BRICK – A pair of resolutions that sought grants designed to reduce roadway injuries and fatalities were tabled after two council members said they wanted more information.
Tabling means that the resolutions weren’t voted on during a meeting, but they can be put back on the agenda at a future meeting.
The first resolution, the authorization of NJ State Complete Streets Program, requires that future roadway improvement projects include safe accommodations for all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders and the mobility impaired.
According to the NJ Department of Transportation, the policy would be implemented through the planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of new, rehabilitated and retrofitted transportation facilities, public highways and public transportation projects funded or administered under the NJDOT Capital Program to provide safe and equitable access for all users.
The program features a tiered “Comprehensive Solutions Approach” ranging from simple signage updates to major construction.
The second resolution, the adoption of a federal program called “Vision Zero Initiative” is a statewide strategy and localized movement aimed at eliminating all traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries on New Jersey roadways.
The initiative focuses on engineering and systemic design, including mapping high-injury and crash hotspots to direct funding where it is most needed; improved street design using measures such as raised crosswalks, protected bike lanes and more; and prioritizing the safety of children, seniors, cyclists, pedestrians and public transit users.
Mayor Lisa Crate said passing the resolutions would enable the township to apply for some of the “dozens of grants that are out there” that could help create safe bike lanes, new sidewalks, funding for safer routes for pedestrians and more.
Councilwoman Lisa Reina made the motion to postpone votes on the two resolutions in order to “fully understand and evaluate” all the impacts of both of these initiatives/programs prior to voting, although she said she fully supports making roads safer for the residents.
Councilman Greg Cohen said before adopting the resolutions he would like to see a written outline of what the policies would mean to Brick financially, operationally and legally. He said he also would like clarification on how this would interact with county-controlled roads, “because most of our issues are on county-controlled roads.”
Council Vice President Derrick Ambrosino said the primary goal of voting for the resolutions is to open up access for the township to additional pools of grant funding to make a lot of changes that would come from some of these initiatives.
“I think we should look through all of the requirements and what it really means for the township, but this is not necessarily just signing us up to a program where somebody else tells us what to do,” he said.
“In reality, I think the real benefit of looking at this as open-mindedly as possible is whether we can fund…programs that can make our streets much safer,” Ambrosino said.
The ultimate benefit of passing the two resolutions would bring improvement to the town with minimal to no cost to the township, but said he was in support of tabling the vote until all council members have all their questions answered.
“By adopting these [resolutions], it doesn’t tie any money to anything – we’re not forced to do any of these things,” Mayor Crate said. “It just opens up avenues for us to be able to work on our roadways.”
The next council meeting will be on Tuesday July 14 at 7 p.m.
