photo by Boyd Loving
July 3,2017
by Boyd Loving
Ridgewood NJ, Bike Lane Update: The Ridgewood Police Department (RPD) has recommended converting a significant portion of the two (2) dedicated (green paint) bike lanes connecting the intersection of North Broad Street and Franklin Avenue with the intersection of Garber Square and West Ridgewood Avenue to “shared use” lanes (no green paint). This would permit motor vehicle traffic to use space now reserved only for bicyclists. The recommendation came in the form of a presentation delivered by RPD Patrol Supervisor John Chuck and Patrol Officer Raymond Tarino during a Village Council Work Session held on Wednesday, June 28.
Specifically, the police department suggests that the westbound “shared use” lane begin shortly after vehicles round the bend prior to the Pease Library’s northern most property line, and the eastbound “shared use” lane begin just after vehicles round the bend prior to going under the train trestle. Supervisor Chuck and Officer Tarino believe that traffic backups would be significantly decreased if this plan were implemented as two (2) to three (3) additional passenger vehicles could be added into the turning que.
No action/decision regarding the matter was reached by Council Members following the presentation.
No duh
No duh…
ditto-duhhhhh
Thank you Boyd for updating us on this. What a freaking fiasco from the start, Pucciarelli was so hot for this stupid plan, Roberta too.
Thank God.
Some mistakes are easily corrected.
Others, like Garagzilla are not so easy to correct.
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Think about it VC…
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From day one of the announcement it was clear that this would have to be reversed, and the sooner, the better. But Aronsohn’s construction union friends will not be sad to be doing it all over again.
The passing of the infamous bike path should be a cautionary and oft-repeated tale.
The bike path is a prime example of why Aronson dragged us down into the place where we are now. He wanted to “improve” the Village to suit his own myopic view of what a modern day town should look like. He neither sought nor obtained consensus, merely a chorus of well meaning but unbalanced followers who likened what Aronson was doing to the Seventeen Century rebuilding of France.
Don’t get me wrong, bike paths and accessibility are great ideas, but when you build a bike path, you should base it on the needs of the bike rider, not simply the whimsical fancy of a transient politician. When you do the former and not the latter, you end up exactly as we have ended up with a path to nowhere.
As someone observed, the bike path fiasco will be repaired.. The cost of this boon google is the hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax money spent on the project, the hundreds of hours of school and work commuters’ time spent on the Ridgewood avenue back ups, and the constant risk to public health and safety.
On the other hand, Aronson’s other pet projects inflict injury that might never be repaired.
Now, we face the same ills presented by the mutti-family apartment projects pushed through by Aronson. The addition of hundreds of new families downtown concentrated on two streets running along the train tracks and the train station, will increase our tax burden, strain our administrative resources and risk the health and safety of our school children and elderly pedestrians. All to satisfy the whims of a wanna-be politician and the motives of profit-driven developers. As with the bike path, we have the toxic blend of poor planning and mis-guided intentions. Sadly, the monstrosities about to be built will not be fixed as easily as a bike path.
The garage under consideration by the present council is similarly ill-advised , No one has really articulated why we need it, other than to whine about the need to drive around looking for a weekend space or to spout the fantasy that a parking garage will “save” our downtown. Yet, the current council seems inclined to go build for building sake – – exactly the same approach taken by the prior Council..
I’m glad this is getting fixed.
Only 58 days left this summer to re-pave roads like North Pleasant, Fairway, Brookside, etc.
Everyone drives on it now anyway.
to 9,36, who are his union pal’s. I did not know this.
Donations to political campaigns are public information. Check out the list of donors to his many political campaigns. Construction unions from all over the state funded him the last time he ran for village council. Had never seen such a thing in Ridgewood.
Where are the defenders?
Roberta’s mouth to my ear. “My daughter is terrified to drive on the two lane road because of the curve in the road.”