Do the DVRPC "Bike to Transit Stations" survey

The very nice yet exceptional sheltered bicycle
parking at the Hoboken NJ TRANSIT Station.

If you live in, or travel with your bike in the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) service area, please take a moment to fill out the Bike to Transit Stations survey.  In New Jersey DVRPC services Mercer, Burlington, Gloucester, and Camden counties and this survey is investigating bicycle parking conditions at all rail transit stations in these counties.  These include all RiverLINE and PATCO stations, SEPTA's West Trenton Station, and NJ TRANSIT's Princeton, Princeton Junction, Hamilton, Trenton, Cherry Hill, Lindenwald and Atco Stations.  This is a map based survey.  Simply scroll over to the station or stations that you use, click on the button and give your feedback about the bicycle amenities (or lack there of) at that particular station.

The survey is open until December 1st and when I looked at it today many New Jersey stations had not been surveyed even once.  So if you get board watching football between courses at Thanksgiving dinner, do the survey instead and fill in those blanks!

More about this survey can be found in this write-up by Silva and our friends at the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance.

DVRPC awards vast majority of $5.2 million in trails moneys to PA communities

Much of the following is taken from a recent post from the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia's, Bicycle News.

In late October, the Delaware Valley Region Planning Commission awarded $5.2 million through Phase I of its Regional Trails Program.  This grant program is funded by $10 Million from the William Penn Foundation, and provided money to eighteen projects around the 9 county Delaware Valley region.  However, of those eighteen projects, only two are in New Jersey and account for only $373,000 of the $5.2 million awarded, less than 7.2% of the grant money available.  While this money is available equally to counties and municipalities in both states, the massive bias towards Pennsylvania is because New Jersey communities are simply not applying for the grants.  According to John Boyle of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, "New Jersey communities are failing to come forward and apply for money to build trails in the past few years.  Kudos to Camden County/Coopers Ferry Partnership and Mercer County/Friends of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail for taking the opportunity to expand their trail networks."

These initiatives include both trail design and trail construction in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They extend existing trails, including the Schuylkill River Trail in Phoenixville, the Chester Valley Trail near Exton, and the East Coast Greenway in Tullytown. They connect the existing and planned elements of the regional trail network to neighborhoods through projects like the Baldwin's Run Tributary Trail in Camden and the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail in Lawrence. Finally, these grants support several landmark projects, including the Manayunk Bridge Trail that will provide a cross-river connection between Philadelphia and Lower Merion Township and serve as a destination for bikers and walkers from across the region.

The awards to trail projects include:

• Reading to Hamburg Schuylkill River Trail Gap (Leesport section) – $142,630 (design and construction) – Berks County
• Big Woods/Schuylkill-Hopewell Furnace Trail – $500,000 (construction – Phase 1, survey – Phase 2) – Berks and Chester Counties – Berks County
• Neshaminy Creek Greenway (Phase I) -- $130,148 (construction) – Bucks County
• US Route 13 Crossing – $471,000 (construction) – Bucks County
• Baldwin’s Run Tributary Trail – $150,000 (design) – Camden County
• Chester Valley Trail Phase III – $500,000 (construction) – Chester County
• Phoenixville Schuylkill River Trail Segment – Phase I -- $285,000 (design and construction) – Chester County
• Darby Creek Trail -- $290,000 (construction) – Delaware County
• Lawrence-Hopewell Trail: Lewisville Road Section -- $248,000 (construction) – Mercer County
• Chester Valley Trail Extension – $325,000 (construction) – Montgomery County
• Canal Towpath Spillway Bridge – $170,000 (construction) – Montgomery County
• Tacony Frankford Greenway Trail – $500,000 (construction) – Philadelphia
• Penn Street Trail – $500,000 (design and construction) – Philadelphia
• Schuylkill Crossing at Grays Ferry – $260,000 (preliminary design) – Philadelphia

In addition, the DVRPC Board today approved $125,000 in funding for Camden County’s Kaighn’s Avenue to Route 130 Connector Trail. This project was one of four “early action” projects originally approved for $50,000 of funding in July 2011. The grant has since been revised to $125,000. The other three early action projects were:

• Manayunk Bridge -- $400,000 (design) – Philadelphia
• Spring Garden Street Greenway – $75,000 (design) – Philadelphia
• Schuylkill South -- $165,000 (acquisition for future extension of waterfront trail) – Philadelphia

In mid-December, DVRPC received applications for Phase II of the program, for projects that were seeking planning and feasibility funding. Those awards are expected to be announced in early 2012.

Why are South Jersey towns passing up on possible Bike/Ped monies?

