Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects
Safe Routes To School
The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) recently announced that grants totaling $465,600 shall be awarded to four Bergen County communities: Allendale, Garfield, Ridgewood, and Tenafly, as part of its Fiscal Year 2007 Safe Routes to School Program. The program is highly competitive.
This key program provides New Jersey communities with funding for projects that improve pedestrian safety in the vicinity of schools through engineering, education and enforcement. This initiative is part of a national program that was created through the 2005 passage of the SAFETEA-LU legislation by Congress, and is designed as an annual program wherein communities apply to their State Department of Transportation for reimbursable funds to be used for a variety of school-oriented pedestrian safety improvements. This program runs concurrently with the Federal focus on improving safety for all users of our transportation system, as well as communities’ desire to ensure the safety of their schoolchildren.
In November of 2006 the Bergen County Department of Planning and Economic Development held a Safe Routes to School workshop to advise Bergen County municipalities on the program and its application procedures. All 70 Bergen County municipalities were invited. The event was well-attended, with invitees including local mayors, administrators, public safety officers, boards of education representatives, and school officials. The Department plans to host a similar workshop this fall, pending the availability of Safe Routes to School representatives.
A total of $4.15 million was awarded to twenty-nine New Jersey municipalities in sixteen counties. Bergen County communities fared particularly well and were well-positioned to receive funding, with the four grants awarded to Bergen communities representing the largest award to any single county statewide. The NJDOT will open its solicitation for the Fiscal Year 2008 Safe Routes to School program later this year. For more information on the program, please visit: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/community/srts/.
Walkable Community Workshop
In coordination with the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, the Department participated in the Walkable Community Workshop, hosting a half-day primer to help our local jurisdictions to increase safety and walkability for trips to work, school, shopping, and transit. Addressing common problems encountered by pedestrians walking in our towns, the workshop went on to examine potential solutions, including installation of missing sidewalk links, improving traffic signals, and adding new crosswalks, signage, and traffic calming features, as well as non-engineering solutions such as enforcement and educational initiatives. The workshop took the form of a presentation illustrating a variety of pedestrian facilities and classroom education about potential improvements. Following the presentations, workshop instructors led a walking tour of River Street in Hackensack as an example to engage participants in a dialogue based upon field observations of the principles discussed earlier.
Other Initiatives
Bicycle and pedestrian planning are inherent in many other activities of the Department, including site plan and subdivision review and requirements, the Kinderkamack Road corridor study, various community redevelopment planning initiatives, and others.