Navigating NJDOT's Public Information Sessions

When if comes to public outreach of transportation projects there is an old joke - There are just two phases of the public involvement  process: Too early and too late.  You attend a public information and suggest putting in bike lanes and you are told, "that's a design detail, so its too early to discuss that". Then several months down the road the final plans for a road project are put out and you ask why bike lanes are not included and the response is "the design has been finalized, its too late".

Engineering drawings can be very hard to read
  Route 38 and S Church St project in Moorestown

This shell game that used to go on is one of the primary reasons that the complete streets movement has evolved, in reality there is no such thing as too early when planning any road project because complete streets needs of all road users are supposed to be considered throughout the project development process. NJ DOT project managers have been for the most part trying to adhere to this process. I haven't seen a major urban/suburban project recently that did not have at least some pedestrian elements. But that doesn't mean that these early designs always hit the mark (especially for bike accommodations) and the public information sessions offer an opportunity to suggest improvements.

Op-Ed: Hey, New Jersey's political leaders! Bicycling Means Business!

I am the mayor of a city.  As far as this discipline is concerned, it's about talent attraction.  It's about attracting business.  I have to create the kind of city that attracts talent.  And putting in bike lanes and trails is a part of that.  People in their teens, twenties and thirties are looking for bike lanes and trails.  They are looking for that kind of connectivity.  They are looking for multi-modal transportation and that's what we are trying to do.

Those are the words of the Republican Mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, who gave a key speech at this years National Bike Summit.  If you've been following the bike advocacy news this past week you know that the National Bike Summit happened last week.  Maybe you were even lucky enough to go and if you did, you knew that the theme of this year's Summit was "Bicycling Means Business."  To get a good understanding of the gist of the Summit, take a look at this great (as always) rundown video by Clarence at Streetfilms.  Mayor Ballard's speech is in there.


Unfortunately, most New Jersey political leaders remain completely unaware of how bicycling is transforming cities and towns all across the U.S.  Yes there are our darling towns of Hoboken and Ocean City.  Political leader in these towns seem to be "full in," but leaders in other towns that talk a good game on bicycle issues, I believe, don't have a complete grip on what will be require of them and of their towns to make them truly bike friendly.

One major indicator of how serious a community or town takes bicycling is the presence of a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator on full-time staff.  Save for Rutger's University, not one town, county or other institution has a full-time, exclusive bicycle and pedestrian coordinator.  Meanwhile, not far from New Jersey, the City of Rockville Maryland (population: 62,334), is hiring a full-time bike/ped coordinator.  Yes, with only 62,334 people Rockville has there very own full-time bike/ped coordinator!  There are many towns in Jersey that have at least that many residents, and many others with much more.

So why are New Jersey's towns and so late to the table?  Why don't any of our towns or even counties have a full-time bike/ped coordinator?  Why are bike lanes still a rarity in our streetscapes?  NJDOT is an innovator in policy, and Rutgers University hosts one of the few centers in the nation dedicated to bicycle and pedestrian research and Rutgers is also home to John Pucher, the nation's leading bicycle and pedestrian scholar.  Why the disconnect between the state and it's agencies and our local governments where bicycle and pedestrian improvements would be of most use?  

Well one theory is that those other states have nothing better to spend those Federal Transportation Enhancement monies (soon, if not already Transportation Alternative dollars), while New Jersey spends almost all of it to help run and fund the nation's only state-wide transit agency, NJ TRANSIT.  But I think its more fundamental than that.  I just think local leaders still don't "get it." 

There are glimmers of hope outside of the usually places, namely in Jersey City, Newark and New Brunswick but change has been still been slow.  Bike lanes are still rare in these towns but some good ones have popped lately.  However, none of these places have yet made an investment in that big indicator of bike friendliness, a full-time bike/ped director. Even Hoboken and Ocean City haven't yet.

