Washington Street is the main artery road in Hoboken, a hub of activity, transport, and commerce. It is also built on heavily aged infrastructure in dire need of repair and rehabilitation.
Mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmer, has been pushing to convert this primary street into a “complete street,” in addition to its rehabilitation. A “complete street” is a style of street that accommodates all people of all ages in all modes of transportation. In a complete street, there is a healthy balance of parking, driving lanes, bike lanes, and pedestrian pathways. With the new bike share program that Hoboken has adopted, Hoboken has seen an increase of bike users, who currently either bike on the sidewalks, which is very unsafe for pedestrians, or on Washington Street itself, which is very unsafe for the bikers.
A protected bike lane is currently being proposed as the best solution to this problem, however some council members are wary of its effect on existing traffic. The inclusion of a bike lane (currently proposed as 4 feet wide in each direction for a total width of 8 feet) would reduce the two 17-foot driving lanes to 13 feet. The councilmembers assume that this will restrict traffic.
However, as T&M Associates—the municipal engineering company for the project—pointed out, reducing the width of the road will ultimately lead to more structured driving, less double parking, and less backups. In addition, to the inclusion of bike lanes, there are plans to incorporate green infrastructure (the specifics of which are still being discussed) and to completely replace the 150-year-old water lines that run underneath Washington Street. T&M Associates is currently looking into options to minimize stormwater runoff to the drainage inlets on Washington Street.
Dr. Elizabeth Fassman-Beck, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Ocean Engineering, made suggestions to include a permeable asphalt that both doubled as an element of “green infrastructure,” and as a sound dampening element, something mentioned by another member of the Stevens Community.
While all of these renovations and improvements are taking place, T&M Associates has plans to also redo the signaling on Washington Street, which will greatly improve the flow of traffic on the street. All of these plans are still in the preliminary phase, but Mayor Dawn Zimmer urges all members of the Stevens Community to actively participate in conversations regarding the future of Washington Street, reminding us that we are residents of Hoboken, too.
