December 9,2016
by Boyd A. Loving
Ridgewood NJ, Acting Village Manager Heather Mailander has announced that the portion of Glenwood Road between Upper Boulevard and the Ho-Ho-Kus train station will be designated one-way eastbound (i.e., all motor vehicle traffic down hill only; no motor vehicle traffic will be permitted to travel from the Ho-Ho-Kus train station up hill) sometime within the coming year.
This change is being mandated by the NJ Department of Transportation (NJDOT) because tractor trailers, buses, and other larger motor vehicles attempting to travel westbound on Glenwood Road from Ho-Ho-Kus are continuing to create hazardous conditions at the grade level railroad crossing just north of the Ho-Ho-Kus train station.
NJDOT gave the Village two (2) options; ban motor vehicle traffic completely between Upper Boulevard and the Ho-Ho-Kus train station, or keep the route open to eastbound traffic only. Village officials chose the later option.
The one-way change will be implemented shortly after the grade crossing itself is rehabilitated, which is scheduled to happen sometime in 2017.
Let’s not forget to thank njtransit for the Glen ave pseg debacle. I’m told that they refused to allow pseg to excavate under the Glen AV trestle for the new gas mains. This required the contractor to “sleeve” the pipes in that area, adding to cost, and creating the delay ….which means no paving until spring.
If njtransit was so concerned about safety they might do a better job running trains on the tracks instead of running off the end of the tracks in Hoboken …and comply with the ntsb suggestions which would have prevented the most recent tragedy there.
How about just banning commercial traffic and other trucks and busses? What a royal PITA. Villagers in the affected residential neighborhoods north of West Glen Avenue between North Monroe and the railroad tracks are getting the shaft with this change. That’s a hell of a lot of people and houses.
Morons. Ban commercial traffic first then see if there are problems. Take away the trucks of a couple of these fools who try to drive up Goat Hill and you won’t have any more issues once the word gets out. Now we will get more Glen road traffic.
idiotic knee jerk reaction ! who did the traffic study ??!! The problem was temporary due to the never ending PSE& G has line project. Also I’m pretty sure there are vehicle load limit signs although not well placed at least on the Ho-Ho-Kus signs which should be enforced!!’ Size, weight and vehicle classes should be restricted not a ONE WAY !!! Who made this decision, how was it supported and what is the process for approving??
Aren’t there any better solution than to making it one way or closing the street completely? That seems a bit extreme. Does anyone hear the residents in these matters?
Who will deal with the additional traffic on Glen and Maple? At the least the traffic lights at the Glen/Maple and Maple/Hollywood need reworking.
I see their point in doing this – many times the cars going uphill will stop on the tracks waiting for the cars going downhill to clear. This is due to the stupid driver at the front of the line who does not realize that uphill traffic has right of way and people behind him are waiting on the tracks.
Total knee jerk reaction to a much more serious problem that should have residents involved in the solution.
Clearly, the proper solutions to this issue are to: 1) re-engineer the roadway in Ho-Ho-Kus that leads up to the tracks so as to prevent large/long vehicles from even making it that far (the tracks) and 2) add more signage (including an illuminated sign) to warn tractor trailers, buses, and other large vehicles of the restrictions.
They should close it completely! Maybe then the engineers will stop whistling Dixie on the train’s horns at all hours of the night!!
At least now there won’t be a bunch of idiots stoppped on the tracks when there are Cars coming down.
That whole crossing is a mess.
Businesses in Hohokus will suffer if this connection between them and so many affluent Ridgewood residents is degraded or eliminated. Transit’s decree must be challenged somehow.
Did they take into consideration the commuters that live in the Willard area? More people go down into hohokus than come up from hohokus. Just another change being done without asking for input from the people who will actually be affected by the change!! Similar to placing a business in habernickel park without asking neighbors how the impact will affect their quality of life or trying to place a baseball field in people’s front yard. I wish everyone would just take a minute to think of others and how major change does impact people’s daily lives. If rules were followed and enforced by Ridgewood for Glenwood rd trucks and busses would not try to use it. Maybe Ridgewood should start with small change like signage and enforcement rather than being so drastic with the changes they are making all over town. It may be harder and take more effort but it would be kinder.
We can blame GPS systems for directing traffic that direction only to find out at the last minute that they cannot get up or down the hill. This problem didn’t exist years ago!
The solution is to build a massive parking garage that straddles the tracks there with the trains zooming under it.
liking the “Parking Garage”
over the RR- one way in-one way out.
Agree whole-heartedly with Ms. Aktar’s observation. Like many local residents I have negotiated that hill in both directions having lived in Ridgewood since 1950 and having had a driver’s license since 1959. It has been only in recent years that I have observed on too many occasions trucks attempting the ascent and creating a hazard by blocking the tracks and/or the passage of other vehicles. Some commercial vehicles, particularly landscape contracting vehicles with trailers, manage it but not without risk.
It’s a fair assumption that the widespread use of GPS devices are indeed the source of the problem, particularly in the case of those drivers unfamiliar with the area who get the impression that there is a more direct route to their destination. One would think that the NJDOT would have a more imaginative solution to the problem than those suggested. More emphatic signage on the Ho-Ho-Kus side of the tracks demonstrating the steep and tortuous nature of the roadway would be a start. Even a low clearance sign – albeit fictional – or even a height barrier at the foot of the hill would suffice to discourage truck traffic of a size unable to start up the hill.
