The City of Hoboken today announced the launch of the Grand Street Complete Streets Pilot, a comprehensive redesign of Grand Street between Third Street and Eighth Street aimed at improving safety, mobility, and accessibility as part of Hoboken’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. The pilot is scheduled to begin on Nov. 3 following milling and paving operations scheduled for the week of Oct. 27. The Complete Streets program will evaluate a variety of curbside management strategies aimed at mitigating congestion by reducing double parking through the use of new loading zones for deliveries and passenger pick-up and drop-off in residential areas, as well as limiting parking disruptions by implementing a new street cleaning parking exemption on the east side of the street.
“This initiative builds on Hoboken’s progress toward safer and more sustainable streets,” said Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla. “The Grand Street Complete Streets Pilot reflects our commitment to Vision Zero by investing in smarter street design, modern infrastructure, and innovative parking and mobility solutions that benefit everyone who lives, works, or travels in Hoboken.”
The Grand Street Complete Streets Pilot includes several Vision Zero infrastructure improvements including, 23 restriped high-visibility crosswalks, 11 curb extensions to reduce pedestrian crossing distances and improve intersection visibility, upgraded ADA ramps, as well as a new protected bike lane on the east side of the street to improve cyclist safety and connect to existing bike lanes in the vicinity. The new protected bike lane, paired with recent street cleaning equipment upgrades, also reduces the frequency that vehicles must move for street sweeping. Hoboken’s compact multi-hog sweeper can effectively use the protected bike lane to clean the curbside lane where debris typically accumulates, without requiring parked vehicles to be moved. Beginning with the launch of the pilot, residents parked on the protected bike lane side of the street will no longer need to relocate their cars every Wednesday between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., offering added convenience to drivers while maintaining clean streets.
As part of the pilot, the City will also delineate on-street parking spaces to make on-street parking more predictable and orderly. Additionally, the City will install 36 new bicycle parking spaces, including six bicycle corrals placed adjacent to the protected bike lane to physically daylight curb space where vehicle parking is illegal and unsafe due to blocked intersection visibility. The City will also explore the potential addition of smaller Citi Bike docks to improve local access to the bike-share service with Lyft.
To support local deliveries and mobility, the pilot will also expand flexible curbside zones for deliveries and passenger pick-up and drop-off to reduce double-parking and congestion along the corridor.
The Grand Street pilot builds on significant infrastructure work that began earlier this year when the City completed drinking water system upgrades along the corridor, replacing over 2,300 linear feet of aging water mains to improve service reliability and reduce the risk of future area water main breaks as part of the Water Main Replacement Program. The City also installed two manufactured treatment devices (MTDs) to improve stormwater management and water quality as well as other green infrastructure upgrades in support of Hoboken’s climate action goals.
Over the course of the next year, the City will monitor the pilot and collect data and community feedback to determine the effectiveness of the curb management strategies and potential for permanent future implementation.
In preparation for the pilot’s launch on or about Nov. 3, milling, paving, striping, delineator installations, and bike parking installations will begin the week of Oct. 27. These activities may temporarily impact traffic and parking on Grand Street as work is completed.
For future construction updates, go to www.hobokennj.gov/construction.