Significant, tangible change needs to happen soon and it will need to happen fast if New Jersey and it's towns hope to catch up.  Other cities outside of New Jersey have woken-up long ago to the power of the bicycle to transform their cities and communities.  Those cities outside of New Jersey are not just riding away from us but are breaking into a full sprint while our leaders are just starting to look at the bicycle, trying to figure out how the thing works, so to speak.  If we don't change fast, New Jersey will continue to see the drain of its young best and brightest to out-of-state cities and towns that do "get it" and know that Bicycling Means Business.

Next NJ BPAC meeting on Wednesday March 13, 2013

What:   NJ BPAC Meeting

Where: Edward J. Bloustein School
             33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, 08901
             Special Events Forum (1st floor)

When:  Wednesday March 13, 2013, 10:00am - 12:00p

Agenda:  ???  TBA

We'll update this post when more info is available. 

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Rutgers University, Civic Square Building at 33 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick NJ.

We advise that all New Jersey bicycle and pedestrian advocates try to attend NJ BPAC meetings.

Atlantic City Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan - Final Public Meeting

The final presentation for the Atlantic City Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan will be held on Wednesday, March 13th, 2013 at 5:00 PM during the regularly scheduled City Council Meeting in the Council Chambers, Suite 208 City Hall 1301 Bacharach Blvd.

Prior to the meeting the consultant will have the project materials on display and will be there answer questions and take comments beginning at 3:00 PM.



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DRPA proposes three alternatives for Ben Franklin Bridge ramp

This post comes to WalkBikeJersey from our friends at Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and is reposted here with their permission.


On Wednesday the Delaware River Port Authority's Engineering Department presented its preliminary design options to the DRPA Operations and Management Committee.

According to Philly.com, plans were presented for three design options ranging from a straightaway ramp, a single switchback, or three switchbacks. The estimated costs ranged from $3 million for the single switchback to $3.7 million for the straight ramp.

Image taken from The Inquirer. Credit: Robert West.

The design drawings will probably be presented to the DRPA Board at the March meeting; the options will be presented to the public at some point before the final design is determined.

We (the BCGP and WBJ) favor the straight ramp option although understand why some officials at DRPA have concerns of speeding cyclists. We think there are ways to slow the descent of wheeled vehicles, such as adding a kink at the ramp's midpoint (like the Connector Bridge in Schuylkill River Park). A switchback requiring users to make a 180-degree turn is less desirable but adding a staircase with bike wheel channels on both sides could make this option palatable. We would not support the multi-switchback option unless it was absolutely the only feasible choice.

An interesting point made in the Inquirer article is the possibility of widening the walkway on the Camden side, which narrows to 5 feet as it approaches the stairway. The widening would add a million dollars to the project.

Thanks to years of public support and effort, the walkway ramp is one step closer to reality. We will keep you posted as DRPA begins its public outreach.

Clarification: The proposed bridge ramp would be for the walkway on the south side of the bridge.

Newark makes the case for Red Light Cameras

The facts speak for themselves. Despite a strong push to eliminate red light cameras here in New Jersey and elsewhere, crashes are down where red light cameras have been installed in Newark. Not only that but after the cameras have been up for a while, even the number of violations are down which seems to demonstrate a change in driver behavior and that's even more important. 

Well maybe I should just let the video speak for itself and for the City of Newark.

Ralph Buehler's talk a powerful case for Sustainable Transportation

Ralph Buehler's talk on Wednesday absolutely rocked!   Ralph had me saying "Yes! Yes! Yes!" out loud about a dozen times during his lecture. His concise, logical, fact driven lecture style with just the right amount of reserved enthusiasm was very powerful.  If you didn't go, you really missed out! 

