Thursday, August 25, 2011

City Council Recap: Bike Hoboken Batman, and Robin get Bike Lanes for Hoboken!

Hoboken Batman and Robin before the City Council meeting

Members of Bike Hoboken at City Council meeting

Last night the Hoboken City Council unanimously passed an Ordinance to put more bike lanes in Hoboken. This initiative was supported by Bike Hoboken who had a turnout of about  20 people donning bike helmets as well as superhero support from Batman and Robin.

Here is the announcement from the City of Hoboken as this was an initiative that was supported by the current Administration.

HOBOKEN EMBRACES EXPANDED BIKE LANE NETWORK


Nearly 80% of streets will have bike lane designation


On Wednesday, August 24, the Hoboken City Council unanimously approved the establishment of an additional 10 miles of bike lanes.

"I thank the City Council for their unanimous support, Bike Hoboken for their tireless advocacy, and all the members of the public who turned out to support expanding our bike lane network," said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. "As we establish bike lanes on nearly 80 percent of our streets, we are taking a big leap towards making Hoboken truly bike friendly. By slowing down traffic, bike lanes make streets safer for everyone including drivers and pedestrians, and this lays an even stronger foundation for our ongoing pedestrian safety efforts."


Hoboken currently has a total of 4.5 miles of bike lanes, including 0.34 miles of a Class I lane, 2.1 miles of Class II lanes and 2.1 miles of Class III lanes. Class I lanes are protected bike lanes such as the one on the southern end of Sinatra Drive. Class II lanes are striped bike lanes such as those that currently exist on Grand and Madison Streets. Class III bike lanes are also known as "sharrows," or shared lane markings which are used on streets that are too narrow to accommodate striped bike lanes, such as numbered cross streets.


The ordinance establishes Class II bike lanes on an additional 10 miles of streets including segments of Hudson Street, Garden Street, Park Avenue, Willow Avenue, Clinton Street, Adams Street, Jefferson Street, Monroe Street, Jackson Street, Harrison Street, Newark Street, 2nd Street, and 11th Street.

The City will also be painting an additional 9.7 miles of sharrows on narrower streets that cannot accommodate a striped bike lane. In addition, the City intends to create a two-way protected (Class I) 0.43 mile bike lane along Observer Highway as part of a complete street redesign scheduled for next year.
In total, this will result in almost 25 miles of streets with bike lane designations, or nearly 80% of the 32 street miles in Hoboken.

Brian Wagner speaking at City Council meeting last night
Batman and Robin Celebrate justice and a victory for Hoboken Cyclists!



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