Glen Ridge has become the 31st municipality in New Jersey to adopt a Complete Streets policy.
In a resolution passed on Monday, the borough resolved that “all public street projects, both new construction and reconstruction (excluding maintenance) undertaken by the Borough Of Glen Ridge shall be designed and constructed as ‘complete streets’ whenever feasible to do so in order to safely accommodate travel by pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit, and motorized vehicles and their passengers, with special priority given to pedestrian safety…”
A Complete Streets policy is one that considers all road users—pedestrians, bikers, buses, cars—when designing or updating roadways. The policy calls for improved roadways, sidewalks, bike lanes, and increased access to public transportation, as well as improved access for those in wheelchairs.
Jerry Fried, former Montclair mayor and a proponent of the township’s Complete Streets policy, was on hand for the event and praised the council for its efforts, according to the Glen Ridge Voice.
Fried took a consulting job with the state Department of Transportation earlier this year to help municipalities implement a Complete Streets policy.
According to the Glen Ridge Voice, the borough’s proposal asks for new crosswalks at certain intersections, and bike insignia on roads to designate bike lanes. Councilwoman Elizabeth Baker, who sponsored Glen Ridge’s Complete Streets resolution, also wants Essex County to re-program the traffic lights at the intersection of Bloomfield and Ridgewood Avenues, an area prone to traffic accidents.
Photo by Matt Stratton via flickr
This is cute.
Of course you know that Bloomfield passed Complete Streets in March of 2011
https://www.njfuture.org/2011/03/08/bloomfield-adopts-complete-streets-policy/
So, Bebop, you laughin’ at us??? Pat, you callin’ us late-comers??
Nope just saying that we got there first – shouts out to the Bloomfield Open Space Trust Fund Committee for sponsoring the resolution last year. It feels good to have something to brag about in Bloomfield – there is so much that is wrong!
Glen Ridge of course, will embrace Complete Streets completely and put us to shame. Cheers to Glen Ridge – you’ve got a real winner in Elizabeth Baker
Not laughing at GR, it is a cute town. One could give an interesting socio-economic political bike tour starting at Ridgewood & Washington heading downhill. It would begin with the beautific manicured lawns of the 1% down a paved street with “excuse-me-slow-down” bumps followed by descent into a pockmarked traffic hazard, ending at Bloomfield Center’s hope for the future for a Q&A on how it all happened.
I’d presume this Complete Streets shtick will be much like GR’s affordable housing program, in that it will exist only on paper.