The theme of his talk was “Making Urban Transport Sustainable: Comparison of Germany and the U.S.”  Many in the sustainable transportation planning world like to use Germany as a comparator to the U.S. as both countries are wealthy and have large automobile ownership and the automobile industry makes up a large part of the national economy.  In fact, the German car industry is even a bigger part of the German economy that it is here.  So Germans are just as much invested and in love their automobiles as Americans but that hasn't stopped Germany from making effective efforts at reducing automobile use.  Using a combination of transportation policies that make driving less appealing and make transit, cycling and walking cheap and convenient, Germans now make a four times the number of trips by foot, bike, and public transport and drive for a 25 percent less than Americans.  Ralph explained this all armed with solid facts and figures.

We are inquiring about a video link of the lecture so more can here Ralph's talk. 

Now the power Ralph's lecture came as no surprise to me as his insights into transportation policy are second to none.  The seminar that he taught when he was a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers was one of the best classes I took at Bloustein. Today Ralph Buehler is an Assistant Professor in Urban Affairs & Planning at Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Center just outside of Washington D.C.

What We Do With Our Streets Will Change Our Future: Paul Steely White

Paul Steely White of New York City's Transportation Alternatives, makes the argument that how we shape the use of our streets will shape the use and health of our cities.   Filmed at TEDxDumbo 2012, a TEDxCity2.0 event, October 2012.  Enjoy!

The Burlington County Bike Plan - Map Your Comments

Have you ever come across something in your travels and say to yourself - "They really need to fix this". If you bicycle on a regular basis you almost certainly have.  But who are "They"???

The Burlington County’s Bicycle Master Plan team wants your participation. Following public meetings held in January, Cross County Connection TMA has released an online comment map and survey for you to sound off on where you want bikeways in the county. They want to hear where you want to go, your concerns and suggestions. Both the map and survey can be found on the project homepage:

driveless.com/BurlingtonCountyBikePlan

Is there a road in Burlington County that can be made better for bikes? Just Map It!

The interactive map was creating using a new planning oriented crowd source mapping service called Wikimapping. The site was developed by the bike map specialists at Steve Spindler Cartography.

The project team would also like to thank everyone that came out to January’s public meetings.

For more information or to submit comments contact:
Graydon Newman, CCCTMA
newman@driveless.com
856-596-8228

Join Us In Washington To Call On Your Congressperson on March 6th

Get your lobby on! Join the NJ Delegation in Washington DC for the National Bike Summit's Lobby Day on Wednesday, March 6th.

You don't have to attend the National Bike Summit to participate in this Lobby Day, but we do ask that you let us know you're coming by signing up here:

http://bikelobbyday2013.eventbrite.com/

Photo - Whiteknuckled on Flickr

What is involved? Travelling down to Washington DC to meet with your elected officials and stress to them the importance of supporting biking and walking programs, funding, and trail projects.

For the National Bike Summit in March we need representation from several Congressional Districts across the State. The most critical district that needs constituents is the 2nd Congressional District home of Congressman LoBiondo who is on the House Transportation Committee. The 2nd District covers most of South Jersey - Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem and the southern sections of Ocean and Gloucester Counties.

We cannot provide you with transportation, but we can let you know who else is travelling so you can find someone to carpool with. If you wish to travel solo, NJ TRANSIT trains connect with Amtrak in Newark, Trenton and Philadelphia. Once we have appointments arranged with the various senators and representatives, we'll share those meeting dates and times.

Posted and modified with permission from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

Save $15! NJ Bike & Walk Summit pre-registration closes at midnight!

Long distance road bicyclist and Assemblywoman, Grace Spencer to attend in a surprise, last-minute addition to the Summit!

Still hemming and hawing about going to the NJ Bike and Walk Summit this weekend?  Don't wait!  Register now!  Online registration closes at midnight!
Register online and pay only $50 and avoid paying the $15 "at the door" fee.  Space is filling up fast so you better not wait anyway.  And if you are a student with a valid ID you will only pay $25 but that will rise to $40 if you wait.  It's going to rain anyway on Saturday so what else are you going to do?

