Resident urges county to adopt 'complete streets' policy to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists

Richard Jones of Maywood told the Bergen County Board of Commissioners that the county should adopt a Complete Streets policy to improve safety for people who walk, bike and take transit. "I would like to encourage the board to adopt a complete streets policy," Jones said during the public-comment period, adding that networks work best when they are contiguous across municipal boundaries rather than piecemeal. Jones, who described his commute through Bergen County as more dangerous than his New York City commute, said the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) is developing a worker-safety action plan for the county and that the county could act on the results to tie municipal routes into a safer regional network. "The county's participation in this as the glue to tie together all the municipalities will be essential for improving street safety," Jones said. The transcript records the request as public comment; no formal board vote or referral was recorded in the meeting minutes shown in the transcript.