Full Notification

The City of Hoboken today released the final Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, funded by NJDOT and prepared by transportation consultants The RBA Group. The plan sets the bar for advanced efforts to make Hoboken even more friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists.

Highly respected transportation news source Streetsblog (http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/12/03/ambitious-bike-ped-plan-latest-hoboken-livable-streets-coup/) recently lauded the plan as "a liveable streets coup," saying: "Hoboken is pulling out in front of every other New York City suburb. In some ways, the one-square-mile town is even lapping New York City. The latest in a string of envy-inducing projects under Mayor Dawn Zimmer and Parking and Transportation Director Ian Sacs is the city’s new bike and pedestrian plan.”

Highlights from the Plan include clear recommendations for education, outreach, and enforcement operations to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, reconfiguration of critical intersections where pedestrian volumes trump vehicles (such as locations around Hoboken Terminal), installing pedestrian countdown signals at intersections with heavy pedestrian crossing volumes (such as along Washington Street), and expanded bicycle lanes and parking throughout the city to further encourage the human-scale safety benefits of a bicycle-friendly city.

Top 10 Pedestrian Safety Recommendations from Bike/Ped Master Plan

1. Safe Routes to School + “Walking School Bus” Programs
2. Install pedestrian countdown signal heads (especially along Washington Street)
3. Redesign Observer Highway to function more like a boulevard than a thru-highway
4. Add high-visibility/ergonomic crosswalks throughout the city
5. Pedestrian Scramble aka “Barnes Dance” (all-direction/diagonal pedestrian crossing at high-volume downtown intersections near Hoboken Terminal)
6. Painted crosswalks (at high-volume downtown intersections near Hoboken Terminal)
7. Raised intersections (along 15th Street between Garden St and Hudson Street)
8. “Pedestrian Decoy” operations
9. School Zone speed limit signage
10. Comprehensive citywide wayfinding system

The City of Hoboken, in collaboration with the Sweet Streets pedestrian and bicycle community advocacy group, was selected to be part of the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Office of Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs Local Technical Assistance Program. The purpose of this program is to assist municipalities in the development of a Municipal Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan by providing technical assistance and professional services that address concerns for walking and bicycling.

To download the plan, or for more information about the plan and the public process the City followed to prepare it, please visit the City's website: http://www.hobokennj.org/bikepedplan