On November 30th, we reviewed the updated plan by the NJTPA and Hudson County during the webinar. It was revealed that three mayors  (Weehawken, West New York, and North Bergen) and a few Hudson County commissioners reversed course on the original plan we shared with you a year ago, ignoring the community’s interest in having safer streets for all.

This new plan has eliminated all safety measures to support bicycles on this major crash corridor AND now has dangerous angled parking throughout. While we’re disappointed that three Mayors and a few Commissioners are blocking progress, we recognize our large community disagrees, and will continue to press ahead.

Here are the official points from our parent organization, Hudson County Complete Streets sent back to Jose Siera, Director of Traffic and Transportation last week.

• Inappropriate use of federal funds. $19 million in federal funding should be used in equitable matters. A design with angle parking and little to no protection for vulnerable road users is not. 
• The design will make the corridor less safe rather than more safe by introducing angled parking, which despite being NJDOT approved, has been shown to increase the risk of death and injury to pedestrians and cyclists.
• A complete street with multi-use cycle track design would provide safety for all types of active modes of transportation to thousands of people along this corridor of overburdened communities. 
• With more than 700,000 residents, Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the most densely populated state in the nation. Studies show that bike lanes reduce traffic, improve travel times, and make the roads safer for everyone, including drivers. There are 600 miles of roadways maintained by Hudson County, yet less than 0.5 miles of these roads include bike lanes.
• The design increases congestion via the principle of induced demand. Adding parking will add cars, which will decrease safety by creating more opportunities for conflict.
• The design increases liabilities for motorists by forcing them to share the road with cyclists rather than separating the modes.
• A frequent refrain of the USDOT is “roads are for all users.” This corridor is being designed for parked cars, not all road users. 
• Cycling traffic has increased 50% since the pandemic and bike sales are up 121%. At least 30% of Hudson County residents do not own a personal motor vehicle. 
• New Jersey passed a law, which went into effect March 1, 2022, which states that cars must give at least 4 feet of clearance to cyclists on unprotected roads. This increases the need for separated and protected lanes.
• New Jersey traffic fatalities were up nearly 20% from 2020 to 2021 (2020 was already more deadly than 2019). Pedestrians made up 31% and cyclists made up 3.2% of those deaths. 
• In Hudson County, more than 50% of traffic deaths in 2021 were pedestrians and cyclists (16 total). One of these deaths occurred within the JFK Boulevard East Corridor improvement area.  
• The county has failed to meet USDOT guidelines with regard to community involvement on this corridor. The majority of communities served by this corridor are overburdened communities with a high proportion of minority residents and residents with limited English proficiency. 
• There have been no surveys, in-person community meetings, charettes, focus groups, or any other kind of community outreach. Neither the Dec 2021 nor the Dec 2022 public meetings included a Spanish language option. 
• The design fails to respect or comply with the county’s Complete Streets resolution.
• The design fails to address the county’s needs for a north-south protected lane for people on bicycles, ebikes, scooters and other mobility devices.

This is the last public opportunity for us to get this right as a community; please reach out to the following individuals who are responsible for correcting this issue:

At the time of the Weehawken Waterfront Park creation, a state-required Hudson River Walkway was established surrounding the park to connect pedestrians, runners, and bicyclists to Hoboken on the South and West New York to the North. This path has been used for years until the Township of Weehawken installed private gates to the public walkway, citing issues with security to its park.

The Problem

We’ve been made aware of and have confirmed during a recent site visit that the established Hudson River Waterfront Walkway has been blocked by the Township of Weehawken. This ‘pathway for the people’ has established a doctrine that we understand has an enforceable policy to maintain an ‘unrestricted’ walkway along the Hudson River (regardless of nearby construction not impacting the route). This path however was used for years until the Township of Weehawken installed private gates to the public walkway citing issues with security to its own park.

Due to the closed walkway, Hudson County residents are being forced onto a narrow sidewalk along an extremely busy and dangerous sidewalk alongside Port Imperial Boulevard (River Road). When asked why the walkway is closed, the answers continue to be “construction”. However, there was no construction occurring during the time the gates were installed nor any interference to the walkway today, given the proximity to current projects.

The Solution

The concern with the Township of Weehawken has been around security at the Waterfront Park, and unfortunately, the public walkway was integrated alongside it. The fix is to simply install a fence around the park itself, separating it from the waterfront walkway, enabling secure access to the park but unobstructed access to the walkway.

