Firm Suggests Bike Lanes, Traffic Changes for Point Boro

Concept plans to improve Point Pleasant Borough's pedestrian and bicycle traffic could include reconfiguring Route 88 bridge lanes, adding curbs and sidewalks to borough thorofares, and creating one-way streets near schools.

Point Pleasant Borough Residents were introduced to traffic change suggestions from the firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, who prepared the concepts after studying the borough and meeting with a local steering committee since June. The concepts were presented to the public at Ocean Road Elementary School, gathering more local input before a final report is presented to borough council in January.

Among the concepts:
Reconfigure the Route 88 bridge with one eastbound vehicle lane, two westbound lanes, bike lanes for east bound and westbound cyclists, and a 2.5 foot buffer between the bike and vehicle traffic.

Create a better network of sidewalks along Bridge, River, Beaver Dam and other major roadways, where business driveways often exist instead of sidewalk and curbing.

Create a more formal pedestrian and bike path along the canal waterfront's eastern side.

Add pedestrian crosswalks and address bicycle and vehicle shared lanes at Route 88 and Arnold Avenue intersection, adding a "bike box" where bicyclists could wait at a red light or turn left onto Arnold. An expanded concept for the intersection would add bike lanes in each direction.

Improve pedestrian traffic around the schools, putting sidewalks on residential streets, crosswalks and pedestrian traffic signals at intersections.

Turn Spruce and Oak into one-way streets for westbound traffic, and Chestnut and Cedar into one-way streets for eastbound traffic. Parking would be allowed on one side of the streets, a bike lane would be added to the other side, and sidewalks would be installed.

Create a network of bike lanes, including Route 88, and linking up to Brick's bike lane on Princeton Avenue to Beaver Dam Road in Point.

Parsons Brinckerhoff staff said the design concepts do not include expensive projects such as expanding roadways. Most of the suggestions in the concepts would be completed by restriping roadways to include bike lanes and buffers, or painting crosswalks. The more expensive suggestions would be creating curbing and pouring sidewalks, or installing pedestrian traffic signals/warning lights.

The event, held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., drew several dozens attendees who talked with staff and reviewed the concept drawings and a presentation.

The firm collected feedback from attendees, and will incorporate the evening's findings into a revised plan for final review by the Borough Council sometime in January.

At that point, the council would decide which, if any, concepts it wanted to work on, and proceed with its plan from there.

The study and concept presentation were paid for with a grant through the Complete Streets program, which funds projects address traffic safety and pedestrian and bicyclist traffic.