Ridgewood to alter road fix plan
JUNE 7, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — The Village Council agreed revisions need to be made to a street-improvement project that some residents and business owners have been critical of in recent weeks.
Although it may cost Ridgewood an extra $45,000 in capital funding, the governing body on Wednesday night accepted project modifications recommended by Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld.
The council will vote on the changes Wednesday.
The $500,000 project was the subject of a recent meeting between Ridgewood officials and residents of the neighborhood where the work is taking place.
Residents have opposed the project, saying it will create traffic snarls and endanger bicyclists.
Under the original plan, bike lanes as well as an 8-foot-wide, tree-lined median would be installed, swallowing up two traffic lanes where four currently exist.
Village officials maintained the work, as first planned, would improve safety for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians around Garber Square, as well as along Franklin Avenue and Broad Street. The project is expected to be completed in July.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-to-alter-road-fix-plan-1.1031128#sthash.ZgpIQhdm.dpuf
If they are going to waste $45,000 ripping out the just-poured curbing for the median, not installing the $5,000 worth of trees and $20,000 sprinkler system, and start over, why make it 4 feet wide?
We have always needed MORE width, not less. Before, it was 3.5 feet. Forget about “traffic calming”–we need 2 lanes, period, and making them too narrow is NOT the answer to anything.
Village Manager was concerned about cars jumping the median and hitting a bicyclist–have never seen that in 40 years. The difference between 3 feet and 8 feet to a moving, out-of-control car is zero.
Why not just make the median NARROWER and HIGHER, preferably with some material that allows light through, such as stone or brick?
Better, how about ONE foot wide and a foot or more high? Really think about it–actually DESIGN it. A lot of people are going to be looking at it and driving around it for a long time.
More space between bikes and cars would only be a good thing. And when they repaint it for two lanes in each direction, they’d have accommodated the trucks, ambulances, fire trucks, and supersize vans that zip through there constantly and might otherwise clip the cars and bicyclists.
Bike lanes are great on a straightaway but on a 90-degree curve with walls on both sides and in the middle, NO.
Are they going to rush to make the changes on Wednesday or have the public meeting urged by the League of Women Voters to enable more people to comment?
The “improved” width of 4 feet is too wide.
Looks nice and clear in June but just wait until the first heavy snow. Plows cannot remove every smidgen of snow and ice and it can take a while for it to melt or be flattened by cars.