After years of lamenting New Jersey dubious distinction of being in an ever shrinking group of states without a Bicycle Friendly Community (1 & 2), West Windsor, Mercer County is now New Jersey's first and only Bicycle Friendly Community at the Bronze Level as awarded by the League of American Bicyclists.
Clearly, the main reason behind West Windsor's award rests on the tireless efforts of the West Windsor Bicycle & Pedestrian Alliance. I've long lauded their superb advocacy efforts. And even though they are busy celebrating their well earned award, that did stop them from their work. Just a day before announcing their BFC award, they were busy demanding (and helping) Mercer County design a more appropriate and "complete" Route 571. This reality just goes to show how much further even New Jersey's first BFC and the rest of us really need to go.
All (two) of us at WalkBikeJersey, salute West Windsor and the WWBPA for there Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly Community Award.
This year, around $700 million of Federal transportation funds, which in reality is less than 2 percent of total transportation dollars, will be spent on bicycling and walking. In 2012 that figure might be a big fat zero.
We expect that in the next few days, Senator Coburn (R-OK) will ask Congress to eliminate the federal Transportation Enhancements program – the primary funding source for the past 20 years for bike lanes, trails, bike racks on buses, bike education etc. This isn’t safe or smart; it’s not good for the economy or the environment; this is bad health policy and bad transportation policy. But they are going to try because they don’t think bicycling matters.
Even though bicycling projects create more jobs per dollar than highway-only projects and cutting enhancements won’t impact the deficit – the money just won’t be spent on bicycling – some Members of Congress want to force us backwards to a 1950s highway-only mindset: as if oil embargoes, congestion, smog, the obesity epidemic and climate change never happened.
Now is the time to Save Cycling, so we are asking you to contact your Senators and urge them to support continued funding for biking and walking. Don’t let them take away this vital investment program for smart, sustainable, safe transportation choices.
As we mentioned in our August 29th post NJ TRANSIT has banned the boarding and deboarding of bicycles at low platform rail stations. You can take action by sending this letter to James Simpson, Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Transportation and Chairman of NJ TRANSIT. We encourage you to add your own personal comments.
Scroll right to view the letter or click here to view the web page in its own tab. This new policy change cuts off access to more than half of NJ TRANSIT’s heavy commuter rail stations including the critically important Hoboken Terminal. On some NJ TRANSIT Train lines, the lack of high level platform stations in conjunction with this new policy effectively creates a ban of bicycles from those NJ TRANSIT lines. On the Montclair/Boonton Line only 15 of 28 stations have high level platform stations. On the Pascack Valley Line it’s only 6 of the 18. 8 of 26 on the Gladstone. 6 of 19 on the Raritan Valley and 5 of the 21 stations on the Main/Bergen Line.
Other popular and populous locations are affected. Bound Brook near the Delaware and Raritan Canal, Convent Station on a popular rail trail. Ditto for Belmar, Manasquan, Perth Amboy, Clifton, Suffern and 4 stations in Montclair.
As part of my work with the East Coast Greenway Alliance I spent some of my time last week inspecting the flood damage wrought by Hurricane Irene here in the New Brunswick area. While the stretch that goes through Johnsons Park in Piscataway and Highland Park escaped relatively unscathed, the Delaware & Raritan Canal Towpath section just outside of New Brunswick suffered sever damage.
For much of its length the D&R Towpath lies in the flood plan of both the Raritan and Millstone Rivers leaving it highly susceptible to flood damage. Unfortunately with record setting rains and high winds from Irene, it is no surprise that the damage was really bad on the section between Landing Lane in New Brunswick to Easton Ave at South Bound Brook. This six mile section of the trail was barely passable last week. What normally takes me less than half an hour to ride took me over two hours due to numerous blow-downs and sever scouring and erosion of the once smooth trail surface. It's safe to say that this section of the Towpath and East Coast Greenway is closed for the foreseeable future.
One of the more imposing blow-downs made more interesting by the poison ivy covering the blown down tree trunks.
