Pixabay/Bike racks (not representative) will be installed in the Downbeach area in the coming months.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
NORTHFIELD – Residents and visitors to Ventnor and Margate will have to wait a little longer for the convenience of having those long-awaited bike racks placed in their neighborhoods.
Roger McLarnon, who is a planner in both towns, attended a pre-construction meeting Wednesday, July 8 at the Atlantic County Public Works building in Northfield. He attended in person, but other interested parties attended via teleconferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the most recent delay in accepting bids for the project, he said.
The South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization awarded Ventnor and Margate a $275,000 grant in 2017 to design and install 208 bike racks in 91 locations based on the needs of each community. Margate would get 131 bike racks, while Ventnor would get 77 decorative racks, which will be customized for each community, accommodate one or two bicycles each, and will be placed in commercial areas, as well as in residential neighborhoods and community gathering places.
A first round of bidding produced no bidders. McLarnon said the county bid out the project again at the end of February, just when the coronavirus started to turn into a pandemic, and because it is considered a “non-essential” government project, awarding bids was delayed for weeks.
Ocean Construction, a general construction and historic preservation firm out of Marmora, was the low-bidder at $151,676. Although the targeted date to complete the project is Oct. 27, it is likely the bike racks will not be installed on time, McLarnon said.
“There’s a 90-day lead time on ordering the bike racks, which are scarce at this time because of the coronavirus,” he said.
The contractor has 95 days from the date of the “notice to proceed” to complete the project. The contractor may not receive that notice for several more weeks.
Courtesy Madrax/Bike rack (not representative).
McLarnon said the towns will “fine tune” the locations for installation, which could have changed since the original grant was approved three years ago.
“There have been bulkhead installations and drainage projects completed since then,” he said. “We will be surveying locations and finalizing everything by August.”
Resident Jay Weintraub questioned the Board of Commissioners at the July 2 meeting about the status of the bike racks and was told there would be a meeting at the county level within the week.
Although McLarnon, who has been charged with seeing the interlocal project to fruition, was unable to attend the commission meeting, he said in a telephone interview that bureaucracy involved in facilitating the project includes funding from the federal government to the state Department of Transportation, then to the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization, before it reaches Atlantic County Planning Department and ultimately to Ventnor and Margate.
The cities of Ventnor and Margate partnered on the grant, which was funded through the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration’s $1.9 million allocation to the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization for fiscal year 2017.
“If we had the project without the federal funding, we would have had it completed three years ago,” he said.
The installation of bicycle racks is a way to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles and provide an alternative means of getting around the Downbeach community. Having ample areas to park bicycles would allow residents and visitors to leave their cars parked in their driveways and use their bicycles as an alternate means of getting out to the beach, shops, and restaurants during the summer season.
To appease homeowners who complained about the lack of bicycle parking at the beach, Margate installed several bike racks along with wooden planks across street-end bulkhead timbers where beachgoers could safely secure their bikes.
Ventnor has since completed a streetscape project, which included the installation of bike racks in the commercial district along Atlantic Avenue in the North Beach area.
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