PETITION IN OPPOSITION OF BIKE LANES ON PARKER AVENUE

TO MAPLEWOOD TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE MEMBERS MAYOR ADAMS, DEPUTY MAYOR HERMAN, AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS DELUCA, DAFIS AND ENGELS

     We, the undersigned residents of Parker Avenue and your constituents, vigorously oppose the installation of bike lanes across the corridor of Parker Avenue! Bike lanes impact the safety of all residents, present a risk of injury to pedestrians along with bicyclists, compromise the day-to-day provision of services to this area, and affect the property values of our homes.

PARKER AVENUE RESIDENTS REQUEST A MEETING WITH THE TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS THIS PLAN BEFORE A VOTE IS TAKEN.

The Parker Avenue bike lane plan designed by Dynamics was started in early 2024.  Taxpayer monies were expended in creating a plan without the input of the impacted residents on Parker Avenue.  Yet, meetings were had with bike lane advocates early on and meetings with Parker Avenue residents were had in March 2025.  These meetings, which were rushed and scheduled at the last minute, presented to the Parker Avenue households an aggressive plan of implementation within six months.  A public notice was issued in late January 2025 and social media/media notice was not in place until late February 2025 for meetings that were scheduled in early March.  This was inadequate notice to Parker Avenue residents for a plan that would greatly affect them. Therefore, we request a meeting with township officials before any decision is made. 

Bike lanes on a main thoroughfare like Parker Avenue pose significant risks of injury to pedestrians, road users, and bicyclists.  

Parker Avenue is a main thoroughfare that connects to several highly trafficked areas like Valley Street, Prospect Street, and Boyden Avenue.   Much of Parker Avenue is narrow and there are areas with steep downhills especially as you approach the intersections of Parker and Prospect heading towards Columbia High School and Valley.  This thoroughfare is used daily by many large vehicles, to wit: delivery trucks, tractor-trailers, sanitation trucks, landscaping vehicles, school buses, fire trucks, and police vehicles.  The combination of these heavy and large vehicles, narrower streets, vehicular traffic, and bicycles presents a grave risk of injury to bicyclists and drivers alike while also increasing congestion on Parker Avenue. 

Emergency vehicle response time will be impacted by narrower streets and slower speeds to accommodate bike lanes. 

Emergency vehicle response times will be impacted as a result of narrower streets and slower speeds thereby threatening the health of Maplewood residents.  Parker Avenue is one of a few main streets taken by emergency vehicles responding to resident emergencies.  Bike lanes will force them to slow down since streets will be narrower causing them to slow down resulting in a slower response time.  Slower response time can result in death or serious health consequences to all residents.  In an emergency, every minute counts! 

BICYCLE TRAFFIC ON PARKER IS MINIMAL AND DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE EXPENDITURE OF MONIES ON THIS PLAN. 

Contrary to the reports presented at the bike lane meetings, Parker Avenue residents see very little bicycle activity on their streets.  Only the most experienced bikers would use these lanes since navigating the steepness of the street in addition to navigating oncoming traffic requires expert handling of a bike.  It is highly unlikely that school-age children would use the lanes or that parents would allow their children to travel such a dangerous route to school.  The intersection of Parker and Prospect happens to be a steep slope where bicycles and cars gain considerable speed as they are going towards Valley.  Even with traffic calming measures, no one can prevent a bicyclist from speeding down that hill creating a dangerous situation for all.   Moreover, the addition of bike lanes for 20-30 bicyclists a week, as reported at the meetings, is sacrificing the rights of the many residents on Parker to accommodate the needs of a few.   It is a misuse of taxpayer money that can be used for more effective and least restrictive traffic calming measures or to support other much-needed projects.  

THE COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL AREA OF PARKER AVENUE IS ONE OF THE MOST CONGESTED AREAS OF TOWN SINCE STUDENTS COME FROM THE TWO TOWNS OF MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE AND TRAFFIC CONVERGES ONTO TWO VERY NARROW STREETS BETWEEN PROSPECT AND VALLEY.  

