Bicycles are as much a part of New Jersey’s beach scene as miniature golf, saltwater taffy, seagulls and boardwalks.

The Shore region has all the ingredients that make bike riding attractive: Flat terrain. Wide roads. Tourists with the time to take a spin.

That’s why a regional transportation policy watchdog group and biking coalitions think the state Department of Transportation is missing a golden opportunity in the rebuilding of Hurricane Sandy-damaged Route 35 by not putting in dedicated bike lanes.

Sometime after Labor Day, the DOT will begin major roadwork between Bay Head and Mantoloking as part of a $265 million, 2-year total reconstruction of the 12½ miles of Route 35 between Point Pleasant and Island Beach State Park.

Hurricane Sandy chewed away part of Route 35, as the ocean met the bay in Mantoloking, providing one of the most indelible images of New Jersey’s most devastating storm. The DOT repaired the breach to allow traffic to travel once again, but will now take advantage of federal funds for a total reconstruction of one of the most popular Shore routes.

Cycling advocates contend Shore towns could be a destination for bikers and say including bike lanes would show the state is serious about its "Complete Streets" policy of building roads with bikers, pedestrians and motorists in mind.

"The state has a nationally recognized policy, so if we’re going to continue to be a national leader in Complete Streets, this is the project that I think a lot of people are going to be looking at," said Janna Chernetz, New Jersey advocate for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

During a tour of Lavallette and Ortley Beach, she passed spots such as the Music Man, where you get your ice cream served by singing waiters, and Barnacle Bill’s miniature golf, with a towering Paul Bunyan-looking figure holding a giant golf putter.

Route 35 between Seaside Heights and Island Beach State Park has pizza shops and liquor stores, motor inns and old-fashioned ice cream places, and plenty of bicyclists: bikes with baskets, bikes with tows, mountain bikes and touring bikes.

"We’ve been calling this the litmus test of the state’s Complete Streets policy, that if they can’t do it here, they might as well tear it up — because this is a perfect environment in many different ways," said Cyndi Steiner, executive director of the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition. "It’s flat. It’s wide. It’s a tourist area, people are already here. It’s the perfect opportunity."

State DOT spokesman Joe Dee, himself an avid cyclist, agreed that "riding a bike along the Shore is a wonderful activity."

But he said the DOT is not acquiring additional rights-of-way for the project, and it wouldn’t be fair to make businesses that have used shoulders for parking for decades to give up those spots for bicycle lanes.

"We have talked to Tri-State Transportation Campaign about our desire to incorporate as many Complete Streets features in this project as we possibly can," Dee said.

"Complete Streets is more than bike lanes," he added.

The Route 35 project calls for 63,000 linear feet of new or rebuilt sidewalk, high-visibility crosswalks to guide pedestrians to safe crossing locations, 200 new pedestrian crossing countdown signals and 1,200 Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramps at intersections.

"For virtually the entire 35 northbound, there is going to be a continuous sidewalk, 12.5 miles," Dee said.

Chernetz said there is still enough room on the stretch of Route 35 for bike lanes and that the DOT can work with the municipalities, which would derive safety and economic benefits from the bike lanes as tourists on two wheels flock to their towns.

"It’s increasing the frequency that people would stop at their businesses — it’s easier to park your bike than it is park your car," she said. "Families might be more inclined to want to spend a week, spend a weekend, spend a day in a place where they can feel safe walking or riding their bikes. It’s an added bonus for coming to the municipality."

On a postcard-perfect summer afternoon at the Shore, Marc Bacon of East Brunswick, his wife Jen and their children, Camille, 8, and Delaney, 5, pedaled their bikes in Lavallette.

"It looks like the road is wide enough to support bike lanes, but honestly, we’re a little nervous riding on the road with young kids because of the way the cars would back out, so we’ve been sticking mostly to the boardwalk and the sidewalk for now," Marc Bacon said. "But if there were dedicated lanes, I think we would" use them.

The Shore doesn’t need a slogan like the "If you build it, they will come," mantra in "Field of Dreams."

The cyclists are already here.

Even as the ravaged stretch of Ocean County rebuilds from Sandy, resilient cyclists still find a way to get around the cars, cones and backhoes, navigating bumps, construction vehicles and debris.

But the clock is ticking until the major Route 35 construction begins, and cycling advocates are nervous.

"It’s easier to get the bike lanes in now than it is to go back, and the chances of going back are slim to none," Chernetz said. "It’s more expensive if you want to go back and try to retrofit it, so it’s got to be the mindset at the onset. It’s not an afterthought."

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