Bicycle-friendly Brick? Improvements would cost millions
The Brick Planning Board heard a proposal that would expand the limited supply of sidewalks and create more bicycle lanes and walking paths.
Bicycle-friendly Brick? Improvements would cost millions The Brick Planning Board heard a proposal that would expand the limited supply of sidewalks and create more bicycle lanes and walking paths. Check out this story on app.com: https://www.app.com/story/news/local/communitychange/2019/06/27/bicycle-friendly-brick-improvements-would-cost-millions/1580246001/
Amanda Oglesby, Asbury Park Press Published 5:00 a.m. ET June 27, 2019 | Updated 9:22 a.m. ET June 27, 2019
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BRICK - This car-dominated township and its multilane busy roadways might get a bit friendlier to pedestrians and bicyclists over the next decade.
The Township Planning Board heard a proposal Wednesday that would expand Brick's limited supply of sidewalks and create more bicycle lanes and walking paths.
Of Brick's more than 367 miles of roadway, only 203 miles — or 55 percent — have sidewalks, said Ramond Joseph, a senior planner at the state Department of Community Affairs, who submitted the proposal to the Planning Board.
Bicyclists make their way up the new bicycle and pedestrian ramp, located at the south walkway of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Camden, following a ribbon cutting ceremony held to officially open the ramp on Tuesday, June 4, 2019. (Photo: Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer )
The issue isn't just about convenience, but about safety, said Planning Board member and Councilman Paul Mummolo.
"It's important, because we've had quite a few fatalities for pedestrians and bicyclists, and it's a difficult town to navigate through," Mummolo said.
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Between January 2012 and July 2017, Brick police reported 131 crashes involving pedestrians and 98 involving bicyclists, according to the DCA report.
Many of the town's busiest highways and commercial corridors lack sidewalks and crosswalks, yet demand for this infrastructure is carved into dirt paths on grassy shoulders where people walk and bicycle each day.
To meet that demand, Brick officials are considering:
Installing pedestrian and bicycle paths along Route 70, Cedar Bridge Road, Brick Boulevard as well as the Jersey Central Power & Light Co. utility path.
New wheelchair-accessible curb ramps at intersections.
New pedestrian crossings throughout the township.
Separate bicycle lanes on state and county roads.
Modifying the town's parking, sidewalk and driveway rules.
Create new bicycle routes through Greenbriar I, Route 88, Jack Martin Boulevard, Lanes Mills Road and other busy roads.
Long-term, the plan would seek to connect all of Brick's neighborhoods through pedestrian and bicycle paths. Currently, these neighborhoods, parks and sports facilities "are like separate islands," Joseph told the Planning Board. "They're not connected."
Bicyclists face their own challenges to getting around Brick, he said. Trash cans are often left on roadway shoulders that bicyclists use and some storm drain designs could trap bicycle tires, Joseph said.
Delicious Gourmet Market in Brick
Delicious Gourmet Market is about to open in Brick.Stay in touch with the latest developments: Join the What's Going There Facebook group and subscribe to APP.com today. David P. Willis
Delicious Gourmet Market is about to open in Brick. Stay in touch with the latest developments: Join the What's Going There Facebook group and subscribe to APP.com today. David P. Willis
Delicious Gourmet Market is about to open in Brick. David P. Willis
Workers at Delicious Gourmet Market are getting the store ready to open. David P. Willis
Money: Delicious Gourmet Market in Brick
Across the United States, about 870,000 commuters bicycle to work, according to the U.S. Census. Despite the health benefits, those commuters account for only 0.6% of the workforce. Most are young, male and live in cities, according to the Census.
State officials hope to grow the percentage of state residents who bicycle and walk for transportation, as well as make both practices safer.
In 2016, the state Department of Transportation released a bicycle and pedestrian master plan that found that less than 0.3% of New Jerseyans commuted by bicycle to work, yet nearly 12 percent of the state's households did not have a car.
Reconfiguring Brick's existing infrastructure for bicyclists and walkers will not come cheap: one estimate calls for more than $3 million to build miles of new sidewalks and paths throughout town as well as upgrade intersections and crosswalks. Yet, town planners are already developing a strategy to apply for state and federal grants so taxpayers will not be left shouldering all of the bills.
Mummolo said officials may take more than a decade to phase in many of the changes.
What is key is that "we have a road map now of how to proceed," he said.
With the Planning Board's approval, the project is expected to go before the Township Council for a vote. The date of that meeting is yet to be determined.
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