The intersection of Drs. James Parker Boulevard and Bridge Avenue as it appeared this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The sun won’t go down on a “tactical urbanist” experiment undertaken to improve traffic safety at a tricky Red Bank intersection earlier this year, redbankgreen has learned.
Much as they did a year ago for Monmouth Street (above), student planners from Rutgers University’s Bloustein School will offer suggestions for improving Red Bank’s Shrewsbury Avenue corridor as well as the Navesink River waterfront next week.
Student planners from Rutgers led the information-gathering session at the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center. Below, a map on display at the event. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Worries about gentrification and pedestrian safety were at the fore as Red Bank residents gathered for a brainstorming session about the future of Shrewsbury Avenue Wednesday night.
Student planners from Rutgers will solicit ideas for improving neighborhoods along Shrewsbury Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Here’s a ‘magic wand’ question for you: if you could instantly transform Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank, what would it become?
Ditto for creating direct access to the Navesink River from Broad Street: what’s your dream?
Borough residents and other interested parties will get to weigh in on those questions and more Wednesday night.
Borough officials said more intersections may get the bold-paint treatment used at Drs. Parker Boulevard and Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A month after the roadway at a Red Bank intersection was painted over with a giant, vivid sun on a field of turquoise, officials gathered there this week to explain and defend it.
Flashing beacons to help pedestrians cross Shrewsbury Avenue would be installed at Locust Avenue, above, and two other intersections. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank will get $1 million worth of pedestrian-safety and streetscape upgrades under a grant award announced Friday.
New streetlamps are also to be installed along the roadway, where dozens of existing fixtures have been out of commission for years.
The intersection of Drs. Parker Boulevard and Bridge Avenue in Red Bank got a new look earlier this week: an eye-popping, curb-to-curb road painting that looks something like a cross between the national flags of Brazil and Kazakhstan.
What’s Going On Here? Click ‘read more’ for the answer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Streetlamps on both ends of a crosswalk at Catherine Street are among dozens along Shrewsbury Avenue awaiting repairs. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Pedestrian safety issues rose to the fore again at the Red Bank borough council’s latest meeting.
As they have often in the past, conditions along Shrewsbury Avenue in particular sparked outrage.
A grant seeking $821,000 for improvements to Broad Street is among the nearly three dozen applications pending, according to a report. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Six months after hiring a professional contractor to seek out grant funds, the Red Bank council is hopeful that a cash pump has been primed.
Business Administrator Ziad Shehady told the council last week that while no grants have yet been secured under the contract with Millennium Strategies, there is now “several million dollars” worth of potential funding “in the pipeline.”
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank man was hospitalized after he steered his bike into the path of a motor vehicle and was struck Tuesday night, police said Wednesday.
Biking in Red Bank —and possibly, Fair Haven and Little Silver — could get a boost under a push to bring a bike-sharing vendor to town. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials are exploring the possibility of allowing a bike-share vendor to offer its services in town, and inviting two neighboring towns to get in on the two-wheeled action, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady told the borough council last week.
Among changes recommended in the draft plan is an expansion of sidewalk coverage in town. Below, Councilman Jon Peters with residents at Monday’s event. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven residents and business got their latest opportunity Monday night to weigh in on host of walking-and-biking infrastructure proposals that could serve as a blueprint for decades to come.
The informational session, which preceded the borough council’s regular semimonthly meeting, was focused on the latest version of a draft document called the Pedestrian and Bike Active Transportation Plan.
Pilgrim Baptist Church of Red Bank will host its sixth annual Community Unity & Bike Blessing Festival Saturday, a free and open-to-all event that features food, live entertainment, community safety presentations and other attractions.
Press release from Rumson School District
On October 7, Rumson families participated in the district’s first annual “Walk or Bike to School Day,” as the district partnered with the Rumson Police Department and PTO to encourage students to “walk or bike to ignite!” The tagline for the event promoted the district’s new branding message which was launched for the 2016 – 2017 school year, “Rumson Schools, Igniting Potential.”
Students who participated were greeted by Forrestdale and Deane-Porter staff members, awarded stickers as they arrived, and found their designated spot in the “Bike Parking Lot.” At the conclusion of the day, prior to the ride home, the PTO provided students with a healthy snack and reusable bottle water fill station.
Bike Haven will close by the end of September, its owner says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A second longtime retailer is leaving the Fair Haven Shopping Center.
But unlike Laird’s Stationery, which is temporarily relocating to smaller quarters in the center after getting squeezed out of its home by a steep rent increase, Bike Haven is simply calling it quits, owner Cliff Wittenberg tells redbankgreen. And a rent hike is only the final nail in the tire.
Dean Ross, founder of the “Shine a Light Foundation,” has announced the second annual “Shine a Light” free lighting for bicycles program in the Red Bank Area. The program, which last year helped to save countless lives by installing lights on more than 200 bicycles free of charge, returns to St. Anthony of Padua Church Parish Center on the evening of Monday, April 4.