Assemblywoman Grace Spencer to appear on featured panel   
A member of the New Jersey Legislature, Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D) has represented the 29th Legislative District, which includes the Essex County municipalities of Belleville and a portion of Newark, since November 2007. Ms. Spencer received her BA in business management from Rutgers University and her JD from Rutgers Law School.  She specializes in liability law at the firm of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman and Goggin. Ms. Spencer is a member of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of New Jersey.

In total, the NJ Bike & Walk Summit will have a total of 18 educational session with over 50 speakers.  To find out more, check out the Summit Schedule.  The Summit will be on Saturday February 23rd at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, a five minute walk from the New Brunswick train station.  Pre-registration closes on February 21 at midnight. Registration will be available on the morning of the summit, for an additional $15 per registrant. Register today!

Hawaii Bicycling League produces a perfect bicycle PSA for New Jersey

If you ride even a little bit on New Jersey's roads, it doesn't take long to realize that New Jersey drivers need a major education regarding the rights bicyclists' have to use the roadway.  They also need a good lesson or two on the safe and proper way to pass bicyclist riding in the road.  After seeing a motorcycle safety PSA play repeatedly all last summer on News 12 New Jersey, it dawned on me that a PSA focused on bicycling safety would be the perfect means to reach and educate the general public.

Fortunately, the Hawaii Bicycling League has already produced a close to perfect 30 second PSA that teaches exactly what New Jersey drivers also need to learn.  Take a look above.  All we would have to do is take out the "Aloha" greeting with the much more typically New Jersey "How ya' doin'?" and have cyclist ride past some iconic New Jersey landmarks and I think we would have a winner!

Maybe we could even get Prudential Insurance, headquartered in Newark, to underwrite the production.  SERIOUSLY!

Mahalo to Chad Taniguchi, Executive Director Hawaii Bicycling League for personally sharing the link to their most excellent PSA.

NJ Bike Summit in just five days! LAB Board President to speak

The New Jersey Bike and Walk Summit, presented by the New Jersey Bike and Walk Coalition is proud to announce the late addition of Hans van Naerssen, Chair of the Board of Directors of the League of American Bicyclists.  Hans is a bicycling activist, and an active bicyclist. He is also co-founder and Board Chair, Pennsylvania Walks and Bikes, and Board member and past President of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. He has a Governor's appointment to the PA Pedestrian and Pedalcycle Advisory Committee.  The addition of Hans to the list of speakers is a real surprise as he is will undoubtedly provide a valuable perspective on bicycle activism having experience working with all levels of government.

For all you trail users out there, the session "Building Community Support for Trails" should prove very interesting.   While the session will remind trail advocates that trails are used by groups well beyond the typical, hiker, biker, horseback rider groups, it will also be one of the few time members from all of these groups will all be in one room.  A sampling of the panel include Michael Gray and Becky Taylor of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail Corporation, Janice Elsishans, Trails Advocate for the New Jersey Horse Council , Equestrian Chairperson for the Heritage and Agricultural Association, participant in the Sussex County Trails Partnership and President of the Paulinskill Valley Trail Committee, and Wally Tunison of the Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association (JORBA)

In total, the NJ Bike & Walk Summit will have a total of 18 educational session with over 50 speakers.  To find out more, check out the Summit Schedule.  The Summit will be on Saturday February 23rd at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, a five minute walk from the New Brunswick train station.  Pre-registration closes on February 21 at midnight. Registration will be available on the morning of the summit, for an additional $15 per registrant. Register today!



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Ralph Buehler to return to Rutgers in feature lecture at Bloustein

There are two big names in bike / ped planning academics in the US right now.  Many of you already know about Rutgers' and New Jersey's own John Pucher.  But there is also John's protege, Ralph Buehler who was finishing his PhD under John's guidance when I was also at Rutgers' Bloustein School.  Ralph's insights into transportation policy are second to none and the seminar that he taught was one of the best classes I took at Bloustein.  Today Ralph Buehler is an Assistant Professor in Urban Affairs & Planning at Virginia Tech’s Alexandria Center just outside of Washington D.C.