Word is coming in that South Jersey towns are passing up on monies from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) that could be used to plan and design "non-motorized" transportation projects.  The DVRPC which serves Mercer, Burlington, Camden and Glouster Counties in New Jersey (as well as Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania) has a program call Transportation and Community Development Initiative (TCDI) which helps fund the planning and design of local projects that are consistent with regional and state planning objectives.  And according to the DVRPC:

The TCDI program is intended to reverse the trends of disinvestment and decline in many of the region's core cities and older suburbs by:

• Supporting local planning projects that will lead to more residential, employment or retail opportunities;
• Improving the overall character and quality of life within these communities to retain and attract business and residents, which will help to reduce the pressure for further sprawl and expansion into areas without infrastructure in place or planned;
• Enhancing and utilizing the existing transportation infrastructure capacity in these areas to reduce the demands on the region's transportation network; and
• Reducing congestion and improving the transportation system's efficiency.

Unfortunately, the DVRPC had not received enough applicants from New Jersey communities by the original September 1st deadline so the DVRPC has extended the deadline to December 28th.  Hopefully more eligible towns have already heeded the call because there was a mandatory pre-application meeting yesterday.

It's somewhat remarkable that there was a lack of interested municipalities because "planning and design" grants are often harder to come by.  Most grants available to towns are often only available for the construction of projects that are ready to go.

For more information about the TCDI Program see this guide from the DVRPC.

Rt 130 in Burlingon County continues to kill pedestrians

Already labeled one of New Jersey's most deadliest roads for pedestrians by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Route 130 in Burlington County continues to be the sight of many pedestrian crashes including a number of recent fatalities. A Burlington County Times report from October 25th discusses the three latest crashes (two of which were fatalities) that happened on this stretch of roadway just in the past month.

Along theses lines the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia reports about the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's (DVRPC), recent Road Safety Audit for Routes 130 and 206 in the Burlington County region.

A quick review of the Mercer County On-Line Bicycle Map

John at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia reported earlier today that the Mercer County Bike Map produced for the county by DVRPC is now complete.

John reports:

The bike map was created when DVRPC did an initial computer analysis of the roads using a "Bicycle Level of Service Model". It that was then opened to the public, who provided comments and offered changes. More than 100 changes were made to the maps due to the comments.

The use of both Bicycle Level of Service Model which evaluates such things as "traffic volumes, traffic speeds, pavement widths, and whether there is a usable shoulder" and the 100+ comments from local riders has produced a very effective and mostly accurate evaluation of Mercer County's roads for cycling.

A key evaluation factor in the Bicycle Level of Service Model is traffic volumes, something which many other bicycle maps never use in roadway evaluations. It's a real shame that other skip this variable because I consider it to be the most important in evaluating the bikeability of roadways. It's simple really when you think of it. A roadway could be narrow, with no shoulder and have a high speed-limit but those three detriments to bikeability are just about totally negated if cars are only passing by every few minutes or so. Traffic volumes are critical and I think using that variable to evaluate the roadways is what has lead to such a good product here.

However, that's is not to say that I feel this map is perfect. I disagreed with the rating of a dozen or so roads and all of them were considered "major" roads. It is my opinion that a select number of these roads rated as "Unfavorable" are actually "Fair". Still that's not too bad when you consider this map literally evaluates hundreds if not thousands of roads, including most local residential streets too.

Case in point is Washington Ave from Princeton Borough to Princeton Junction, a road that I have ridden many times, even during rush hour. It's quite wide and has a shoulder for much of it (although the shoulder has too much debris and sand in it). I'd give it a "Fair" rating and not the "Unfavorable" rating given. The same goes for Cherry Hill Road on the other side of Princeton Borough. However, don't confuse Cherry Hill Road with Cherry Valley Road which was very appropriately rated at "Unfavorable."

Finally, I think it would be good to indicate which roads and trails are unpaved. This detail can be of great help for those of the skinny tire set. And dirt roads almost always have very little traffic which naturally makes them favorable routes for those riding bikes equipped for such surfaces.

Still, overall this map is a very good product and a job well done. Probably the best county bike map ever produced for a New Jersey County (county governments and TMAs take note!). I'm impressed and it really takes a lot to impress me.

Now all I ask is, "When is the print version coming out?"

http://www.dvrpc.org/asp/bikemercer/

Op-Ed: New Mercer County Bike Map Looking for Comments

First I must say that this map is a great start with wonderful potential. It would be great to have maps such as these for every county in New Jersey.

However, the new Mercer County Bikeability Map, while an "OK" start leaves much to be desired. Too many (but no where near a majority) roadways that are relatively safe to ride on are considered "Unfavorable" while others that I would never ride on (and I'm a very bold and experienced rider) are given "Excellent" ratings. Unfortunately I have personally found this to be an all too common problem with many bicycle suitability maps pubilished for New Jersey counties.

Now admittedly, this is a work in progress with the DVRPC, who put this map together, looking for comments to improve the map. I hope New Jersey cyclists that are familiar with Mercer County's roadways go to town on this map and plaster it full of comments to improve it. It is definately a product that has potential and I support the DVRPC for putting it together.