Agree whole-heartedly with Ms. Aktar’s observation. Like many local residents I have negotiated that hill in both directions having lived in Ridgewood since 1950 and having had a driver’s license since 1959. It has been only in recent years that I have observed on too many occasions trucks attempting the ascent and creating a hazard by blocking the tracks and/or the passage of other vehicles. Some commercial vehicles, particularly landscape contracting vehicles with trailers, manage it but not without risk.
It’s a fair assumption that the widespread use of GPS devices are indeed the source of the problem, particularly in the case of those drivers unfamiliar with the area who get the impression that there is a more direct route to their destination. One would think that the NJDOT would have a more imaginative solution to the problem than those suggested. More emphatic signage on the Ho-Ho-Kus side of the tracks demonstrating the steep and tortuous nature of the roadway would be a start. Even a low clearance sign – albeit fictional – or even a height barrier at the foot of the hill would suffice to discourage truck traffic of a size unable to start up the hill.
oh my gosh—this is going to take some getting use to.First discovered this amazing short-cut about 2 months after moving to Willard neighborhood back in Spring of 1989.
A new friend and neighbor told me her husband,who rode his bike up and down the hill to the train station,called it “suicide hill”.Did not dare have the kids in the car the first several times using it and seriously told myself at that time, I would never take that route with anyone else in my car. I also thought that even though the short cut was amazing, it was not worth the life of my husband , so I would not tell him about it or anyone else.Back then,I drove a Chevy Caprice Classic,then a Suburban,even a stick-shift Peugeot .Became second nature to take that hill into and out of Hohokus for the next 28 years (switched to an automatic minivan because of that hill) and I did tell my husband. All 4 of our children negotiate its ups and downs with ease . But it is dangerous (as my 92 year old mother reminds me each time she’s in the passenger seat while I’m carefully negotiating the hill which I still refer to as “suicide hill”.And pride does go before a fall. Once I stupidly went up the hill and when half way up started to slide just at the sharp curve. Terrified that the car was going to slide back down because there was ice and the car I was driving was a 4 wheel drive which I was not confident could muscle its way up past that curve(stupid inexperience) and with those train tracks just below, I put my emergency brake on and asked a commuter walking down the steps beside me if they could call the Hohokus Police to get me back down that hill safely. And thank God a Hohokus police officer was there in a flash. So he very carefully guided me safely back down that hill for which I will be forever grateful.Obviously , should never have been on that hill with snow beginning to fall. Since I had been down it with no problem a short time earlier , foolishly assumed going back up would be fine. Well, going up (and let’s not forget the train tracks below) is very different.Negotiating that hill is challenging in both directions and in bad weather it is down right foolish to take that road.Even when the weather is perfect as it has been lately, I’ve encountered cars lined up in both directions,waiting for a frightened driver at the bottom of the hill to decide if they can make it up past the cars ahead which are on their way down.In all these years, I have never seen a lawn service truck or bus on this hill. Agree that G.P.S. is the cause. Can’t imagine anyone trying it more than once.or even making it up while hauling a trailer. Making the road one-way could hurt business in Hohokus which would be a shame because each one is a true gem.Taking this short cut has become a habit.Have often thought how lucky that the state has not closed it to motor vehicles.So it took the closing of Glen Ave. and the long lines of cars piling up along Suicide Hill to clue them into its inherent danger.The change to one way would appear to be a safe compromise. However it could become more dangerous as a one way path because now drivers coming down the hill will be less cautious when coming round the sharp curve, confident that there will be no car coming from the opposite direction. This is a complex decision because the consequences with respect to safety are enormous.The impact on convenience much less. Appreciate that NJDOT left the final decision to the two towns but I am not convinced that the option they chose is the safest.Perhaps it would be much safer for everyone (:walkers,children and drivers) to close suicide hill to all motor vehicle travel.Really loathe coming to that decision for myself because now I’m going to have to take the long way around in both directions (and honestly I will miss that certain thrill navigating both up and down suicide hill while behind the wheel).If the road were to remain as it is now open in both directions to cars then I do believe the suggestion given in the previous comment to post clear warning signs along the approach to the train tracks is a very good one (everything stated in the comment is needed such as nature of dangerous path ahead– some visual, accurate depiction of the risks involved before beginning the assent and before crossing the train track).Perhaps it is also important to post such signs at the top of the hill for drivers traveling downhill into Hohokus.This is complex because as everyone who uses this short cut knows, suicide hill is extremely dangerous for everyone on it. We are accustomed to both its danger and convenience. Because we cherish that convenience as well as our lives and the lives of everyone else on it, we use it with great caution.With G.P.S. guiding new fellow travelers for the first time either up or down this precious short cut, everyone’s life is now at increased risk.Walking into Hohokus is always the best path if one has the time.Without cars that path is much safer for all those walking both to and from the train.
Fcuk NJDOT. Passenger cars only. No busses,trucks, commercial vehicles, trailers, etc. Plain dumb
Why make it one way? Close the hillto commercial traffic, and vehicles with trailers. Do away with the stairs, widen the road, and have an elevated walkway above the road, and continue it over the tracks and have stairs on both sides of the tracks, so no pedestrians have to cross the tracks at ground level. Ridgewood spends $1,000,000+ on their fireworks, I think they can afford to properly take care of this.