Ralph will present the Bloustein School’s annual Isadore Candeub Memorial Lecture in Planning on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. This year’s lecture will be “Making Urban Transport Sustainable: Comparison of Germany and the U.S.”  According to the Bloustein School announcement:

Professor Buehler’s presentation will investigate international trends in daily travel behavior with a focus on Germany and the U.S. Reliance on the automobile for most trips contributes to costly trends like pollution, oil dependence, congestion, and obesity. Germany and the U.S. have among the highest motorization rates in the world, yet Germans make a four times higher share of trips by foot, bike, and public transport and drive for a 25 percent lower share of trips as compared to Americans.

For full details about Ralph's lecture, see the complete Bloustein School announcement.

If you follow bike/ped planning, advocacy and academics you may have noticed both John Pucher's and Ralph's name on a number of milestone publications in the past couple of years. They include:

• Last year's City Cycling book.  (It made it all the way to the Houses of Parliament!)
• The 2007, 2010, 2012 Alliance for Biking and Walking Benchmarking Reports
• The groundbreaking 2007 paper, "Making Cycling Irresistible."
• Dozens of other articles you can read, without paying for, here (publications) and here (reports & articles).

So if you didn't get enough bike/ped "wonkiness" at the NJ Bike and Walk Summit the Saturday before, make sure you attend Ralph's lecture.  I guarantee that you like it AND you will learn something profound.  Plus, it's FREE!!

 The lecture will be held at the Special Events Forum, Civic Square Building, 33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ. A reception will follow the lecture. Please RSVP by Tuesday, February 19 to Amy Cobb by e-mail to RSVP@policy.rutgers.edu or by phone to 848-932-2733.

Now follow WalkBikeJersey on Facebook!

Don't worry!!  WalkBikeJersey Blog isn't going anywhere.  We will continue to use blogger as our primary platform but to better reach a wider audience and to make it easier for some current readers to follow the blog, we here at WalkBikeJersey have created a WalkBikeJersey Facebook page that will allow you to follow all new posts on Facebook, starting with this one.

We are using RSS Graffiti to send our blog feed to Facebook.  It updates to Facebook as soon as possible but cross-posting to the FB WBJ page won't be immediate. We just set this up, so bear with us if there are any problems.  We hope to have to have the entire archive up on FB within a day or two.

We have also added a Facebook and Twitter share buttons
on the right column and a selection of share buttons at the
bottom of each post (like RIGHT below this line).  If like what we have to say, please share it!

Two new videos feature East Coast Greenway in Newark and Cranford

Better news from the East Coast Greenway this go around.  Two new videos from the East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA) feature sights that one can see as you travel along the East Coast Greenway in the towns of Newark and Cranford New Jersey.

In the first video from Newark you will hear about the history of Weequahic Park in the south of Newark (it once housed a Velodrome) and you will get a glimpse of the well engineered road diet and bike lanes on Irvine Turner Blvd that the ECGA was instrumental in getting built.  Not only does the bike lane on Irvine Turner provide a critical bicycle connection between Downtown Newark and the Weequahic section of the city, it is also the first bike lane built on a street managed by Essex County and will surely act as a model to be repeated elsewhere in the county.


View Irvine Turner Blvd Bike Lanes in Larger Map

The second video is less eyeopening from a bicycle advocacy perspective but still VERY eyeopening demonstrating the beauty of Cranford which is representative of many of the older pre-war New Jersey suburbs.

Enjoy!

D&R Canal Towpath / East Coast Greenway closed in Franklin Township

Driving past the Amwell Road trailhead of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Towpath two weeks ago I saw something rather unusual.  There was a six foot tall fence blocking off the entire trailhead parking lot, including access to the trail itself.  Today as I was out riding my road bike, I purposely pedaled past the trailhead to get a closer look.  There was a sign on the fence indicating the following:

The towpath from AMWELL ROAD (RT 514) TO THE WESTON CAUSEWAY will be CLOSED FROM JANUARY 21 THROUGH JUNE 30 due to repair work on the spillway. Also note there will be NO ACCESS TO/FROM COLONIAL PARK VIA THE PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE. Please plan your routes accordingly.

