Green stripes will mark the way
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – The city will be completing the grant-funded Atlantic Avenue road diet with some colorful striping to protect bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists. The project should be completed by summer.
After discussing two options at their April 4 workshop meeting, commissioners agreed to stripe the entire length of the bike lane with green paint according to NJ Department of Transportation standards, to avoid “a checkerboard effect” that could be confusing to motorists.
“When you delineate it all out, it’s a much cleaner pattern for the bikes,” Police Chief Matthew Hankinson said.
Striping the entire bike lane up to the crosswalks will deter motorists from making right-hand turns off Atlantic Avenue using the bike lane, which is unsafe, officials said. The striping will remind motorists they are not to cross into the bike lane, which runs the entire length of Atlantic Avenue.
Commissioner Maury Blumberg asked city engineer Ed Dennis Jr. to provide a graphic of what the bike line markings will look like.
“If we could see it, I would be more comfortable with it,” Blumberg said, asking for a color rendering of the bike lane.
Dennis said it will be very clear to bicyclists that it is a bicycle lane.
In other business, the board learned that the city is very close to receiving a permit from the NJ Department of Environmental Protection to dredge the back bay.
According to Dennis, the DEP agreed that the dredging request is considered 100% maintenance dredging, which is an easier permit to receive. The permit, when issued, will not only cover dredging in areas the city controls, but will also cover waterways along private property, he said.
“This is a big milestone,” Dennis said. “We will forge ahead now that we have a definitive answer from the DEP.”
The citywide dredging permit will include canals and the area near the Margate Log Cabin property on Jerome Avenue.
Efforts are continuing to get approval from the DEP and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use Shelter Island as a dredge materials disposal site. Using Shelter Island, which is a small island jointly owned with Ventnor, was dredged in the 1920s to raise the Ventnor Heights area. Filling the 30-foot deep dredge hole with dredge materials would be less costly for both municipalities and allow the city to restore wetlands habitat. Currently, the hole is so deep that it cannot sustain marine life.
“We are making progress,” Dennis said.
Additionally, the city learned that the soon-to-be designed Adams Avenue pump station will be funded with nearly $2 million in grants. When constructed, the pump station is expected to alleviate nuisance flooding along the Amherst Avenue marina district.
“We received a grant update from Jim Rutala that FEMA has confirmed the full amount of their allocation has been approved. Typically, FEMA requires a 25% match, but it will fund the full $1.8 million, so this project all-in-all has over $2 million in outside funding for the Adams Avenue pump station,” Dennis said.
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