Jersey City street safety advocates urged the city council to make a Heights bike lane permanent before six-figure state grant expires during the public portion of Wednesday’s meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“Permanently implement the Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street demonstration project before the impending expiration of the $670,000 New Jersey Department of Transportation bike way grants,” asserted resident Danielle Dadamo.
“It is a critical east-west corridor that connects our community’s high injury areas, links our parks, provides safer routes for our children. It’s about safety and accessibility and the quality of life for all residents. This project will calm traffic and make every intersection safer.”
Dadamo further argued it could connect to the Hudson Essex Greenway plan and reduce traffic deaths, which is the main objective of the city’s Vision Zero efforts.
She also noted that there have been 11 car crashes recorded in this intersections, seven of which involved either pedestrians and cyclists, claiming they were all preventable.
“This protected bike lane and the network has allowed my family to reduce the number of cars in our household from two to one,” stated Hudson County Complete Streets Executive Director Emmanuelle Morgen.
Morgan argued biking reduces traffic and it’s more affordable, as well as exclaiming that 40 percent of Jersey City households do not have access to a car.
She further stated that it’s dangerous to bike in the portions of the city that don’t have lanes, recalling that a friend was hit while riding on Central Avenue in 2021 and needed 19 surgeries as a result.
“People walking and biking have been slowly, over time have been de-prioritized and devalued in this country, and now we have reached all-time highs in traffic deaths and roadway spending,” Morgen declared to applause.
Daniel Bogre Udell said that the bike lane is frequently used, well liked, and has reduced crashes.
“If we can put a man on the moon, we can build a bike lane. Keep my family safe. Give us the freedom to use the roads our taxes paid for whether or not we own a car,” he said, urging Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh to support this endeavor.
Hudson County Complete Streets Trustee Beatriz Bofill said 325 people signed their pro-bike lane petition and that many others wanted to come out and express their support, but had work and/or family obligations that prevented them from doing so.
“New Jersey said we need a thousand more miles of protected bike lanes, and I agree and we got this grant. Let’s use it. Please do the right thing.”
She also argued that hundreds of delivery workers who bike would also benefit from more bike lanes.
“Biking is the main way I get to and from work. Most of the time, when there is no bike lane my life is constantly at threat,” began Diego Guedez.
“I have constantly have cars honking at me for just existing on the road and cutting me off. If I go on the sidewalk, I am then threatening pedestrians.”
Furthermore, Bike JC President Ayla Schermer said the council has received more than 600 letters in favor of the Heights bike lane.
“This bike lane should be restored before the approaching deadline of the NJDOT bikeway grant. Allowing Jersey City to lose $670,000 in state funding for badly needed infrastructure would be a shameful waste.”
Manhattan Ave and Franklin Ave are not the place for a bike lane. The Freire dept and police dept have said that is is a dangerous plan. It will slow down response time.
The police and fire department are not transportation planners, have shared no evidence of reduced response times, and are not qualified to dictate roadway configurations. The police have not enforced traffic laws for years, allowing increasingly dangerous driving to proliferate in Jersey City. Maybe they should focus on law enforcement for a change.
Manhattan Avenue is a main thoroughfare for cars from Tonnele all the way up to Central. The only other way back down is Sherman Place or Howie Fink Way between the park and the reservoir. Sherman place doesn’t go even go all the way down to JFK. And the Howie Fink intersection at summit is already dangerous. You would need lights at summit for both ways down from central – all to accommodate a bike lane which was hardly used during the test. Why not put a bike lane on bowers? It runs right through the center of the heights and is wide enough to accommodate a two way bike lane if you make it a one way from Palisade all the way to JFK
Every road in the heights is a car thoroughfare and there is no safe place for other road users. The best way to reduce congestion in the area is to provide safe, reliable alternatives to driving.
The reason Manhattan avenue was selected was to provide future connectivity to the Hudson-Essex Greenway. Bowers St would be less conducive towards this.
Suggesting that this bike lane is not valuable based on usage during the test is disingenuous because it was isolated from the rest of Jersey City’s bike lane network. Over time, this section could be a key link between the Greenway and Jersey City’s network of bike lanes.