Almost everyone who has chimed into the conversation about how to redesign Washington Street, whether they’ve focused on maintaining space to double park or advocating bike lanes, agrees with the need to repave.
At this past week’s council meeting, the City Council unanimously (9-0) voted to approve a $12 million bond to mill, repave, and rehabilitate the thoroughfare, which is riddled with potholes and utility work patches. The work will begin in the fall and be completed by the summer of 2017, according to city officials.
The money is mainly for the repaving in conjunction with the Washington Street Redesign Plan passed in February.
The redesign plan initially drew ire from business owners and some residents who feared new “protected bike lanes” (between parked cars and the curb) on Washington Street would lessen the driving space in the city’s main street, deter temporary double-parking, and hinder emergency vehicle response times. On the other hand, cyclists and other residents championed the change and said it helped commuters in all forms.
A compromise plan was ultimately passed that will still narrow the street while retaining parking spots, add bike lanes on the street downtown, painted “sharrows” uptown (from Eighth to 15th Streets), and add upgrades to the streetscape. With safety in mind, the city will add new street lighting, synchronized traffic signals, pedestrian countdowns at crosswalks, and an emergency power grid to maintain continued operation of critical city hubs during an outage like that during Superstorm Sandy.
“I’m very excited to move forward with this project to make our main commercial corridor safer for everyone while supporting our local businesses, and I thank the City Council for their unanimous support,” Mayor Dawn Zimmer said in a statement after the meeting.
The city is awaiting $8.1 million more in the form of a state loan for which the city has applied for. This money would specifically bolster the water mains and green infrastructure of the street.
City hopes state covers water main improvements
Third Ward Councilman Michael Russo issued a reminder prior to the vote for the Washington Street improvements.
Fisher was concerned about recent projects that took away parking in town.
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At the request of council members, Business Administrator Quentin Weist clarified that the $12 million is largely for paving and design to augment the “fundamentals of the streetscape.”
Of the additional $8.1 million for which the city is waiting, the city says engineers estimate the water main replacement will likely cost $4.1 million and for $2 million in green infrastructure. The city is applying to the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Financing Program (NJEIFP) for $5.5 million for the water main work and $2.6 for green infrastructure in order to be in a better position should bids go beyond estimated costs, according to city spokesperson Juan Melli.
A multi-use path coming to Sinatra
In other street news, whether you’re a jogger, cyclist, power walker, or parent pushing a stroller, a new and improved 1,000-foot multi-use walkway is on the way for Sinatra Drive.
All City Council members on Wednesday voted for final approval for the path, calling it a welcome change along the waterfront.
The path will complete the final segment of the state-mandated waterfront walkway that stretches 18.5-miles from Bayonne to the George Washington Bridge. It will begin north of the Castle Point Skate Park and run along Sinatra Drive and the Union Dry Dock property.
The eight-foot wide walkway has been in temporary use since last month, delineated by cones and metal barricades. The city tested the footpath during Earth Day weekend in April but will now seek an aesthetically pleasing and permanent version for a low cost to residents.
“People are excited to use that multi-use path on the waterfront,” said Ronald Bautista during the meeting, a member of local cyclist organization Bike Hoboken. “I spoke with a friend yesterday, who just found out about it, and she [plans to go there with her 6-year-old daughter].”
Second Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher said during the meeting that discussions between the city and Union Dry Dock (which owns private waterfront property in the area) should help eventually complete the walkway closer to the water. Union Dry Dock is the last vestige of Hoboken’s former shipping industry. The company has been approached by developers and agencies that wanted to use its land for various purposes. The city’s plan may change if Dry Dock allows this portion of the walkway to run onto the Dry Dock property or if Dry Dock sells the land to someone else who allows it.
Fisher pointed out that the new walkway forces the loss of 34 spaces on Sinatra Drive, and that other recent major projects have also come at the cost of parking. Reorienting the walkway along the Dry Dock property, should that happen someday, might allow the return of the spots.
(The recently-approved Trader Joe’s at the foot of the 14th Street Viaduct will cost the city 24 on-street visitor spaces. In addition, six other spots were sacrificed earlier this year for a new pedestrian plaza in front of the CVS Pharmacy on Newark Street uptown.)
“At one point it’s just too much…I’ll support this tonight with some hesitation,” said Fisher.
Councilman Ravi Bhalla, who has led the effort to create the walkway, says it will be up and running by the end of July.
Bhalla noted that the city will work on ways to maintain safety on the walkway given that a variety of commuters will use it.
“This has to be addressed,” said Councilman David Mello during the meeting, in reference to safety. “I’m all for creating more bike lanes strictly used for cyclists, but I also think there are people using bikes that are using them in a brazenly disrespectful way to the community.”