During the 5 to 7 p.m. rain-or-shine event co-sponsored by St. Anthony Social Concerns Ministry and Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, all bicycle owners are invited to bring their bikes to the Parish Center on Herbert Street, where the equipment will be installed for free.
File photo of the Shell station on Newman Springs Road. (Archive photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two Pennsylvania women were arrested early Saturday morning after they robbed a Red Bank gas station at knifepoint and triggered a pursuit by police from three towns, authorities said.
Red Bank police Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen the incident began at 11:34 p.m. Friday, when the pair entered the convenience store at the Shell station at Newman Springs Road and Shrewsbury Avenue, brandished folding knives and demanded cash and cigarettes.
Both a bicyclist and an approaching a jogger appeared shy recently about using a new bike lane on the Little Silver side of Harding Road, seen here from Tower Hill in Red Bank. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
To go along with their shiny new Christmas bikes, cyclists on the Greater Red Bank Green have a new riding course: 2.8 miles of freshly minted bike lanes through Rumson and Fair Haven.
Marked with share-the-road “sharrow” icons, heavy white lines and signage, the lanes call attention to the presence of bikers in an effort to improve safety, says Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli, who advocated for them.
The scene on Wallace Street shortly after the accident, above. The vehicle also hit a gas regulator valve, seen below, though no leak was immediately detected. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A campaign worker for an outlier presidential candidate was injured when a car jumped a curb in downtown Red Bank Friday afternoon.
The vehicle also struck a storefont natural gas regulator that had been moved above-ground three years ago, over the vehement objections by town officials that doing so created a safety hazard.
Red Bicycle Studio owner Jonathan Erdelyi meets a group of students from Ms. Wall’s bilingual class at Red Bank Primary School, during a visit keyed to a classroom poster project.
Press release from Red Bank Primary School
They’re called “The Wallstars,” a group of 23 students from Mercedes Wall’s bilingual class at Red Bank Primary School — and when the students paid a visit to The Red Bicycle Studio on Front Street recently, it was the culminating event to a project that saw the class create informational posters about bicycles, currently on displayed at the Front Street store owned by Jonathan Erdelyi.
Mrs. Wall’s class had been hard at work over the last three weeks, researching and developing posters that both depict and teach others about the different bicycles available to everyone today. The students researched the topic using a variety of resources, including more than 20 books from the Monmouth County Library, countless web sites from local bike shops and many educational bicycle web sites. In addition, bicycle parts were brought into the classroom as a way to gain background information. The collaboration included many days of group work, peer assessment and countless revisions and rewrites.
Cyclists can get a free bike lamp and helmet at the event. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Red Bank retailer Dean Ross, who spearheaded a bike lamp giveaway earlier this year, is planning to reprise the effort next month. But he needs some help.
The owner of the Doc Shoppe shoe store and Bagel Oven tells redbankgreen that he’s seeking donations of used helmets to give away at the same time.
In one of two Red Bank accidents involving bicyclists, a 14-year-old boy wound up in the emergency room Wednesday.
According to police Chief Darren McConnell, the unidentified boy was traveling west in the eastbound lane of Harding Road when he collided with a car emerging from Tower Hill Avenue at about 10 a.m.
“Iron Cowboy” James Lawrence, seen above in Sea Bright on July 4, successfully completed his 50-50-50 campaign to do a record 50 triathlon-length workouts in 50 states in 50 days Saturday, according to news reports. He wrapped up his effort, aimed at calling attention to childhood obesity, in his home state of Utah.
Lawrence’s 29th day began at Sandy Hook and ended more than 15 hours later in Sea Bright. Click here to read redbankgreen’s coverage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Theo Cheevers at Church Street and Rumson Road, site of a recent sidewalk reconstruction. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Where exactly in Little Silver are there sidewalks, and what condition are they in? How might crosswalks be improved?
A young borough man has decided to tackle those questions this summer. And while the effort sounds, um, pedestrian, local government officials are looking forward to his findings.
“Iron Cowboy” James Lawrence, who’s on a 50-day campaign to do 50 triathlon-length workouts in 50 states to call attention to the obesity epidemic, completed his 29th on Saturday, arriving at the Beachwalk motel in Sea Bright at 10:18 p.m, more than 15 hours after his day began.
“He’s like a machine,” said borough Councilman Charlie Rooney, who escorted Lawrence by boat as the Utah man began his day with a 2.4-mile swim in Sandy Hook Bay. Rooney and other cyclists also accompanied Lawrence on a 112.29-mile bike ride. The day ended with a 26.2-mile marathon-length run for Lawrence and members of the Sandy Hookers Tri Club.
Is he nuts? “I’m very aware of my mind and my body,” Lawrence told redbankgreen. “This is very purposeful.”
See redbankgreen’s story from earlier this week for full details and information on how to help the cause. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)