Washington Avenue Pedestrian Corridor
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – The South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Transportation recently announced the award of six federal grants totaling $5.2 million through the Transportation Alternatives Set-aside Program. Seventeen applications requesting approximately $18 million were received from municipalities in the SJTPO region.
Margate City was awarded $1.5 million for the long-planned Washington Avenue streetscape project, which will create a connecting corridor between the Lucy the Elephant beachfront park to the Central Business District on Ventnor Avenue and the Waterfront Special District on Amherst Avenue. The city’s Master Plan Update of 2017 proposed a pedestrian corridor that would include wider sidewalks and other pedestrian friendly amenities, such as street trees and lighting
The Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program includes federal highway and transit funds set aside for community-based, non-traditional projects that strengthen the cultural, aesthetic and environmental aspects of the nation’s intermodal transportation system.
This funding category has historically funded many pedestrian and bicycle-supportive projects, including streetscapes, trails and sidewalks. The program was initially established by Congress in 1991 and was most recently funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and is administered under the DOT.
Other grants include:
- Mays Landing Bikeway, Hamilton Township – $1.5 million
- Black Horse Pike Beautification Project, Pleasantville – $612,000
- Park Boulevard and Central Avenue Pedestrian and Bike Safety Improvements, West Cape May – $603,000
- Crook Horn Creek Nature Trail, Ocean City – $580,000
- Thompsons Beach Scenic Overlook and Accessway, Maurice River Township – $386,000
