9W is being repaved between E. Clinton and Closter Dock.
As of today it is milled in two 1/4 mi sections, and blacktop is being being laid down. It is extermely rough and almost unrideable. It looks like the intervening sections will be done next. I'd guess the work will take weeks to complete.
I'd suggest River Road as an alternative, though stretches above there may eventually be done. Right now only the state line section is undergoing work on the shoulder.
9W repaving
Thu, 11/11/2004 - 1:36pm
Thu, 11/11/2004 - 1:40pm
#1
River Road as an alternative? How about something flatter Fred like 501 or 505.:-)
Thu, 11/11/2004 - 2:08pm
#2
River Road - good news
I rode River Rd today and there were big pavement roller trucks visible. It appears the mid-section has been prepped for repavement. The northern section of River Rd was in decent shape and the same is true for the newly repaved shoulder of 9W, heading north after exiting the State Park (River Rd).
Thu, 11/11/2004 - 2:13pm
#3
rt501
Nothin' wrong with Rt501 this time of year, Herb.
No scenery but it will get you there, flat.
Wed, 11/17/2004 - 5:57am
#4
Update River Rd/9W
On yesterday's ride (11/16), I discovered the freshly paved River Rd. It was quite nice. The immediate southern section of the River Rd/State Park is still rough going though.
As for 9W, upon exiting River Rd (State Park), it's smooth sailing. The new shoulder is quite nice.
Heading south is a diffent story. There's major construction work. In particular, it occurs a few tenths of a mile after Hillside Ave. Construction crews, orange barricades, a single lane road without shoulder and lots of backed-up traffic meant one long U turn for me. (I ended up heading down Hillside and taking County Rd back to the city). I'd say for bicyclist that stretch of raodway is impassable at the moment.
Also worthy of note, if you get tired of riding down Hudson Terrace back to the city, continue on 9W (Sylvan Ave). To get to the bridge turn left just before the very visible highway overpass.
It is completely repaved from left-to-right curbside. It's a wide roadway with generally light traffic and unlike Hudson Terrace, there's no worry of being sideswiped by motorists exiting residential complexes.
Fri, 11/12/2004 - 6:42pm
#5
Yeah, that figures: re-pave River Rd. in time to freeze & thaw
River Road, especially in the Englewood Cliffs section, has desperately needed re-paving for years.
Were it not for the record of the PIPC, which governs the road, I'd be astonished at its being re-paved in time for the contraction of the winter cold, followed by expansion of the spring warmth. If the past is prologue, the roadway should be all broken up for us again come next spring.
Richard
Sat, 11/13/2004 - 5:40am
#6
paving before winter & the bigger cost issue
The oddity of paving the road just before winter was the first thought that popped into my head, too. Perhaps the PIPC still had some money left over in its 2004 budget and it's a matter of use it or lose it (e.g. no carry over of funds to '05). I know, doubtful, but I'm trying not to be too cynical.
There's a bigger problem with River Rd than the actual pavement. The person whom I rode River Rd with this past week had pointed it out and is a civil engineer by trade. There's quite a bit of land erosion going on - particularly on the northern section of the road. Presumably quite a bit of the roadside's underbelly landmass is sliding down towards the river. If you look closely, you will see evidence of such, the road buckling a bit.
The longer the erosion problem is not addressed, the more expensive problem it becomes to fix.
Sun, 11/14/2004 - 6:09pm
#7
Precautions need be taken
"For once, Peter, I quite agree with you. To quote an ancient Montegrin folk saying:
""When the dike breaks, fingers are of no use.""
Your Pal,
Etoain"
Fri, 12/24/2004 - 12:39pm
#8
Road report 12/24
I took 9W south from Piermont today and had no problems. In fact, I even had a tailwind.
There are a couple of spots where construction is being done (though not today), and north- and southbound traffic is diverted to a single lane each way.
However, for the southbound cyclist, there is also a lane-wide shoulder separated by a solid white line. (Don't think this obvious division prevents drivers from honking at you--but that's another story.)
The northbound side looked pretty hairy--no shoulder in a couple of places. I would avoid it for the time being. Though I may have seen Tom Laskey heading north, who could give a better report. Tom, was that you on the yellow bike, around 12:30?
Fri, 12/24/2004 - 7:33pm
#9
no bike lane in places!
The current configuration of 9w is missing a bike lane or any functional shoulder for long stretches.
Does anybody know if the bike lanes were originally put there with federal money taken from funds for alternative transit? If so, and the current configuration stays (and it does appear that the work is finished in these stretches) the DOT may have pulled a fast one on cyclists and may be in violation of the law.
Fri, 12/24/2004 - 8:36pm
#10
No Bike Lanes
Could be to make more room for the ever increasing population of Hummers of Alpine, NJ and its surrounding environs. Welcome to the era of the motorvehicle manifest destiny.
Peter
(tongue planted firmly in cheek)
Mon, 01/03/2005 - 8:58am
#11
"""Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry
"Call me paranoid...
Parking spaces stretch to fit fat rides (in upscale Bernardsville, NJ)"
Mon, 01/03/2005 - 5:19pm
#12
And we wonder why there's a gas shortage! (nm)
Tue, 01/04/2005 - 9:50am
#13
There is no gas shortage
"There is no gas shortage, it’s just that the wrong people have it. This is the reason we’re in eRack ""Keeping Peace"". We need more fossil fuel to keep the Hummers humming. We need wider vehicles because the average person is getting wider, how is it that overeating (Obesity) is a pandemic?
We need wider parking for the Hummers and Navigators to buy industrial size bags of chips, and drive our wide kids to school. We need wider and longer turn lanes for the special occasions when you need a stretched Hummer (because a SUV is no longer special or safer if everybody has one).