The once beautiful and smooth red shale installed and reported about here last year was almost entirely swept away. The erosion was so bad in places that the levee that the trail travels over was almost breached in about 6 different locations, nearly causing the canal to spill into the river. The levee is clearly structurally unsound in these locations and the trail unsafe.
September 2010.
This same exact section August 31st 2011.
Just one example of the severe erosion that nearly breached the canal, almost sending its waters into the Raritan
Finally the bridge that provides access to the towpath and ECG at Demott Lane was washed into the canal leaving no access at this point. This never happened before with any of the previous flooding events over the past 20 years and is an indication of how bad the flooding was with Hurricane Irene.
Only the bridge footings remain at the Demott Lane trail access. The bridge itself can be seen in the background.
Damage to the D&R towpath extends well beyond just this section. It is safe to say that just about every yard of the towpath from New Brunswick to Trenton has been negatively impacted by the flooding even though it may still be open and passable. With that in mind, DO NOT expect the open sections of the trail to be as easy going as they were before Irene.
For more information about the D&R Towpath see the NJ Division of Parks and Forestry Website. For the complete photo survey of the damage along the East Coast Greenway in Johnsons Park and D&R Towpath, see the slide show below.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has completed a bridge over the tidal Delaware and Raritan Canal in Hamilton Township. This along with a short extension of the trail completes the canal towpath trail from Canal Blvd in Trenton to 2nd St in Bordentown.
The completion of the project came as a total surprise to this author. Since 2008 plans have been set to connect the towpath with the RiverLINE bridge over the Crosswicks Creek (which serves as the border between Burlington and Mercer Counties). The usual environmental and bidding issues set the project back and it was impossible to nail down a completion date. We found out the hard way, by spotting the trail while glancing out the train window
The D and R canal is a major component of the Delaware River Heritage Trail which will be the NJ twin of the East Coast Greenway running from Calhoun St Bridge in Trenton to the Ben Franklin Bridge. Burlington County has let a contract to do on street road markings and signage between Bordentown and Fieldsboro. The work will also include a new trailhead at the Bordentown Boat Launch. Meanwhile planning continues for the next phase from Route 130 near Fieldsboro to the waterfront park in Burlington City.
The Bloustein School is located a short walk from the New Brunswick rail station and encourages all to use public transportation to reach the school. Due to a change in policy earlier this year, the NBPA will no longer accommodate parking reserved in the building. If you do drive, public parking is available for a nominal fee at several facilities located close to the building. For more information, see: http://www.njnbpa.org/parking-locator.
We hope to see you at the meeting. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Thank you
To see the meeting agenda...
10:00 – 10:10 I. Welcome and Introductions – Charles Brown
10:10 – 10:25 I. Complete Streets in New Jersey: Lessons Learned Graydon Newman, Cross County Connection TMA
10:25 – 10:40 I. Subcommittee Updates – Charles Brown i. Legislative subcommittee – Karen Jenkins ii. Safety & Education subcommittee – Tiffany Robinson iii. Design subcommittee – Denise Chaplick
10:40 – 11:15 I. Camden’s CYCLE Program AJ Jensen, Cooper’s Ferry Development Association, Inc.
11:15 – 12:00 I. Briefing: New Jersey Walks and Bikes Blog Overview Jim Van Schoick II. Safe Routes to School Update Maeve Johnston III. Briefing: “For the Good of New Jersey” Charles Brown / Jim Van Schoick IV. Open floor / discussion period / 2 minute updates V. Final Remarks
Record setting flooding of the Raritan and Millstone Rivers in NJ has undoubtedly left 20 miles of the D&R Canal impassible from Landing Lane in New Brunswick to Rt 27 in Kingston. Be prepared to use on-road alternatives until further notice, even after the flooding recedes, as damage to the unpaved trail is likely to be extensive. You can check out the East Coast Greenway Alliance Facebook page for updates.
Also, the canal towpath along the feeder canal that runs along the Delaware River from Trenton to Millford is also likely underwater in places. Luckily, it seems that the flooding on the Delaware was not as bad as forecast by the USGS.
