By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
MARGATE – After nearly two months of holiday celebrations, many who enjoy the turkey, cookies and holiday treats go on a diet after the New Year.
In Margate, officials are planning their own “diet” of sorts, which could make traveling on Atlantic Avenue during the busy summer season safer for everyone.
Officials recently learned that Margate was approved for a $200,000 New Jersey Department of Transportation grant to implement a “road diet” on Atlantic Avenue. It was the city’s second request for DOT funding in 2020.
At their meeting Thursday, Dec. 5, the Board of Commissioners asked city engineer Ed Dennis of Remington & Vernick Engineers to design a roadway striping plan that can be presented to members of the community for their input.
“This is a chance to get something we asked for, for a long time, and I know there are mixed feeling about moving forward with it,” but the city would like to obtain input from the public before it awards any contracts, Administrator Richard Deaney said.
“I recommend you make a preliminary decision to award Remington & Vernick a contract to do the design of what it would look like, get some publicity, and have some meetings before you make your final decision if you are going to do it or not,” Deaney said.
“I’m very supportive of the idea of involving the public with as much information as we can,” Mayor Michael Becker said.
Commissioner Maury Blumberg said the road diet could be viewed as a “radical change.”
Deaney said he would like to get additional information about traffic volume from the Police Department before proceeding with the plan, which would likely mirror the traffic pattern in Longport. Longport has one lane of traffic in each direction with a center turn lane and wider bicycle lanes.
According to Dennis, the city’s first priority for the 2020 state aid grant application was to continue a multi-year project for reconstruction of Atlantic Avenue, a portion of which is currently underway. At the same time, grant writer James Rutala of Rutala Associates of Linwood submitted a “priority two” request to the DOT for funding to implement the road diet, which was recommended in a 2016 state-funded study conducted by Urban Engineers, Inc.
The DOT denied the city’s priority one request for Atlantic Avenue and approved the secondary request for restriping.
“I have never seen that happen before,” Dennis said. “My assumption is that our priority two must have scored higher on their point system.”
The city partnered with neighboring Ventnor City on the “Ventnor-Margate Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan,” which asked the public during two information sessions held in spring 2016 to identify areas where traffic safety could be improved for pedestrians and cyclists. The idea was to work together to develop a multi-jurisdictional bicycle and pedestrian circulation plan that would make it easier and safer for all modes of transportation.
Both communities have moved to implement some of the recommendations in the report. Ventnor City reduced the speed limit on Atlantic Avenue to 25 miles-per-hour and added bike lanes early last summer, and Margate recently completed traffic calming measures around the city schools.
When the study was initially presented, Rutala said having the plan would be the first step in obtaining grants to implement recommendations contained in the plan.
There were several public meetings held that year to garner input from residents, and the Margate Board of Commissioners wants to do the same in the coming months. The study also solicited input on a website where residents could flag problematic areas.
Dennis said a restriping plan could be developed quickly, and that the city has two years to expend the funds received for the project. However, striping the roadway should be coordinated with the ongoing Atlantic Avenue reconstruction project, which includes installing new water and sewer lines along with repaving the excavated area and restriping the intersections and roadway.
The city was awarded $222,000 in 2017 for reconstruction of Atlantic Avenue from Fredericksburg to Clermont Avenue, $392,000 in 2018 for Clermont to Frontenac Avenue, and $300,000 in 2019 for Clermont to Huntington Avenue.
The commissioners agreed that the section of Atlantic Avenue currently under construction should be temporarily restriped with the roadway’s current configuration, which can easily be changed when the road diet plan is implemented, they said.
Fire Chief Dan Adams said he believes having one lane of traffic will eliminate speeding and be safer for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.
“When it happened in Longport, everyone complained and within weeks there were no issues, concerns or backups,” he said.
“People don’t like change,” Becker said. “Whatever we do will not be looked upon favorably by a lot of people, so let’s educate the people and then move on.”
Deaney suggested the engineer contact Rutala to determine the best organization to conduct the public information campaign.
Copyright Mediawize, LLC 2019
VM_Final Report_FINAL October 2016_FOR WEB
