River Road/Hudson Waterfront Corridor Strategy: A Phase Two Study Bergen County, New Jersey FINAL REPORT Final Report River Road/Hudson Waterfront Corridor Strategy: A Phase Two Study June 2013 Prepared for: Bergen County, New Jersey North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority Prepared by: in association with: and Amercom Corporation This report has been prepared as part of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority’s Subregional Studies Program with financing by the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or its use thereof. River Road/Hudson Waterfront Corridor Strategy: A Phase Two Study Bergen County, New Jersey FINAL REPORT Kathleen A. Donovan County Executive BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS David L. Ganz Chairman Joan M. Voss Vice Chairwoman John A. Felice Chair Pro Tempore Maura R. DeNicola John D. Mitchell Steven A. Tanelli Tracy Silna Zur Bergen County Department of Planning and Economic Development Robert S. Garrison, Esq. Department Director Kenneth Aloisio, AICP, P.P. Project Manager Donna Orbach, AICP, P.P. Christopher Helms, AICP, P.P. June, 2013 River Road/Hudson Waterfront Corridor Strategy: A Phase Two Study Bergen County, New Jersey FINAL REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Public Outreach and Interagency Coordination ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Existing Conditions .................................................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Environmental Screening ........................................................................................................................................ 3 1.4 Pedestrian Facilities ................................................................................................................................................ 3 1.5 Transit Facilities ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.6 Bicycle Facilities ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.7 Conceptual Improvements ...................................................................................................................................... 4 1.8 Concept Improvement Components ....................................................................................................................... 7 1.9 Bicycle Access to/from the George Washington Bridge (GWB) – Conceptual Design Recommendations ......... 10 1.10 Transit Oriented Development (TOD) ................................................................................................................... 11 1.11 Implementation Matrix ........................................................................................................................................... 12 1.12 Summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 12 2. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 14 3. Public Outreach and Interagency Coordination ............................................................................................................ 15 3.1 Project Team Coordination ................................................................................................................................... 15 3.2 Project Website ..................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) ................................................................................................................... 16 3.4 Public Information Centers .................................................................................................................................... 17 3.5 NJ TRANSIT Coordination .................................................................................................................................... 17 3.6 Online Survey ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 4. Existing Conditions ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 4.1 General Roadway Characteristics ......................................................................................................................... 19 4.2 Environmental Screening ...................................................................................................................................... 24 4.3 Commuting Patterns ............................................................................................................................................. 26 4.4 Related Plans, Projects, Policies, and Ordinances ............................................................................................... 27 4.5 Crash Data ............................................................................................................................................................ 28 4.6 Pedestrian Facilities .............................................................................................................................................. 29 4.7 Transit Facilities .................................................................................................................................................... 33 4.8 Traffic Signals ........................................................................................................................................................ 38 4.9 Hudson River Waterfront Walkway ....................................................................................................................... 41 4.10 Bicycle Facilities .................................................................................................................................................... 41 5. Conceptual Improvements ............................................................................................................................................ 52 5.2 Concept Improvement Components ..................................................................................................................... 55 5.3 Multimodal Level of Service Summary .................................................................................................................. 61 River Road/Hudson Waterfront Corridor Strategy: A Phase Two Study Bergen County, New Jersey FINAL REPORT 5.4 Bicycle Access to/from the GWB – Conceptual Design Recommendations......................................................... 63 6. Transit Oriented Development ...................................................................................................................................... 64 6.1 Understanding TOD .............................................................................................................................................. 65 6.2 Existing Regulatory Framework ............................................................................................................................ 65 6.3 Mapping for TOD Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 67 6.4 Identifying TOD Opportunity Areas ....................................................................................................................... 73 6.5 Concept Plans ....................................................................................................................................................... 82 6.6 Implementation Guidance ..................................................................................................................................... 90 7. Implementation Matrix ................................................................................................................................................... 93 7.1 Action Implementation Matrix ................................................................................................................................ 94 8. Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................... 100 River Road/Hudson Waterfront Corridor Strategy: A Phase Two Study Bergen County, New Jersey FINAL REPORT TABLE OF APPENDICES A. Community Outreach and Interagency Coordination Materials A.1 Project Website A.2 County Meetings A.3 Technical Advisory Committee Meetings A.4 Public Information Center Meetings A.5 NJ TRANSIT Meetings A.6 Online Survey Results A.7 County Engineering