The Columbia High School location is especially problematic since the township did not consider the pick-up and drop-off of approximately 2000 high schoolers and is trying to address it after the fact.  Clearly not enough homework was done to address this issue before the March meetings were held.  The town’s last-minute plans on how to manage Columbia High School traffic is impractical.  It is being proposed that drop-offs be done on Academy Street (another narrow street) for approximately 2000 high school students from two towns, or on Valley Street which is a county road.  Traffic would back up under both plans.  In addition, not allowing drop-offs in front of CHS merely to accommodate the few using bike lanes will result in back-ups on Prospect, Valley, and the adjoining side streets next to the school resulting in massive congestion.   Even with bike lanes there will always be residents driving down Parker to go to work, shop, or decide to drop off students on the side streets to avoid the drop-off lines created by this plan.  There is limited parking on the side streets due to parking restrictions and Board of Education parking.  Even with permit parking, the side street residents will also be deprived of parking in front of their homes and experience more congestion as a result.  

Parker Avenue residents should have the same access as other residents to street parking so as to allow service providers, family members, caregivers, or visitors to park in front of their homes.  

 The streets belong to everyone including Parker Avenue homeowner vehicles, and we did not buy a home that restricted use of the very streets in front of our homes that everyone else is entitled to use.  Bike lanes complicate our egress from our driveways since we now have to look out for cars and bicyclists on both sides of a narrow and, in some areas, steep street.  Nighttime is especially difficult since poor lighting and sight lines are already limited.  Parker Avenue residents already have a very difficult time getting out of their driveways due to traffic converging from several highly trafficked streets. The bike lanes will eliminate the only parking available for service providers, family members especially those with young children, caregivers for older adults, and complicate family gatherings.  These homes will be less accessible to people with disabilities violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, and to older adults with medical issues.  Permit parking on the side streets will not resolve this issue and will require the most vulnerable of this group to have to walk a distance in inclement weather to reach their destination.   Moreover, if permit parking on the side streets is only for residents where do the people mentioned above park?   Overnight parking will be impacted for these homes when both residents and visitors may need to park their cars on side streets where vehicles cannot be seen by owners resulting in more car thefts.  

The loss of on-street parking on Parker Avenue will create congestion on adjacent streets and the loss of on-street parking by those residents.

Pushing cars, service, and delivery vehicles to the side streets will clog traffic on those streets. Furthermore, vehicles parking on these streets in lieu of Parker Avenue will likely park close to the intersection, which can cause traffic congestion when vehicles are turning, and compromise visability.  Additionally, vehicles trying to pass or go around cars turning left will cause them to enter the bike lanes possibly causing injury to a bicyclist. 

Bike lanes will greatly complicate delivery of essential township services like garbage pick-up, recycling, leaf removal, yard waste pick-up, and snow removal.

Bike lanes will only be accessible a few months of the year since at other times, there is leaf removal, yard waste pick-up, snow removal, Christmas trees, recycling, etc. The township has yet to come up with a plan on how this will all work and should have done so before proposing bike lanes.   Bike lanes will be inaccessible most times of the year and bollards will complicate the provision of these services.  Our tax dollars pay for these services and we are entitled to them in the same manner as provided to other residents.

Maplewood taxpayers will be paying for the installation of these bike lanes that would benefit both Maplewood and South Orange and there are better uses of this money.

We are living in times where monies are being eliminated from town budgets, especially Maplewood.  There are a multitude of other more beneficial projects that could use the $275,000 set aside for bike lanes AND that would benefit ALL taxpayers and not just a few. Monies can be used to improve the existing bike lanes, make streets safer by placing more stop signs and traffic calming measures that do not put residents at risk of injury.  

There is no need for dedicated bike lanes for people to legally and safely ride their bikes on Parker Avenue. The vehicle and traffic law already provides for bike riding on Parker Avenue or any street in town.   In addition, there are safer street alternatives to Parker like Elmwood Avenue and Oakland that connect to the parks, train station, and Maplewood Village.  The speed limit on Parker Avenue is 25 MPH.  Enforcing the speed limit will calm traffic.  There are many other traffic calming measures that can be implemented without inconveniencing the many for a few.  The inclusion of those white bollards will look horrible, substantially detracting from the character and beauty of Parker Avenue, and diminishing our home values (for most of us, our greatest asset). 

In closing, Township Committee Members, while none of you live on Parker Avenue, we hope you understand our genuine concern for all of our residents and consider the voices of households that live on Parker.  We hope that you truly consider all our valid concerns and listen to your large constituency on Parker Avenue.