Plans for Ocean Avenue include bike lanes, diagonal parking

By GREG KENNELTY
Staff Writer

SEA BRIGHT — Plans for Ocean Avenue include designated bicycle lanes and head-out parking spots.

Planner Mike Dannemiller presented preliminary plans for the borough’s main thoroughfare at the Borough Council’s Jan. 15 workshop session. The project would coincide with the repaving of Ocean Avenue by the state Department of Transportation (DOT), he said.

“Bike lanes should be 5 feet wide. The shoulders right now are a little less than that, but you have slightly extra-wide travel lanes, so you would narrow the travel lane and keep the bike lane at 5 feet, and that will also help to reinforce speed limits,” Dannemiller said.

“You make things a little tighter and people will drive a little more slowly. It is not a huge difference, but it is helpful.”

In the northern section, where the travel lanes are narrower, the bike lanes will be 4 feet wide due to a lack of room.

“I did not want you to move the curbs, so we are dealing with the existing structure,” Dannemiller said.

Steve Nelson, recovery manager for the borough, said the addition of bike lanes would come at no cost due to the repaving.

“Last spring, the DOT notified the borough that they were going to be repaving Ocean Avenue,” he said. “That prompted some of us working on the recovery to ask, ‘What should Ocean Avenue look like?’ So we contacted DOT to look at what it would take to stripe bike lanes in the borough and put in some back-in, angled parking.”

Nelson said the bike lanes would run from Sandy Hook to Monmouth Beach. He added that Monmouth Beach, Rumson and Atlantic Highlands all have bike access in their towns, and called Sea Bright the “doughnut hole” in terms of bike access in the area.

Councilman Charlie Rooney III said adding bike lanes could spur business in the downtown area.

Council members agreed with the plan to add bike lanes, but had some minor concerns with the head-out parking spots.

The head-out parking spaces, or diagonal spaces with the front of vehicles facing the road, would allow for more spaces in the downtown area, but fewer parking spaces overall.

“There is a net loss of parking in the downtown because of the back-in angle parking … meaning we are losing parking on the northbound side [of Ocean Avenue],” Nelson said.

“There is a gain on the [business] side of seven spaces. So there are more spaces on that side, meaning more people can shop. Right now you have 34 spots, and you can squeeze in 41 spots.”

However, the total number of spaces goes from 56 spots to 41 spots.

Dannemiller added that head-out spaces would be safer for bikers because the open doors of vehicles would not protrude into the bike path or sidewalk, as happens with parallel parking.

Mayor Dina Long said the parking changes are a good idea, but additional signage would be needed. Also, a meeting should be held with local business owners before the borough and DOT move forward with the plans, she said.

“I would like to see U-turn signage, so the person that misses their [parking] opportunity knows where to turn around … so that they can come back at it,” she said. “Plus, we need to hear from every business owner of affected properties. We need to make sure we are wholly inclusive of every property owner in the area.”

According to Nelson, the work would begin once a water main repair project is completed.

The preliminary plans for both the bike lanes and the head-out spaces are available at Borough Hall.