Wednesday, May 12 by JerryFoster
The WWBPA is advocating for a Complete Streets Policy, modeled after a policy adopted late last year by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. As part of Complete Streets, the WWBPA is also proposing an ordinance requiring bicycle and pedestrian facilities at future roundabouts.
According to the National Complete Streets Coalition:
“The streets of our cities and towns are an important part of the livability of our communities. They ought to be for everyone, whether young or old, motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchair user, bus rider or shopkeeper. But too many of our streets are designed only for speeding cars, or worse, creeping traffic jams.
Now, in communities across the country, a movement is growing to complete the streets. States, cities and towns are asking their planners and engineers to build road networks that are safer, more livable, and welcoming to everyone.
Instituting a complete streets policy ensures that transportation planners and engineers consistently design and operate the entire roadway with all users in mind – including bicyclists, public transportation vehicles and riders, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.”
The federal Department of Transportation recently adopted a policy to support “the development of fully integrated active transportation networks. The establishment of well-connected walking and bicycling networks is an important component for livable communities, and their design should be a part of Federal-aid project developments.”
Read the WWBPA’s letter to the mayor, proposed Master Plan changes, and proposed Roundabout Ordinance, and contact our officials to express your support!
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Tags: Complete Streets, Roundabouts
Posted in Advocacy, Bikeability, Complete Streets, Disabilities |
Sunday, April 25 by sandy
Looking for a good bike route in New Jersey? Road Biking New Jersey: A Guide to the State’s Best Bike Rides author Tom Hammell, born and raised in New Jersey, has explored most of the state’s roads by bike. He is an avid cyclist and a ride leader with the Princeton Freewheelers, logging thousands of miles a year leading other riders over beautiful back roads.
Tom is a longtime volunteer at the New Jersey studio of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D); he read from his book on Monday, April 19, 2010 at RFB&D’s Record-A-Thon.
RFB&D is the nation’s largest audio textbook and literature library, serving students with print and learning disabilities. Volunteers read and record its extensive collection, with thousands of new titles added each year in every subject and grade level.
Road Biking New Jersey contains 35 rides of varying length, terrain, and difficulty; Hammell designed the routes for the average recreational rider.
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Posted in Bicycle routes, Disabilities |
Tuesday, March 2 by sandy
Municipal Building Crosswalk
The following letter was sent to Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh and Township Council members:
This year on July 26th, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Some time after passage of the ADA, on July 13, 1992, the Township of West Windsor adopted a resolution approving its ADA Transition Plan (the Plan), as required by federal law. The Plan documented the items of ADA non-compliance and undertook to rectify them all by January 26, 1995, also as required by federal law.
In the last month, some West Windsor residents did a partial audit to determine which items in the Plan had been rectified, which had not, and which items post-dating the Plan, and therefore also post-dating the passage of the ADA, were still not ADA-compliant. I present to you our report. I assume that you will not grant me time to go through the report item by item at this time, but I will summarize by saying that there are major violations with virtually all the sites inspected, including the very stepped platform upon which you are seated, and which the Township pledged to make wheelchair-accessible by January 26, 1995, over fifteen years ago.
I have the following questions:
When can we expect these and other non-compliant items to be rectified? Until they are rectified, the Township is in violation of federal law.- The Plan has never been updated. When does the Township intend to update its Plan, as required by the ADA? The law requires that “the plan should be updated periodically.” I suspect that 18 years is a rather greater interval than Congress had intended.
- Will the Township create an independent Accessibility Committee, as several New Jersey Townships have done, to monitor its ADA compliance, ensure that such lapses do not reoccur, and promote the accessibility needs of its disabled residents and visitors? It would be appropriate for this committee to be formed and functioning well before the July 26th ADA anniversary date.
- Will the Township and its officials, to show its commitment to the ADA, join with other local, state and federal government officials in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the signing of the ADA this July 26th, 2010?
Respectfully,
Michael Ogg
Read the full report: 2010 Assessment of the Township of West Windsor, NJ, ADA Compliance
Read the West Windsor 1992 ADA Transition Plan
Read the ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments
from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
Read news reports:
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Posted in Advocacy, Disabilities |
Friday, February 19 by sandy
by Michael Ogg
February 18, 2010
I didn’t know Edward. I learned of his Tuesday death in East Windsor yesterday. Edward had Cerebral Palsy, CP. I don’t know the extent of his disability but he was riding a tricycle which is about halfway between a bicycle and a wheelchair. Cyclists probably relate to him as a fellow cyclist; I relate to him as a disabled person using a mobility device. Edward was riding his tricycle on Dutch Neck Road, a not especially busy suburban road, although there are some straight stretches where cars go quite fast. He was riding in the shoulder, or rather what was left of the shoulder after incomplete snow removal. He was struck from behind by a car and was thrown off his tricycle. He was taken to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital but was dead on arrival. The driver has since been charged with vehicular homicide; that’s little comfort to Edward.
I have Multiple Sclerosis, MS, and use a power wheelchair. Although MS and CP are very different diseases, there are many similarities in their symptomatologies. As with several acquaintances of mine with CP, I try to live life to the full despite my disability. I go everywhere in my wheelchair in all weather, even in the snows we’ve been having in the last few weeks. I haven’t been able to drive for a few years now so the wheelchair is all I’ve got. Very often I have to use the road: often there’s no sidewalk, or the sidewalk is too badly damaged by broken paving slabs or tree roots, or it’s impassable because residents haven’t cleared brush, or, as now, residents haven’t cleared snow or snow plows have used curb ramps as convenient dumping places for snow, or, also as now, I have decubitus ulcers and the jarring and bumping from even a passable sidewalk is too painful. If there’s a shoulder or bike lane I’ll use it. I have a fast wheelchair: not as fast as an average cyclist but faster than a slow cyclist or average runner, so if there’s no shoulder nor usable sidewalk I’ll use the road. I’m sure this sort of calculation was familiar to Edward.
Tomorrow I have to go to the Kessler Institute in West Orange for Occupational and Physical Therapy. I made my transportation arrangements on Tuesday. I have to take the train to Newark and then made a reservation with NJ Transit’s disability service, Access Link, to take me from Newark to West Orange. I don’t particularly like Access Link: apart from having to make arrangements at least 24 hours in advance, the pickup time is only within a 40 minute window, the driving time is very unpredictable (it could be 20 minutes or if there are other pickups as much as one and a half hours), and it is unusual to get exactly the times one needs. For this trip, either it was too early (I have a home assistant who comes at 6 a.m. to wash and dress me: I’m not ready until 7:30 a.m.) or it was too late and I’d miss half the appointment. I had no choice but to take the later time. I don’t know whether Edward used Access Link, but even if he did, I’m sure he preferred to cycle whenever possible, just as I prefer to use my wheelchair whenever possible.
There is a bus from Newark to West Orange that I’ve sometimes used when I couldn’t get a convenient Access Link pickup. However, the last half mile is on a busy four lane county road. When I was there on Monday, the shoulder was full of snow. I was about to cancel my Access Link reservation and take the bus instead. Then I thought of Edward. Dutch Neck Road is a much quieter road. I called Kessler to say I’d be late for my appointment. I’d keep my Access Link reservation but get there alive. Edward, I’m sorry I never knew you. I think we’d have both enjoyed sharing fish stories over a beer.
Read the previous post Cycling Tragedy in East Windsor.
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Posted in Advocacy, Bikeability, Disabilities, Pedestrian, Safety, Walkability |
