Hoboken Bicycle Plan proposal
About 20 community members came out to the Multi-Service Center tonight for the Parking & Transportation subcommittee bicycle plan meeting. Traffic engineer Ian Sacs gave a presentation for a comprehensive bicycle plan for the city that would include bike lanes, bike parking, traffic enforcement, safety and public awareness components.
Below is a draft version of the proposed layout of bike lanes and bike racks. 
Only Class II and III bicycle lanes are proposed, meaning only some paint will be needed to make the adjustments. Class II lanes where a strip of paint is used to delineate a lane for bikes on the left hand side of the road are proposed on wider streets including Madison St, Grand St, Sinatra Dr and northern portions of Park Ave and Garden St. The left hand side is preferred because it is safer for bicyclists since parked driver side car doors are 3 times more likely to open than passenger side doors. For more narrow roads, class III lanes would be used where “sharrows” (see image on right) would remind drivers that the road is to be shared with bicycle riders.
Although bicyclists have the same right to the road as cars, the plan creates a grid of designated bike routes designed to raise awareness of drivers, thus creating a safer environment for both bike riders and drivers. Park Ave and Madison St are designated routes running north from Observer Highway to 15th St while Grand St and Garden St run parallel in the south-bound direction. East-west bike corridors conecting to the light rail stops are proposed at 3rd & 4th and 8th & 9th along with another pair at 12th & 13th.
Since part of the purpose is to encourage more people to bike within Hoboken, more heavily trafficked roads like Washington St or Observer Hwy were not included in the proposal. Bike racks are also proposed all along Washington St, 1st Ave, at the PATH and Light Rail stops at 2nd and 9th streets. A draft of the proposal is below.
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| Draft Hoboken Bicycle Plan by Ian Sacs & Jacob Mason (click for larger version) |
While I like cycling, I think that trying to fit bike lanes in the crowded streets of Hoboken where cars ignore stop signs, don’t yield etc is a horrible idea. Pedestrians who are walking don’t feel safe, so encouraging people to bike is a recipe for disaster. One week cannot go by without a car coming within a foot of me as I am legally crossing the street. Furthermore, Madison Street in particular, has alot of double parking between about 3rd and 6th which makes it difficult for cars to weave by never mind cyclists. In addition, 9th street is narrow in areas and only a car can fit. Finally, the police barely ticket cars that ignore stop and yield signs. So why put more people at risk encouraging them to bike in Hoboken.
Comment by Karen R on June 26, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Bike lanes will *improve* safety.
Painting bike lanes will narrow the perceived width of the road for cars and studies have shown that that will passively lead them to drive at slower speeds. Pedestrian fatalities are much less likely at slower speeds, and since cyclists already have the same rights and responsibilities on the road as drivers do, the slower speeds will create a safer environment not only for cyclists but for pedestrians as well.
Comment by Juan on June 26, 2008 at 7:55 pm
The bicycle plan looks GREAT! plenty of flow in all directions. Remember that we (bicyclists) MUST obey the rules of the road if we want to be respected as users of the road. The more bicyclists and walkers that use the roads, the more visable we will become and the better to be respected as bonefied users of the road.
I walk the walk! I ride to work 7 miles each day and stop at red lights, slow down and look before proceeding at stop signs, and slow down to the posted speed limit when I have to.
Act like a vehicle on the road and you will be respected as one.
Just watch out for those that have no respect for anyone!
Comment by Mike Kruimer on June 27, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I think it is a stupid idea. Have you noticed how hard it is to enforce people from double parking their cars in this town? There is no room in this town as it is for delivery trucks to drive through let alone make a path for bikes. It sounds like it would be nice but lets get real. This town is a 5lb bag with 50lb of crap in it, there is just not room.
Comment by Jack Gas on June 28, 2008 at 10:43 am
“Jack” - You don’t have to look very far to find a counter-example to your assertion that “there is just not room”. New York City has much more traffic than Hoboken, yet they’re making it work. There are many, many other similar examples.
Comment by Juan on June 28, 2008 at 11:18 am
It’s an excellent proposal, but it must be accompanied by traffic/parking enforcement. None of this will work in Hoboken unless enforcement of parking actually takes place in Hoboken. Which, unfortunately, by all indications looks like it will never happen. Most importantly is vehicles parked too close to the curb. There does not exist clear markings on Hoboken street corners. You have yellow painted curbs and typically two additional white spray painted lines. How do drivers no what is the actual proper distance from the curb. First, we need clear curb lines, not little white spray pained lines in the middle of yellow painted curb. Next, you need enforcement of these areas. Vehicles, pedestrians and bycyclists are all presented with the same problem. We all have to creep out to a dangerous exposed position in order to identify on-coming traffic. In my vehicle I cannot see the cross street traffic if I stay behind the cross walk. I have to creep up to a position where I am blocking the cross-walk to see, which makes it dangerous for everyone else. Next is the enforcement of double parking. Let’s be completely honest here; it’s selective enforcement. Social clubs do not have to obey such laws. If residents take the initiative and call the parking utility or police they ask if you are personally blocked in. If not, there is no response. As an earlier post described, it is too dangerous to bike on the back streets such as Madison if double parking is not enforced.
Comment by Jason on June 29, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I’m not super familiar with Hoboken but I do find it interesting that Washington St is not designated to get a bike lane but will get a little more than half of the new bike racks. This leads me to assume that this is the main commercial strip in town. So how are cyclists supposed to get to these racks to go do there shopping? Teleportation?
Hopefully the success of this program once it is initiated will force the city to correct this.
Comment by Andy B from Jersey on June 30, 2008 at 3:47 pm
great 1st step! any doubters should look at the successes they have had in Seattle and San Francisco. Some people can’t fathom why change would be good until they actually do change… then they can’t figure out why they waited so long. It’s like when children discover that peas actually are not so bad!
-S
Comment by sasquatch on July 8, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i love this plan if hoboken can really make it work. i just started biking to the path station from 14th street and while riding on hudson is nice in the morning riding back has been a challenge on any road. i don’t understand why the city wouldn’t enforce stricter traffic controls, more tickets = more revenue. i think part of making hoboken even more livable would be to remove as much street parking as possible by investing in underground municipal parking and requiring all new construction to build parking into the building and allowing a portion of it for municipal parking. i wouldn’t mind paying more for a parking permit if i knew i had a guaranteed spot in a garage that didn’t cost as much as my rent. great first step tho. lets see how long this actually takes now.
Comment by john on July 11, 2008 at 10:39 am