i-tees

I’ve written before about my bicycle rides along the Hudson River in both New Jersey and New York.

I first moved to Hoboken in the mid 80s and at that time I had a car. I’d drive my car along River Road to go shopping and many times on my way to New England, I’d go by way of River Road to avoid the traffic to the George Washington Bridge. Many others have this same idea, and due to the overdevelopment, the traffic has been growing larger. Over the years, as they built more and more condominiums, and the Light Rail was extended, the road was widened. Considering all the effort given to making room for the Light Rail and widening the road, I’ll never understand why they didn’t think of the thousands of cyclists and paint in a simple bike lane.

With all the people now living and shopping in that area, a bike lane would be a wonderful and much needed addition, and would have helped with the traffic and congestion.

In the December 10th issue of “The Midweek” Reporter, Tricia Tirella wrote about the problems with getting a bike lane built on River Road in NJ.

“The problem is that right now River Road is not wide enough for a bike lane plan”, said Hudson County Spokesperson, James Kennelly. He explained that a long-term capital project is planned for the next three to five years that will include a dedicated lane. He said that the road will be widened and resurfaced when it is funded by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

I ride my bicycle during the Spring, Summer and Fall seasons and just to get from Jersey City to River Road is a challenge since there are no bike lanes in Jersey City either. They have “share the road” and “bike route” signs posted around but no lanes. They have put some bike lanes on a few streets in Hoboken so that does help. The worst of all, is riding in Weehawken where it meets River Road, to get to the walkway on the other side. This intersection has never been altered and is dangerous to bicycle riders. We sneak along a short dirt path where the cars are merging from two roads and for about 50-100 ft they are too close to us. Something has to be done with this intersection to make it safer for riders. There is no other way to get from this area of Weehawken to the waterfront walkway along the Hudson.

Why does it take so long for something that we need so badly, to get built? Maybe something will change before Spring 2010 comes and I’m ready to ride out there.

After publishing this post, I read about the first meeting of an advocacy group which took place in December in Jersey City to discuss safer streets/better biking. You can be sure I will be attending the next meeting in January and have written to one of the group members, Daniel Levin for more information and whether I can help build them a website, which they don’t seem to have. It’s time the city realized how many cyclists there are. Read the full article here.

What could better than a bicycle system that works and makes our lives easier to manage? The Vélib Bicycle Rental System put into place in Paris, France is helping tourists and everyday travelers get from one part of the city to another. However, these expensive to produce bicycles made in Hungary are being stolen, showing up in Eastern Europe and northern Africa, as well as being vandalized. Reading about this in the NY Times, the bicycles are expensive to produce because of the locking system and sturdy construction. They have opened repair shops around the city and must repair 1,500 bicycles a day. In addition, 80% of the initial 20, 600 bicycles installed, have already been stolen.

Still, they are planning to produce more bicycles, and will invest in advertising, so they can reach adolescents and vandals and perhaps change what’s happening.

From the NY Times article:

…”We miscalculated the damage and theft,” said Albert Asserat, director of strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux…“We made the bike stronger, ran ad campaigns against vandalism and tried to better inform people on the Web,” Mr. Asséraf said. But “the real solution is just individual respect…”

Hoboken, Jersey City, New York City and other metropolitan areas, should install this type of system, which would be an improvement and eco-friendly. When I bike down to Hoboken I have trouble finding a place to park my bicycle and I think having a system like this installed would reduce overcrowded bicycle parking. Imagine if this system was installed in New York City? Less taxis, buses, cars, and train rides.

If we had this, more people would ride from uptown to downtown, crosstown, getting much needed exercise and it would help “green” our cities. Why wait for a taxi, bus or train to get to the other side of town, when you can just take a bike and lock it back up at your destination.

Since today it’s grey outside and raining a bit, I’m not sure yet if I’ll be riding my bicycle. They said it’s going to clear and be sunny by noon, so for now, I thought I’d write about where I usually ride on the New Jersey side and what I’d see.

When I get ready to ride, here are some of my rules and/or safety tips. Sneakers, close-fitted pants (many times I see women wearing skirts, blowing in the breeze and I’m hopeful they won’t get caught in their bicycle wheel spokes), comfortable and/or warm top, hair back, water bottle, power bar, bicycle clip-on bag, lock and helmet. READY!

Starting out on Central Avenue in “the Heights” of Jersey City, I ride down Congress Street till I get to the elevator at the 9th Street (Hudson Bergen) Light Rail station. It connects Jersey City with Hoboken easily and has been there since 2000 when they built the Light Rail system. Down the elevator and across the tracks, crosstown and north a bit, till I reach 11th… then across 11th to the waterfront.

Now, the big decision, should I go left (north) towards Weehawken & Port Imperial, towards the George Washington Bridge or right (south) towards Jersey City with lovely views of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty? Either direction the length of the waterfront walkway is about 5-6 miles. This is as far as you can go given they haven’t built or connected all the walkways yet; eventually it will be much longer.

Going south along the Hudson River there are some new piers in Hoboken, small parks, even a tiny beach created at around 11th street. Riding downtown there are a few construction obstacles when approaching Frank Sinatra Park, and since part of the pier fell into the water due to decay and not being built with steel reinforcements, that whole area is blocked. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes to repair, now that Fall is upon us. Below is a photo I found of the collapsed pier taken by Hoboken411.com.

Frank Sinatra Park pier collapses in Hoboken, photo by Hoboken411.com

Approaching the Hoboken (Erie Lackawana)Terminal I must ride through the terminal (where people walk around and board trains) to get to the far end and the entrance to the walkway, newly opened last month that connects Hoboken with Newport. Below is a photo of the new walkway.

I can finally just follow this “greenway” as it weaves along the coastline, around buildings, hotels, and condos. There are a few spots that have wonderful views and are worth a stop.

Going in this direction you can ride safely till the “Colgate” sign which is where the walkway ends for now. At this point you have a beautiful view of Battery Park in NYC, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

*A day after writing this post, I did a 20 mile ride from “the Heights” of Jersey City, down to Hoboken, following this route to Jersey City, then turned around and rode back, continuing on to Weehawken and north to Edgewater. I’ll write some more about the northern direction, soon. In the meanwhile, enjoy my photos (gallery).

**Also, inside of Hoboken terminal, they now make everyone walk their bicycle through.