View D&R Towpath / East Coast Greenway Closure in a larger map

Above is a map of the trail closure and one potential detour.  Be aware that the traffic volume on Amwell Road can be rather high and there is no shoulder.  Also the crossing at Manville / Weston Causeway can be tricky and extra caution should be taken.  Millstown River road is also a possibility detour but the traffic can be high in this road as well.

Noting the above hazards, its a shame that the trail had to be closed for this entire stretch.  The spillway being reconstructed (red point) is north of the Colonial Park Bridge (green point).  It would have been nice to keep the trail open to the Colonial Park Bridge as a detour through the park (green line) would have eliminated the most hazardous Amwell Road leg.  However when I was there, the Amwell Road trailhead was being used as a staging area for the contractors and heavy equipment was being driven on the towpath.  Still, it would be nice to at least keep the part of the trail open when construction is not being done, like on weekends.

Another note of importance found on the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission website was this:

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission will be conducting a renovation and rehabilitation to the pedestrian bridge located at Bulls Island Recreation Area Day Use Area. The foot bridge will be CLOSED to the public between SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2013 TO FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013. Please plan your routes accordingly.

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As many of you know, the elegant suspension footbridge over the Delaware connecting Bulls Island and Lumberville PA is an important connection for many cyclists.  The next closest bridges at Stockton and Frenchtown are miles away.  I crossed the bridge just 11 days ago and no notices were posted of the pending two month closure as of yet.

4th Annual New Jersey Bike Walk Summit Happening February 23rd

The New Jersey Bike and Walk Coalition in partnership with the Voorhees Transportation Center will be hosting the 4th Annual New Jersey Bike Walk Summit (link to preliminary agenda) on Saturday February 23rd at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Rutgers University in New Brunswick. This year there will be 20 panel sessions to choose from, including one that will discuss The Circuit and how it can affect trail development and bike mobility in New Jersey.

The NJBWC headed up by Executive Director Cyndi Steiner is diving headfirst into state bicycle and pedestrian issues. They have partnered with us as well as the Tri State Transportation Campaign, NJ Future, the Safe Routes to School Partnership and other local advocacy groups on numerous issues. Most notably they have been working with NJDOT and the State's three Metropolitan Planning Organizations on policy changes under MAP-21 and with New Jersey Transit to improve its bike on rail policies. NJBWC's statewide advocacy strengthens our local advocacy efforts in the Garden State.

Registration fee for the Summit is $50 online, $65 at the door. For more information on the NJ Bike and Walk Summit go here. The Bloustein School is just a 5 minute walk from the NJ TRANSIT New Brunswick Station at the corner of Livingston Ave and New St.

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WBJ Exclusive: Driver charged with Chelsea Traynor's death ran red light

"I can tell you without a doubt that the truck ran the red light. It was a big 4x4 type pickup doing maybe 50mph."  That is what an eyewitness told WalkBikeJersey last week after we ran the story about Roger Hode being charged in the crash that took Chelsea Traynor's life.  Also according to the eye witness "she had the green light and that the truck ran the red light."

When WalkBikeJersey visited the site in December 2010, we looked at the signal timing specifically at how long it took to cross the intersection once the pedestrian signal button was pushed.  With this information it would seem likely that Chelsea took the time to wait until she had the proper signal and the right of way.  This new information makes her death all the more tragic.

Driver who killed Rutgers student charged in 2010 traffic death

The Star-Ledger is reporting that Rodger Hode of South River has been charged with aggravated manslaughter and death by auto in the December 2010 killing of Chelsea Traynor on Route 18 in New Brunswick.  On the morning of December 9, 2010 Traynor was crossing Rt 18 on her bicycle at the southern most intersection of George St when Hode's Ford pickup truck hit and killed her. 


