Tag: Main Street

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Meeting: Asbury Park Main St. Improvements. And A Short History Of The AP Road Diet

Ongoing improvements are planned for Asbury Park’s Main Street.

Mark your calendar to attend the Main Street Streetscape Improvements community meeting on Tuesday, August 29, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Council Chambers, 1 Municipal Plaza.

The Main Street reconfiguration will be complete with the addition of benches, bike racks, and trees.

The City of Asbury Park received a Federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant to provide streetscape improvements along Main Street and Deal Lake Drive. “The proposed project will include the installation of over 100 new street trees to improve the aesthetics of the roadway. In addition, new decorative bicycle racks will be installed at various locations along Main Street.”

A Short History

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition began our work in 2015 when the city rejected the plan by NJDOT to implement the road diet (video explainer here) on Main Street when we read in The Asbury Park Sun that the Mayor stated rejecting the Road Diet plan was his “finest victory”.

A road diet is a reconfiguration of a roadway to allow for smoother, safer movement of traffic, easing congestion, and improving safety, with “traffic calming”.

This was the start:

Envisioning A Better Main Street.

Envisioning A Better Main Street Road Diet Paper. By founding member, Doug McQueen. Printed, and shared everywhere!

In 2017, after about 18 months of research, communication with NJDOT, plus energetic and wide-reaching community engagement, APCSC and our supporters applauded the Mayor and city council members when the city agreed unanimously (video) to reverse their decision, and to move forward with the NJDOT $19 million planned Road Diet.

In 2021 NJDOT Commemorated the Main St. Road Diet with Director Diane Guiterrez, Lt Gov. Sheila Oliver,  NJ Senator Vin Gopal, local Assembly Persons, and Asbury Park Mayor Moor, City manager Donna Vieiro, and Council members, Kendle, and Clayton, Transportation Manager Mike Manzella, and me, Polli Schildge, proudly wearing my distinctive green APCSC T-shirt!

2021 Commemoration of the Main Street Road Diet.

APCSC has been showing up, gaining support and building a strong reputation across the state!

Sharing Complete Streets info at Pride Day
Bike Valet at Music Mondays
Marching with the banner at the AP St Pat’s Parade
Helping APPD give out helmets
Bike parking at Sea.Hear. Now 2018
Local media, once against the road diet in 2016, supports it in 2020!
Scooter education 2021
Taking every opportunity to share information at city events
Bike repair for kids
Screening the great documentary “The Street Project” to a big crowd at AP Library 2022
With Congressman Frank Pallone, APPD National NIght Out 2021
Love the Monthly Slow Roll!
With AG, Gurbir S. Grewal 2019
With Frank Pallone at APPD National Night Out in 2023

Join us!

Send your email to apcompletestreets@gmail.com

As a 1.4mile sq city, AP could be a model for a truly people-centric, walkable and rollable city. We’re looking forward to many more ongoing improvements for people walking and rolling in AP, as outlined in the Asbury Park Walk and Bike Plan.

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor @APcompletestreets

 

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NJDOT Commemorates Asbury Park’s Main Street Road Diet

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition was created in 2015 when we learned about the proposed NJDOT reconfiguration on RT 71, Asbury Park’s Main Street. After some initial hesitancy, and much lobbying on the part of APCSC, Mayor Moor and City Council agreed to move forward with the project, which is now nearly completed. Almost all agree now, including many original naysayers, that this was a great step in enabling Asbury Park residents and visitors to walk, ride bikes, and drive more safely on Main Street, and to improve the health and economic stability of the community.
Among many documents and evidence of the effectiveness of this type of traffic calming measure was an educational piece, A Better AP Main St FINAL ROAD DIET PAPER, created by APCSC founding member Doug McQueen. It was helpful in communicating the goal of a road diet to community members and city leaders.
As an advocate for safe, equitable access for everyone in Asbury Park, I personally appreciate the ability to engage with city leaders, and NJ legislators who want the best for our city, and NJ. It was a pleasure to see and speak with Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, NJDOT Commissioner Gutierrez-Scaccetti, Senator Vin Gopal, NJ Representatives Eric Houghtaling, and Joann Downey.
This is a great example of how our legislators truly get what it means to embrace complete streets philosophy. Making streets safe for everyone, especially the most vulnerable. Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition worked with AP city council and DOT to move forward to implement the Rt 71 road diet, improving the way traffic flows, and creating a safer, better, healthier environment for people and businesses on Main Street, Asbury Park. This is how we work together.
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Is Asbury Park A Strong Town? Here’s The Test

Think of the reasons that you love Asbury Park. Four cities were in the semi-final round of The Strongest Town. (Voting is now closed, and results are in as of April 6. Stay tuned.). Would Asbury Park someday be able to see our name on this list?  Could we win? Take a look at the The Strong Towns Strength Test.  Click on the underlined questions for details.  How do you think we would score? Asbury Park might only score a 1 out of 10 right now – We have work to do, but with your support of APCSC advocacy we are moving in the right direction!

Preview the upcoming New book by Charles Marhon, Jr., Strong Towns.: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity.

Strong Towns Strength Test

  by Charles Marohn

We understand that cities are complex, adaptable systems that defy easy or precise measurement, so we asked ourselves: are there simple observations we use to signal that a city is either a strong town or on its way to becoming one? If you went to a place and had a little bit of time, could you scratch the surface and get a sense of how strong and resilient it was?

Here are ten simple questions we call the Strong Towns Strength Test. A Strong Town should be able to answer “yes” to each of these questions. (Click on the underlined questions to read a step-by-step guide for answering that question.)

  1. Take a photo of your main street at midday. Does the picture show more people than cars?

Read more…

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2014/11/15/strong-towns-strength-test

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Getting Around In Asbury Park

Lot’s happening in the world of transportation and getting around in Asbury Park!  Find out about it in the Asbury Park Sun.

NAVIGATING ASBURY PARK

TRANSPORTATION UPDATES INCLUDE ELECTRIC CAR SHARING, VETTING A SCOOTER SHARE, PARKING METERS & STREET WORK

 

By Michelle Gladden

 

Navigating Asbury Park’s streets and parking is paramount, particularly during the peak season. In advance of the spring and summer uptick, here are a few updates:

Electric car sharing stations, complete with charging docks.

parking meters – a switch to pay by plate.

The Main Street Road Diet project’s paving and striping moves to between Deal Lake Drive and Asbury Avenue on Friday, 3/29.

Read more about it…

http://asburyparksun.com/navigating-asbury-park/

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HEALTHIER ROADS IN THE NEW YEAR: Starting With A Road Diet

By now most residents of Asbury Park know of the term “road diet”. We have all experienced the bumps along the way as the work continues repairing and upgrading Main Street as we anticipate the final stage of striping the lanes. Many people are familiar with Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition’s campaign to #SlowTheCars . For the new year, our initiative is to share and educate about the health, economic and cultural benefits of a safe Main Street, and traffic calming measures throughout the city, “Complete Streets” to make streets safe for everyone, especially the most vulnerable: people who ride bikes and walk.

Let’s start here:

ENVISIONING A BETTER MAIN STREET

What is a Road Diet? Why the need for a Road Diet? Beyond The Road Diet.

New Year’s Resolutions and Your Roadways

 

Read more about it:

https://trafficlogix.com/healthier-roads-in-new-year/