey. One couldn't hope to live in a more perfect rural setting. The historic Main St is still the hub of local commerce and there isn't a strip mall within miles. Sidewalks are plentiful within the old town and local police make sure that NO ONE exceeds the posted 25mph downtown. I couldn't imagine a more perfect and safe place in New Jersey to raise a child and let them roam around and live an active childhood like that I enjoyed when I was a kid.

View Larger Map
Shaded, historic Main St, Allentown, NJ.

I know that the parents out there will say that since I'm not a parent I can't begin to understand and that things are "different" since when I was a kid (yeah, back in the 1970's every parent exposed their kids to second hand smoke, people drove drunk without penalty and lead was in the gasoline, so life has got to be more dangerous today - hint, sarcasm). However, I beg to differ. I believe that the fear that parents have for their childrens' safety is far beyond rational and has become all-out, unhealthy paranoia and it takes a childless person to point that out.