NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Residents have fought for bike lanes in New Brunswick for decades, but to no avail.

That could all change very soon, as City Council passed a resolution at their July 18 meeting authorizing the city’s engineering department to move forward with the installation of the first lanes in the city’s history.

City Engineer Tom Guldin said the lanes will probably be ready for use by late October if all goes according to plan.

“We’ll probably advertise within the next two weeks, recieve bids in late August.  We should be starting the work some time in September.”

Guldin estimated the work would take no more than 30-45 days.

He said that a new bike lane would run along Remsen Avenue from Sandford Street to the North Brunswick border.  The lane would temporarily be detoured onto Commercial Avenue, while the city finishes a replacing the storm sewer project underneath the rest of Remsen Avenue.

In the sixth ward, several lanes will be created near the Rutgers campus.  Guldin said plans call for bike lanes on Central Avenue, Bartlett Street, Wyckoff Street, Harvey Street, and “a number of other streets.”

In most cases, the bike lanes will be painted onto the road, and inevitably shared with cars.  But on some streets that are wide enough, cyclists will get their own dedicated right-of-way.

“The majority of them will be shared.  There are some where the roadway width and parkway width is adequate and we will be putting in dedicated lanes,” said Guldin.

Additionally, a multi-million dollar project has been in the works for years to create bicycle lane to connect the College Avenue and Cook/Douglass campuses of Rutgers University.  That project has been postponed numerous times and is still awaiting final approvals.

George Vervides of the Middlesex County Planning Department said he anticipates the approvals will come through before August 31.

Editor’s Note: The author of this article has advocated for the creation of bicycle lanes in New Brunswick at City Council and Middlesex County Freeholder meetings.

Editor at New Brunswick Today | 732-993-9697 | editor@newbrunswicktoday.com | Website

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.

Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.