Jersey City advances Franklin Street bikeway amid fire‑response questions
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Summary
City staff said a NJDOT bikeways grant will fund a protected, parking‑protected bikeway on Franklin Street after community feedback removed Manhattan Avenue from the scope; fire officials reported an uptick of roughly one minute in response times at a few addresses and staff pledged minor design edits and follow‑up studies before Wednesday's council vote.
Acting infrastructure director Drew Banghart told the Jersey City Municipal Council caucus that the Franklin Street bikeway — part of a grant project applied for in 2022 and drawn from the city's Bike Master Plan — has been refocused to Franklin Street after Manhattan Avenue was removed following community feedback. The project would install parking‑protected bike lanes, curb bump‑outs and a buffer with flexible delineators, and is tied to a NJDOT bikeways grant that Banghart said the city must advance toward a June bid award deadline.
The project prompted questions from council members about emergency response and traffic impacts. Councilmember Jake Efros asked whether public safety and infrastructure had coordinated since a recent community meeting; Deputy Chief Hart said the departments met and "we did note an uptick of approximately a minute" for response times at two or three addresses during the pilot. Hart and infrastructure staff said they were jointly identifying minor edits — including removing a few parking spaces and hardening curb intersections — to reduce that impact.
Banghart said a June 11 DOT milestone requires the city to award a construction contract in order to preserve the grant, and that the city has gone through several extensions. He described a June 2024 pilot that helped test the one‑way configuration and said the final plans are being tweaked with the fire department before submission for DOT authorization. Staff also said the project was part of the city's bike master plan vision, connecting Pershing Field Park, PS 8 and neighborhood retail to an east‑west protected corridor.
Council members pressed for follow‑up analysis on alternatives raised by residents — including using a different engine company to improve response times — and asked infrastructure to circulate the DOT memo, pilot studies and the bike master plan map. Banghart and planner Lindsay Scofield agreed to provide the memo and other materials and to run additional traffic and routing checks with engineers to respond to congestion and safety questions before the council's Wednesday meeting.
The administration said the NJDOT bikeways award and the current design work mean the city must finalize plans and seek DOT approval for bidding to meet the grant schedule; staff emphasized they would return with the fire department's comments and any updated traffic data. The caucus did not take a final vote on the ordinance at the meeting.