Tucked between the bay and a four-block residential area, East Bay Terrace is a narrow, winding shortcut that has long let motorists bypass Ship Bottom’s main roads. With a contentious traffic change set to remain in place until spring, the immediate concern for some is how it has already affected the daily lives of residents living there.
“You should leave well enough alone,” Andrew Wilk, an East Bay Terrace resident for more than three decades, said Oct. 27 when asked if he wanted the residential roadway to revert back to its original two-way traffic flow. “It’s worked very well for 60 years or however long.”
Known as the East Bay Terrace bikeway demonstration project, the changes to the residential roadway are temporary. Feedback from residents and real-life observations will determine the project’s success. At the end of the trial period, borough officials will decide whether to make changes permanent, modify the design, or remove the changes entirely.
Borough officials are working with the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, Sustainable Jersey and the Rutgers-Voorhees Transportation Center on a proposal to turn East Bay Terrace into a safer place to bike while linking the streets that connect Barnegat Avenue to East 31st Street.
“When this all came about, were there any studies done on pedestrian traffic, vehicle traffic, bicycle traffic both in high season and off-season?” Wilk asked, explaining later in the meeting that any traffic leaving the Island on a Sunday evening during peak summer season generally backs up to 15th Street and does not impact the four-block area of East Bay Terrace.
He said the number of motorists using East Bay Terrace, also known as Snake Alley for its zig-zag route across four residential streets between 19th and 23rd streets, hasn’t changed much in 35 years.
Councilman David Hartman said no studies had been conducted, but multiple factors were considered in a review that involved collaboration with borough police and the public safety committee as well as experts from the state.
Wilk’s wife, Ede, who also addressed the council, said she was standing up there alone but had the support of her neighbors, many of whom had signed a petition against the proposed bike path and changes.
Among their opposition is the directional change, which now requires homeowners living south of 19th Street to take Central Avenue or Long Beach Boulevard for access to their homes on 20th, 21st, 22 and 23rd streets where they intersect with East Bay Terrace.
“It’s (traffic) not crazy on Bay Terrace. There’s too many stops, there’s too many corners, you have to turn,” she said.
Historically, bicyclists have always traveled with traffic, and motorists have always been respectful while traveling on East Bay Terrace, Ede Wilk said.
“Right now, bikes take up the lane. People are like, ‘I’m running out of the way for a bike because they think they own the road now.’ It’s really frustrating. It was always calm and peaceful, and everybody respected drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians,” she said.
In the meantime, Andrew Wilk said, a study conducted during the off-season could significantly understate traffic, noting that very few vehicles travel along the street during that period. He added that he lives on the street and had heard the same concern raised at the previous meeting.
“The original intention was to begin closer to the beginning of summer,” Hartman said, adding feedback prior to the changes raised questions about what direction traffic should flow.
With that in mind, the public safety committee, police chief and members of the public provided input and helped to determine the appropriate course of action, he said.
“That held things up,” Hartman said, adding, “While the intention was to have a good trial for the better part of the summer, it wasn’t possible. That’s why the current thought of operation will continue come next spring. So far, we haven’t received any input that’s convinced us to shut it down.”
The councilman said plans for East Bay Terrace are part of a much broader look at the borough, from 31st Street, and the need for a traffic signal there, to the bridge underpass and the decrepit condition of the walk under it, where there is no room for bikes.
With a goal to improve traffic safety and make it easier to bicycle in town, East Bay Terrace was redesigned as one way northbound for motor vehicles – using temporary paint and plastic bollards – in late August.
The bollards were among some of the materials supplied by Ocean County to be returned last month, even as the county continues to look into other possible changes, said Kathleen Flanagan, borough administrator. Among those considerations is whether to change the road striping to make the markings less of an eyesore while still addressing safety concerns, she added.
Council President Ed English said if he lived along the East Bay Terrace corridor, he would want the town to do everything possible to reduce traffic, citing safety concerns for children playing nearby. He also argued the current configuration has benefits, including reducing one-way traffic, and questioned why it should be removed.
“I’ve lived there for 33, 34 years and we raised our family. We rode bicycles, pushed strollers and never felt uncomfortable or compromised in any way with two-way traffic,” Wilk said.
He questioned English’s view on sharing bike routes with pedestrians and on allowing cyclists to ride against traffic, noting that most of the town’s bike lanes follow the direction of traffic.
“I think it’s a fair point that sharing the lane is very unfamiliar around there, but it’s also generally considered the standard, and whether it’s painted or not, that’s what we’re expected to do,” Hartman said in offering his perspective.
The councilman compared East Bay Terrace’s function to a narrow side street, saying drivers encounter oncoming traffic with no marked lanes.
“There’s a lot more cars in town than there ever was. It’s not close to the way it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago,” Hartman said, a point of view that English also emphasized.
At the last bike path committee meeting, Hartman said, the group discussed a wide range of options, including traffic direction and the path’s visual impact. He added that the committee had received valuable public feedback and was taking it into consideration.
During those discussions, committee members mulled over whether East Bay Terrace could continue as a two-way street moving forward – a discussion they agreed needed input from the public safety committee, police chief and borough engineer, according to Hartman.
“We thought that was a pretty big question, and we’re not qualified to deliberate without the proper input,” the councilman said, adding, “We haven’t made decisions yet.”
Councilman Joe Valyo, who is a member of the bike path committee, said officials are still waiting on a final report about the proposed plan.
“They (the borough’s partners in the proposal) told us they’re compiling all the comments and everything from everyone,” he said last week. “And once we get that, that’s another piece of the puzzle, you know, that we have to really look at, to see the flow of things, generally speaking, for the whole area.”
Nothing is ingrained in stone, said Councilwoman Mary Basile, also a member of the committee to discuss the bike path.
“It’s a pilot program,” she added.
