East Coast Greenway Needs Our Help
Monday, May 16 by silvia
From our friends at the East Coast Greenway (the Maine-to-Florida route for walkers and bicyclists that uses the D&R Canal for part of the New Jersey route):
A critical, long-planned piece of the future East Coast Greenway is in danger of getting cut from NJDOT’s project list. Please join the East Coast Greenway Alliance to voice your support for keeping the 2.5-mile Route 7 Improvement Project alive in New Jersey!
NJDOT is recommending that the 2.5-mile Route 7 improvement project, in Jersey City and Kearny, be deleted from its Study & Development Program. We are asking all of our supporters to voice their approval for keeping this project alive. NJDOT will meet on May 18th to make a final decision on this project. Please email (to aludwig@njtpa.org) and/or mail a letter of support for this project. We need to show public support for bicycle & pedestrian infrastructure. If we don’t give people choices and build alternative infrastructure our options for transportation will always be limited and our policies will continue to lead to increased congestion, decreased safety and a less-healthy lifestyle. Thanks for your support!
Not sure what to say? The ECG offers this template:
I am writing you in regards to the recommendation made by NJDOT to remove the above mentioned project from the Study and Development Program. I feel that the 2.5-mile Route 7 project is a vital corridor and connection for the future route of the East Coast Greenway. I understand the many challenges and that significant costs are associated with this project but feel the benefits to the general public will outweigh the challenges and justify the investment.
The East Coast Greenway is a developing safe and accessible bicycle & pedestrian corridor which stretches from Maine to Florida. Currently 26% of the East Coast Greenway exists as traffic free trails.? We have worked very closely with NJDOT over the years and their commitment has had the direct result in making New Jersey a leader amongst states in the development of the East Coast Greenway. Currently 53% of the ECG in New Jersey exists as traffic free trails.
The Newark to Jersey City corridor is a critical connection for the East Coast Greenway and also for local non-motorized users who wish to travel between those cities, New Jersey?s two largest. On its eastern terminus, the completed safe and accessible bicycle & pedestrian corridor along Route 7 will enable users to cross the new Wittpenn Bridge being constructed over the Hackensack River and enable users to continue east into Jersey City and other populated towns and cities along the Hudson River in New Jersey.
On its western terminus the Route 7 project will connect to the Newark Industrial Track which will eventually provide a safe bicycle & pedestrian connection to Newark and many other populated regions in New Jersey. The Route 7 project is a vital link which makes all of these connections possible. Without the Route 7 link, these connections become even less feasible and more costly.
For all the aforementioned reasons I urge that the Route 7 corridor project not be removed from the Study & Development Program.? If, ultimately, NJDOT decides to cut this project, we urge the agency to put more resources into assuring the safety and accessibility of the current East Coast Greenway route.
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