Avalon Plans to Finish Bike Path in ‘17

AVALON – At the Avalon Borough Council’s Feb. 8 meeting, Borough Engineer Thomas Thornton made a presentation on conceptual plans for the extension of the bike path. 
The intention, if council agrees to the plan at a future business meeting, is to complete the design and implementation in time for the bike path to be completed this year.
That schedule would mean design in the spring, a summer bid process, and implementation efforts in the fall.
Eleven years ago, Avalon placed the current bike path in the borough along Dune Drive from Sixth to 19th streets and then picking up again at 34th Street and continuing south to the borough’s end at 80th.
It is a wide six-foot path that intentionally by-passed the business district. 
Its shortcoming was that it left bike riders no clear options when they approached the business district, and it necessarily ignored some side streets with heavy bike usage. 
These were necessary deficiencies in 2006 which the borough seeks to rectify.
The plan, being called Phase II in the presentation, will use signage to direct riders on designated east/west streets to new north/south lanes on First Avenue, south, and Avalon Avenue, north.
Five-foot wide bike lanes on those streets allow riders to bypass the business district and complete a ride the length of the borough.
A number of often-used side streets are included in the plan utilizing a “share the road” concept that will have posted signs directing vehicular traffic and bikes on sharing the street. Those side streets were just not wide enough to implement striped lanes.
Business Administrator Scott Wahl told the council that the design put “safety first.” Wahl spoke of efforts by the borough to distribute cards to riders with printed tips on bike safety.
Thornton noted that the plan met all Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and Manual and Uniform Traffic Control Devices standards.
Council was also told that the implementation of the plan would result in no loss of parking spaces in the borough.
The initial bike path in 2006 was completed at the cost of $65,000, and the estimate for this extension as presented is an additional $50,000.
Beach Fill Update
Wahl gave council an update on the beach fill project which has been hampered by the National Fish and Wildlife Service invoking a seldom-used regulation that prevents federal funds from being used for removing sand from one of the two borrow-areas for the project, Hereford Inlet.
The Herford Inlet dredging was intended to supply Stone Harbor, while sand from Townsend’s Inlet is meant to supply Avalon beaches.
Since the project is a combined one with a common contractor, disruption of the Stone Harbor process impacts both boroughs.
As Wahl explained, some additional funding may be available to supply more sand to Stone Harbor’s north end and the beaches from 76th to 80th Streets in Avalon.
Since that additional funding would be federal, its use is impacted by the dispute with Fish and Wildlife. The latest plans call for a submerged pipe that will run from the dredge in Townsend’s Inlet along the length of the Avalon oceanfront to deliver sand to the northern end of Stone Harbor.
This represents an engineering complication the borough feels unnecessary and expensive. 
The borough continues its legal fight in federal court to get the ban on federally-funded borrowing of sand from Hereford Inlet.
Meanwhile, the dredge scheduled for the work has been occupied on some emergency dredging related to the Delaware River. The latest schedule calls for Stone Harbor’s fill process, using sand from Hereford supported by state and municipal funds, to begin February 12 and run 25 to 30 days.  Avalon would follow, using its base sand allocation from Townsends Inlet, with an expectation of a 37-day process.
Regular meetings on the project are held Thursdays, and the latest updates will be posted on the borough website.
Flood Alert Parking
Wahl updated council on a new addition to the 2017 Information and Recreation Guide.
Noting that weather alerts sometimes instruct residents and visitors to move cars to higher ground during storms or heavy rain events, Wahl said the borough would include in this year’s guide an updated, color-coded map showing locations to use based on the level of the event announced.
The hope is that the map will resolve some confusion on where to place cars when told to relocate them.
The map will be accompanied by a legend that explains the alert levels and how to use the coded maps to locate appropriate locations.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.