Gathering in South Jersey

Since moving to South Jersey, I've been shocked at the paucity of sidewalks, bike lanes, and roadside margins in and around Gloucester County.

That's why this article on pedestrian safety in South Jersey (in the the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 20) caught my attention the other day. The editor writes:

New Jersey's tragic rise in pedestrian fatalities has motivated authorities to begin undercover "stings" at crosswalks in towns across South Jersey. That's welcome news.

Basically the grant money is being used to give police departments resources to pay officers pose as street-crossers and then to ticket motorists who fail to appropriately yeild.

I think drivers need to be more courteous to pedestrians on the road, but I'd rather see the money spent on installing some sidewalks around schools in Gloucester County, on widening some roads to include decent margins for runners, bicyclists, and walkers to use, or even to put in actual bike lanes.

Or, if all that's too far-fetched, what about painting some cross walk lines at busy intersections? Near our house in Sewell, the intersection of Tyler's Mill Road and Woodbury-Glassboro Road has the following glaring (and to me, obvious) needs:

1. faded if not invisible crosswalk lines in all four directions;
2. zero sidewalk coverage--in an intersection next to a bank, a tavern, and a drug store
3. zero margin: by this I mean there's not even a white line on the main road, let alone any asphalt to the right of the white line that a biker or walker could use if need be
4. I'm not positive but I don't even think there is a cross walk signal or button ("push to cross") at this intersection.

One might argue that there isn't enough foot traffic to support these features at this intersection, but take a look around the county and you'll see that in general, New Jersey roadways are not designed for anything but car traffic (and then, even the car traffic isn't always well designed, but that's another story).

I'm a "part of the solution" kind of person, so I'd love to join the committee, or team, or task force, whose goal it is to make our county more pedestrian friendly.

Why am I passionate about this? Because I believe part of what makes a communitiy a desirable place to live is the ease with which people can walk places.

This is all part of my own sense of calling to help people connect with one another, and ultimately to connect with God.

I recall in another community I lived in, new construction was required by the city to put in sidewalks as part of new construction plan I was a part of, even when the road didn't have a full sidewalk in place already.

At the time, I grumbled. It makes more sense to me now.

But Tucson (where we used to live) is a pretty pedestrian-friendly city--as well as a bike-friendly city.

There are sidewalks almost everywhere you go; and where there are none, there usually is a decent margin on the side of the road on which people can walk or ride their bike.

New Jersey couldn't be more different, and that bothers me. Not only because I'm a biker and a runner and because I like walking to places, but also because I think the ills of the suburbs stem in part because people and places aren't connected the way they could be.

Until we get these connections, and sidewalks, I appreciate the PI's editorial drawing attention to this problem and hope the efforts that are made by our law enforcement people make a difference.