I know this is preaching to the choir of skinny tire people, so my own resolution for ’05 is to know when enough is really enough.
Happy New Year to all who's moved on to riding a two wheeler !
Go Mets!
"
Sun, 04/10/2005 - 5:38am
#14
More on 9W
"At the road block Richard wrote about, the officer said to please note that 9W has now been repaved. What happened to the bike lane on 9W? I asked. ""The DOT had asked 46 [some such number] bike clubs in New Jersey, and none of 'em wanted it,"" he said. ""Because when you open it up to bicycles, then anyone can use it, rollerbladers, baby strollers. There's $173 million sitting in escrow right now waiting for a decision."" (Anyone buy that?)
Where should I send a letter in support of the bike lane? I asked. He said the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Hank, you ever hear back from T.A.? No? Maybe a couple of us from the club can look into this and draft a letter of support. Interested?
---------------
Hank,
My idea was that a couple of club members would take on researching the issue and drafting a preliminary letter to give to the board, since they have so much else to do. I would be willing to do this if you or anyone else would like to work together.
Glad to hear T.A. is now making an effort to answer some of their correspondence. It's about time.
As for clout, there's no reason the NYCC shouldn't speak up on such issues too, rather than relying on another organization. The time constraints on our board could be relieved somewhat by active members interested in the issues. It might help get more people involved in the club as well."
Sun, 04/10/2005 - 8:23am
#15
TA reply to 9w repaving
The TA did finally get back to me 2 weeks ago with 2 organizations to contact. I passed it on to the NYCC board. My take is that they have more weight and can deliver more clout than any individual.
Sun, 04/10/2005 - 6:46pm
#16
9W non-paving job
"the pavement destruction started August of 2003!!! 3 weeks ago I spent 40 minutes calling some New Jersy political hacks-to absolutley no success-since; when I gave my zip code(10021) they could be of no help as I didn't LIVE in their ""districts""!!!! ugh The challenge to the Jersey authorities is to find a way to keep us from coming over THEIR bridge and riding on THEIR roads-they must feel by destroying OUR BEST ROUTE they may get us to go back to Long Island and Tarrytown. just like we did in the 1970s and 1980s !1"
Mon, 04/11/2005 - 6:54am
#17
Interesting point
Why is the only good bike route from NYC in NJ anyway? I paid NY lots of tax money last year and have Queens Blvd, The Grand PotholeCourse and the Broadway Bridge to ride on in New York State?
Sat, 12/25/2004 - 11:34am
#18
9W
I do ride a yellow bike and I was riding north on 9W probably around 12:30 on Friday. I'm embarassed to say I really didn't take much note of the shoulder situation as I was just a little shy of freezing and riding alone in my own space in my own head. It would come as no suprise to discover what little shoulder we did have on 9W has been removed to - as Peter says - make room for essential vehicles like Hummers and Rovers. Maybe we should write the powers that be in Bergen and Rockland Counties and thank them profusely for not outlawing cyclists altogether.
Sat, 12/25/2004 - 8:52pm
#19
bike rt 9
9W is part of an official state bike route. Maybe we should figure out who the state bike guru is and send some mail that way.
They were advertising last year about new bike routes upstate in some tourist stuff.
Sun, 12/26/2004 - 5:52pm
#20
email to Transportation Alternatives by me, just sent
Route 9w is a major bike route for New York City cyclists. As far back as I recall, from Palisade Avenue north, it has been a designated bike route. I assume this means alternative transportation federal funds were used to partially pay for construction of this road, leaving a shoulder which can be called a bike route. Well 9w is now being repaved. Some sections appear complete. These sections now have little or no shoulder. Can the DOT take a designated bike route and eliminate it? Assuming funds were paid for prior construction, can they just repave it and cast us aside? A current thread on the NYCC Message Board is concerned with this issue and nobody seems to know what to do.
Thanks,
Hank Schiffman
Sun, 01/02/2005 - 7:05am
#21
Is it done yet?
Does anyone know if NJ DOT has finished repaving along Route 9W from Palisades Avenue north to Piermont?
Thanks,
-jkb
Sun, 01/02/2005 - 10:03am
#22
Not done
They were working around Closter Dock road last week.
Sun, 01/02/2005 - 2:09pm
#23
9w bike lane shrinking
As of yesterday 9W is rideable from 505 (Palisades ave) to Alpine with a rough but rideable shoulder. It's obvious some final repaving will be done: there are signs 'raised drains' indicating a final layer of blacktop will be added.
That said, this will not be the 9w of 10 years ago. The shoulder(s) have been gradually reduced to provide left turn lanes for northbound traffic into the new mega-house cut-de sacs that have sprouted on the west side of the road.
In addition the new drains are of the worst type: wide grates parallel to the road. When the work is done and the final alignment of the road is set, we will see how much bike lane there really is versus left-turning lanes for a very few, but really big houses.
It would be interesting to know if ISETA funds are being (mis-)used for this effort.
Mon, 01/03/2005 - 5:30pm
#24
direct link to clip
"(i'm editing this post...my apologies to anyone taken to the top level of the ogrish site)
[[[DISCLAIMER: THIS LINK IS MEANT TO SHOW WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DON'T PAY ATTENTION AT INTERSECTIONS!!! IT'S GRAPHIC!!!]]]
right-click the link and save to disk:
http://www.ogrish.com/archives/2004/december/ogrish-dot-com-crushed-by-truck-in-china.wmv
the link worked for me on the first try...i guess it isn't working for everyone. my apologies if you were taken to the top of the main site.
don"
