Cyclists gathered at Canal Street and Hudson Avenue, above, and pedaling along East Bergen Place, at right, during the Red Bank Porchfest townwide music festival Sunday.Â
In addition to numerous pedestrians moving from stage to stage, the event appeared to bring out several hundred cyclists, many of whom used temporary bike lanes set up with assistance from the transportation nonprofit EZ Ride to get around town.
Earlier this week, redbankgreen did an email Q&A about the experiment with Councilwoman Nancy Facey-Blackwood, who helped coordinate the temporary lanes. Below are excerpts.
Temporary bike lanes were drawn on Hudson Avenue, above, and several other streets. Below, Councilwoman Nancy Facey-Blackwood on her back porch watching a band with her husband, Phil Blackwood, during the event. (redbankgreen photos. Click to enlarge.)
What’s your overall takeaway from the temporary bike lanes installation for Porchfest?
NF-B: I think people loved that there were bike lanes available to them to guarantee safe passage across town from porch to porch. I did an informal survey of cyclists at my home and they were pleased.
Where were the bike lanes marked out? Had the intention been to mark all the streets as indicated in the bike map?
NF-B: The bike lanes were marked out on parts of Chestnut, Hudson, Maple and Elm. Other streets indicated on the bike route had sharrows. The team did not have a lot of time to complete the project as the rain prevented us from starting the project until Sunday morning. We all worked as fast as we could given the limited time frame.
Any idea how many people biked the event?
NF-B: I don’t have a number but observed that ridership was significantly higher than last year’s event.
One more thing we noticed: people drove into Red Bank, parked and rode their bicycles to the venue, lessening vehicular congestion and emissions in town
Were there any issues/conflicts?
NF-B: Some of the bike lane areas had significant brush in the bike lane area. As it was the first clear day without rain, I can understand that DPW could not get to sweep the streets. The sharrows were located in the middle of the lane so no conflicts there.
What’s the most interesting feedback you’ve heard?
NF-B: “More bike lanes please, and make it protected bike lanes.”
Is this experience evidence of the viability of permanent bike lanes? Did it highlight any “constraints,” as you referred to them at the last council meeting?
NF-B: One of the major constraints is many streets in Red Bank are narrow, and more analysis would be required to develop streets that are equitable for all users of the road.
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