City Recently Adds Another Bike Lane

Mayor Cory A. Booker and Department of Engineering Director Mehdi Mohammadish have announced that the City of Newark has opened a new bike lane in Newark’s downtown, in the heart of the Rutgers-Newark campus area, a four-block section from Raymond Boulevard to Central Avenue. In addition, shared bike lanes were also placed on all the side streets linking the existing Washington Street bike land that was opened in 2012, and the new bike lane on University Avenue. The new shared bike lanes run along Raymond Boulevard, Warren Street, Bleeker Street, Central Avenue, James Street, Essex Street, Orange Street and University Avenue.

“Creating bicycle lanes in our city has made us friendlier to bike-riders, supports a cleaner environment, and helps us continue to promote healthier lifestyles for our residents,” Booker said. “I commend the Department of Engineering and Rutgers-Newark on this continuing partnership, and urge residents to put the pedal to the metal on University Avenue.”

The bike lane consists of a green textured pavement, with signs, pavement markings, and high-visibility stamped crosswalks to create a safer environment for pedestrians. The high-friction surfacing material, called “Safe-T-Grip” was used on the city’s other bike lanes, as well as bus lanes along Raymond Boulevard between McCarter Highway and Raymond Plaza East.

The bike lane projects on both University Avenue and Washington Street resulted from a partnership between Rutgers-Newark and the Department of Engineering. The university funded the design, while the city funded the construction work. The designer for the project was Sam Schwartz Engineering of Newark, and the contractor was Statewide Striping Corporation of Parsippany. The cost of the project was $40,000.

For information on all City of Newark programs and policies, contact the Non-Emergency Call Center at (973) 733-4311.