We ask that the Weehawken Township remove both the North and South gates currently blocking access to the recreation path.

Please contact the Weehawken Town Hall.

Address: Weehawken Town Hall, 400 Park Ave, Weehawken, NJ 07086 (201) 319-6005

We had a successful Safer Streets Signup event this past weekend with over a hundred signups in a matter of hours during the two-day event. We were encouraged by the overwhelming show of support in making the necessary changes to our infrastructure to ensure we can enjoy a safer cycling experience without taking on significant risks.

As one of the Hudson Valley’s most recognized waterfronts, residents and neighbors of Weehawken enjoy riding the long stretches along Port Imperial Boulevard, and River Road along the waterfront.  As population and traffic growth increases, risks to cyclists have increased, as our infrastructure has not been adjusted to accommodate this growth. 

We’re excited to engage with our growing community to share more ideas on how we can enhance and protect cyclists so that we can all have a safer cycling experience along the Hudson River.

We’ll leave you with photos from our weekend as inspiration reflecting why community truly matters.

We know that Weehawken has a long history of focus on safety and security since the turn of the century, two areas of focus of our police department.

This rich history of the police department with bicycles, from patrols to safety clinics started with bicycle patrols, and expanded into offering bicycle safety clinics, and even registration for residents, all from the Weehawken Police Department.

In the fifties, there were bike inspections that were conducted to ensure that each resident was following the proper safety protocols.

In the nineties, there were investments in bike patrol squads to the force with fully equipped bicycles. It was Mayor Turner who decided that three mountain bikes would be provided, along with financial support from the Policemen’s Benevolent Association. The bicycle patrols helped cover the King’s Bluff, Shades, and Reservoir area at the time.

We’ll wrap up this historical summary with our favorite quote from Officer Welz.

On a motorcycle you’re going by at 25 miles per hour, in a car the officer is in a shell, but on a bike he can really interface with the community

– Officer Welz

Today, Weehawken continues to support police officers on bicycles and we’re looking forward to sharing more information on this as we fully agree that on a bicycle, one can really interface with the community.

We’ve been excited to see more people bicycling throughout Weehawken, and as such, we ask ourselves when we want to get to where we’re going away from our home, where do we securely lock up our bicycles?

Until we get CitiBike in Weehawken, we’ve recognized that more racks are being installed throughout Weehawken for bicycles from Whole Foods to our new Weehawken Municipal Pool Complex, we believe it’s important for us to have a definitive list and eventually an interactive map so that we can plan our routes to ensure we have a secure place to securely leave our bicycles.

To kickstart this effort, we’ve provided an initial list of bike racks currently installed from the waterfront to the hill.

• Waterfront
  • Port Imperial Ferry Terminal
  
  • Lincoln Harbor Ferry Terminal
  
  • Whole Foods (Parking Garage + Outside)
  
  • Weehawken Municipal Swimming Pool (Inside & Outside)
  
• Hill
  • Weehawken Public Library
  
  • Park Avenue just North of Lidl Grocery Store
  

To make this as comprehensive and complete as possible, we seek your assistance as a community to complete this with us.

In addition, we’d love to know where you think we should have a bike rack where we currently do not have one.

We’re excited as you are that our Weehawken Pool is open for the 2022 summer season. However, access to the pool and to the nearby tennis courts, track, and other recreation facilities continues to be a safety and security challenge for many residents. The most common concerns we hear from residents are that it is unsafe to ride their bicycle to the pool from anywhere in Weehawken and that locking your bike up is not a secure nor accessible experience.

To solve these safety and security issues, we propose 1) installing a protected bike lane along Port Imperial Boulevard (River Road) to alleviate the issue of safety, 2) while also installing multiple bike racks at the immediate entrance to the pool facility to address the issue of security.

For the next steps, please answer our petition to tell us if you support making access to the Weehawken Township Municipal pool safer and more secure for all residents.

I bike and want safer, and more secure access to Weehawken Recreation Facilities by bicycle

I want protected bike lane access to and from Weehawken’s Recreation facilities on the Weehawken waterfront and the ability to secure my bicycle to a bike rack during my visit. 

Having safer access to the facility and security during my visit will enable me to enjoy the pool, tennis courts, track, and other facilities without risking my life or having my bicycle at risk of theft.

I believe that all residents, no matter what form of transportation they choose, should have equitable options and want the Township of Weehawken to take these actions.

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