Report aims to make boro more walkable
Workshop responses would benefit pedestrians
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

Participants in the walkable communities workshop cross a busy street.

Traffic calming on busier streets, improving visibility for drivers and pedestrians at intersections and widening sidewalks in some downtown areas of the borough are among the recommendations made in a recently released report aimed at making Red Bank more pedestrian friendly.

Among the thoroughfares surveyed were Bridge Avenue, Monmouth Street, Shrewsbury Avenue and West Front Street, each of which contain some areas in need of improvement in order to make them more comfortable and safe for pedestrians, according to "The Walkable Community Workshop Report Borough of Red Bank, Monmouth County."

The recommendations were made by participants in a Walkable Community Workshop that took place Oct. 11. The report on the workshop was compiled by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) and forwarded to the Monmouth County Engineer's Office.

"The recommendations in the enclosed report are strictly based on the comments received during the workshop," according to a letter from Monmouth County Engineer Joseph M. Ettore, "and do not constitute concurrence from the county or any other governmental agencies or stakeholders."

The workshop included a presentation by Mark Poltz, from the National Center for Bicycling and Walking, and a walking tour of areas in and around the borough's downtown.

Participants in the workshop included borough Planning and Zoning Director Donna Barr, Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels, Traffic Police Officer Darren McConnell, and Wilhelmina Vaughn from the Red Bank Senior Center.

Tracy Lockhart and Ron Tindall from the NJTPA and Inkyung Englehart and Daria Jakinowska from the county Engineers Office were also in attendance.

Englehart said Tuesday that as of now, she has not received any word from Red Bank about the possibility of moving forward with any of the recommendations. Plans to pursue any of the recommendations, she said, would have to be further scrutinized.

"What we did was so vague," she said, "like just brainstorming. Some of the recommendations may not be feasible in New Jersey, because of the laws and regulations. Maybe it could work in other states, but not New Jersey. For anything to proceed, an in-depth study would have to be done, although there are some things that the municipality could do on its own."

Every participant in the workshop was given a note pad on which to write observations during the walking tour.

"The purpose of the audit is to observe specific problem spots," according to the report, "as well as to point out features of the study area that are pedestrian friendly. The consultant [Poltz] stops at various points along the route and asks the group to make observations, and to suggest remedies. Attention is paid to ease of crossing the road, the quality of the walking experience, driver behavior, and connectivity between destinations."

The group conducted its walking audit starting at Borough Hall and walked along Monmouth Street westward to Bridge Avenue, west onto Chestnut Street and north on Shrewsbury Avenue to West Front Street. The group walked eastward along Front Street to Riverview Medical Center, crossed to the other side of the street and walked along the east side of Broad Street to Monmouth Street, and walked back to Borough Hall.

According to the report, along Monmouth Street, the group pointed out that crosswalks are in need of upgrades and repainting, trash cans should be placed along the street, benches should be added at bus stops and more street lights should be placed along the roadway.

The Red Bank Train Station was also critiqued, and the report states that, according to the participants in the audit, the station could use better landscaping, repainting of crosswalks near the entrance to the station, public restrooms and more bicycle parking.

The report also indicates that the bus stops along Chestnut Street and Shrewsbury Avenue should have benches, shelters and route information, and that Veteran's Park, at West Front Street and Riverside Avenue, is inaccessible by crosswalks.

Also, there were many places that were found to have crosswalks, but they were termed "uncontrolled" because there was no traffic light or warning signal to allow pedestrians a safe time to enter into the crosswalks.

The report suggests that sidewalks should be widened in areas along Shrewsbury Avenue to make space for a bus stop shelter, as well as to shorten the distance that pedestrians have to walk while crossing the street.

Traffic calming, according to the report, could be attained by marking on-street parking along Bridge Avenue and Shrewsbury Avenue, as a way of visually narrowing the street.

"The walkable community workshops were conducted over a half-day period and did not involve in-depth evaluation or engineering analysis of existing conditions," according to the report.

According to the report summary, traffic calming along Shrewsbury Avenue, and Monmouth and Chestnut streets, as well as increasing the visibility of pedestrians waiting to cross the streets, could be achieved within a period of less than a year to two years.

Other projects, such as widening sidewalks along West Front Street, or adding signaling to intersections to create controlled crosswalks for pedestrians, may take two years or more to implement.

"Prior to the recommendations being implemented," according to Ettore's letter," a lead agency must be identified, recommendations investigated for viability, and if feasible and prudent, designed and receive appropriate regulatory approvals."

The workshop in Red Bank was part of a larger project headed by the NJTPA which contracted with the RBA Group and the National Center for Bicycling and Walking to conduct a series of half-day workshops which were held in 13 counties in the NJTPA region, in addition to the City of Newark and Jersey City.