View Bicyclist fatality Rt 18 and George St. 12/9/10 in a larger map

The then 21-year-old Californian Chelsea Traynor, of Concord, California was a sophomore, in the class of 2013, majoring in nutritional science at the university’s School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in New Brunswick, formerly known as Cook College.  She had previously studied at Humboldt State University in California and had recently transferred to Rutgers.

Site of the Traynor crash in December, 2010.

Traynor's death was the second reported bicyclist/pedestrian fatality on the newly renovated New Brunswick section of Rt 18.   The previous fatal crash was in October of 2009 when 15yo George Coleman was struck and killed just north of the George St intersection at Commercial Avenue.  WalkBikeJersey is thankfully unaware of any other pedestrian or bicyclist fatalities along this stretch of highway since Traynor's death.  WalkBikeJersey reverently visited the crash site in only a few days after the tragic events and investigated and photographed the facilities as they were at that time.

Our hearts at WalkBikeJersey reach out to the Traynor family and hope that justice carried out in her case.

Could Brooklyn's loss be Newark's gain?

I don't know if you've been following the velodrome folly in Brooklyn lately.  Joshua P. Rechnitz, a  reclusive philanthropist and bicycle enthusiast offered $50 million to build a velodrome on the Brooklyn waterfront.  Somehow Brooklyn was not able to turn this major gift into a reality, so the offer has been withdrawn, for now, and Rechnitz is looking for a new home for his gift.  That could still be in New York City or it could be somewhere else in the Metro area.

Frank Kramer.  Photo - Bibliothèque
nationale de France, département
Estampes et photographie

But not far away from Brooklyn, a few miles west of the Hudson River, New Jersey's largest city has a long lost but storied past with regards to track cycling.  Back in the early 20th Century,  Newark was once the epicenter of bicycle racing the US and was home to several velodromes in its heyday.  The most prominent were the Vailsberg Velodrome and the Newark Velodrome on South Orange avenue which was called the "cradle of cycling."  All of the great American cyclists and many greats from around the world also raced in Newark.

One of the greatest of those early American greats was Frank L. Kramer, of East Orange, winner of 16 consecutive US Titles.  He won most of those titles in Newark.  And the one and only time Kramer won the UCI World Title, he rode to victory on the track in Newark.  And one of the few times Kramer lost a US title, he lost to his good friend and the greatest African-American cyclist of all time.  Equally legendary 'Major' Marshall Taylor beat Kramer at the Vailsberg Velodrome in 1900 (unconfirmed).  And for those that don't know, it is likely that Taylor would have challenged Kramer for many more US Titles hadn't racism made it much more appealing to Taylor to race in Europe and elsewhere abroad.

So here is my simple proposal.  Why not approach Mr. Rechnitz to bring his velodrome to Newark?  His gift could go a lot further in the Brick City than it could in Brooklyn.  It could also be a new focus of community reinvestment and sports culture in Newark.  Despite the plague of doping in the professional sport, bicycle racing is bigger than ever with amateurs.  A velodrome in Newark would bring hundreds if not thousands of cyclists to the city with money in hand.  With Newark's and New Jersey's storied history as the epicenter of bicycle racing during the Golden Age of Bicycling a hundred years ago, Newark is the natural choice for Mr. Rechnitz' velodrome.

Burlington County Bike Plan Project Goes Online

If you live, work or bike in Burlington County then let your voice be heard. The County in cooperation with the Cross County TMA is developing a bicycle master plan that will identify a proposed county bikeway network (on and off road) and will include implementation strategies for planning and funding. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2014 and a website has been created for the plan.

http://driveless.com/BurlingtonCountyBikeplan

Bicyclists boarding the RiverLINE at Beverly Edgewater Park Station

The first two public meetings are scheduled to be held later this month where you can talk to the project team about bicycle corridors, barriers to bicycling and gaps in the existing and proposed county bikeway network:

Thursday, January 24th 4PM-7PM, 
Burlington County Department of Resource Conservation, 
624 Pemberton Browns Mills Road, Pemberton, NJ

Wednesday, January 30th, 4PM-7PM, 
Roebling Museum, 100 Second Avenue Roebling, NJ 
(Adjacent to the Roebling RiverLINE Station)

As a side note, any bridge or engineering fan should check out the Roebling Museum. Although the museum is technically closed until the Spring, you will be able to walk by some of the exhibits to get to the meeting room.

