from Monmouth Beach to Sandy Hook
Route would extend
from Monmouth Beach to Sandy Hook
By sherry conohan
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — The borough wants to build a bicycle and pedestrian trail parallel to Ocean Avenue from Sandy Hook to Monmouth Beach.
The Borough Council, at its June 3 meeting, authorized borough engineer Dave Hoder to apply for state Department of Transportation funding for the bikeway, along with its application for this year’s road improvements. Hoder advised the council that it stood a good chance of getting the funding for the bikeway since the DOT is bullish on alternate modes of transportation.
The Sea Bright bikeway would tie in with the bikeway planned for Sandy Hook at the time a new Highlands bridge is built, planned for 2005. There also are plans afoot to extend the Henry Hudson Trail, which now runs from Matawan to Atlantic Highlands, through Highlands to the bridge.
Hoder estimated the total cost of the bikeway at $132,455. He said he would apply for $121,417 from the DOT Local Aid Bikeway Program and the borough would put up the balance of $11,038 to pay for the design.
The borough isn’t eligible for aid for the design work, he explained.
Plans for the bikeway outlined by Hoder call for it to run along the 9-foot-wide splash pad at the foot of the western side of the sea wall from the northern boundary of Sea Bright to McLoone’s Riverside Dining restaurant, then across Ocean Avenue utilizing a 6-foot-wide striped crosswalk, and use the sidewalk on the west side of the road down to Peninsula Avenue, two blocks south of the Rumson bridge. The bikeway would cross back over Ocean Avenue at that point, and run through the parking lots and along the existing sidewalk to Marius Lane, where it would meet the existing asphalt shoulder bike path in the road. It would then run along that shoulder to the Monmouth Beach line.
"The major construction would be of the portion that goes right through the middle of town," he told the council. "The rest is signage and striping."
Hoder said he and Councilmen William J. Keeler and Charles Galloway met with state DOT officials in Freehold on the proposal, but got no answer.
The borough has to get a permit from the DOT to build the bikeway, since Ocean Avenue is a state highway (Route 36), he added.
Mayor Gregory W. Harquail said he had spoken to a Monmouth County traffic official who had been encouraging about the bike trail. He gave Hoder the name and urged him, Keller and Galloway to seek his help.
Hoder said he would submit another application for the road program, estimated to cost $331,029. The borough is seeking $303,443 from the DOT and paying the balance of $27,585 for the design.
The streets to be addressed this year are Beach Street, Surf Street, New Street and Front Street. Hoder said the work would involve repaving and, in the case of Front Street, fixing some drainage problems.