For more informaton on the Burlington County Bicycle Master Plan contact:
Graydon Newman, AICP
newman|AT|driveless.com
856-596-8228

Passed by 6 inches - "Drive fair, Pass Bicyclists With Care"

It's such a real shame but I feel more and more like I'm cycling on borrowed time despite being a highly experienced LCI who rides in near perfect compliance with New Jersey law and doing all that I can to avoid busy, narrow roadways.

I was having an exceptionally great ride in beautiful Hunterdon County, NJ yesterday.  As it was early afternoon on a weekday, traffic was exceptionally sparse making the already lightly traveled country roads in the area all that much more bicycle friendly.

I was heading south on County Rd 579 just north of Ringoes, NJ.  I had just passed County Rd 609 (Rosemont-Ringoes Rd) as a large semi truck heading north was coming towards me.  I could also hear that there was a vehicle coming up from behind.  I held my line riding no more than 2 feet from the white fog line.  Simultaneously as the semi truck passed, the vehicle from behind suddenly overtook me as significant speed.  It was a black mid 1990's Chevy pickup.  I don't know how I wasn't hit by the passenger review mirror as the Chevy passed me by a mere SIX INCHES!!!

I know for sure that it was only 6 inches because I smacked the back of pickup truck as it passed.  Doing so my elbow barely extended before the back of my knuckles hit the sheet-metal of the side of the truck bed.  I also remember my hand never got more than 10 inches away from the outside of my handlebars which also means that the truck must have missed my shoulder by no more than 6 inches.



View Larger Map Site of my near miss on County Rod 579 just north of Ringoes, NJ.

This was by far the closest NEAR MISS I've ever experienced in my 20 years and 50,000 miles of riding. But what is sadder even still was that this was the second of three scary close overtaking maneuvers that I would experience over 2 days of riding.  On Tuesday I was passed dangerously close on Canal Road in Griggstown and later on Thursday I would be passed by about two feet on Amwell Road just west of Neshanic.  In all three situations the driver of the overtaking vehicle decided it was his right to pass despite oncoming traffic making such maneuvers nothing less than reckless.  Also in all three situations, traffic was very light and overtaking drivers could have safely passed me if they only slowed down and waited a few moments.

It is my opinion that dangerous passing maneuvers by overtaking drivers is the most serious threat to experienced cyclist and is something that should be address immediately by those at NJDOT and at the NJ Bike Ped Resource Center.  There is very little that even an experienced cyclist can do and one cannot see the dangerous pass coming.  Yes, as an experienced LCI, I know you could take the lane but that is Russian Roulette of another sort and takes an extremely high level of "fortitude" to stick one's 12mph derriere out in front of 2 tons of 50mph metal traffic.  All that one can realistically do is hope and pray.

So what can be done on the state level? Well here are a two simple suggestions:

• Pass a New Jersey version of Pennsylvania's "4-foot Law" that also clarifies many aspects of how to properly and now legally pass a bicyclist.
• Start a message campaign on NJDOT variable message boards that inform drivers how to safely pass bicyclists in the vein of "Click it or Ticket" or "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaigns.  Something like "Drive fair, Pass Bicyclists With Care."  This would a nearly expense free way of quickly getting the message out.  It should be followed up by a TV and radio PSA campaign by NJ Highway Traffic Safety.

Oh yeah!  Regarding the driver of that six inch passing black Chevy pickup, despite "coming in contact with me" (my hand made a loud notable thud) the driver didn't even slow down.