HOBOKEN -- After voting last year to approve a Washington Street redesign plan that included so-called "bump outs" intended to improve pedestrian safety, Councilman Ruben Ramos is now calling for a halt to their construction.

"I don't think we understood or noticed how big these bump-outs really were," Ramos said in an interview, likening the curb extensions to what he said were misguided roadway changes on Jackson Street and Observer Highway. "We could have another traffic abomination here as well, which we should avoid if we can."

The bump outs, now under construction, are essentially extensions of the curb out into an intersection, intended to make it safer for seniors and moms with strollers by reducing the distance they and other pedestrians must walk across the street. Proponents, led locally by Mayor Dawn Zimmer, say they also force vehicles to slow down and widen their approach while turning, further enhancing pedestrian safety.

But by their nature, bump outs narrow the roadway and create pinch points for automobiles. And opponents say they could actually create a threat to safety by making it more likely that fire trucks or other emergency vehicles will be blocked at intersections. In addition to creating possible safety hazards, Ramos and other opponents say the bump outs could increase the likelihood of traffic backups.

"A lot of times these things work well on paper," said Ramos, adding that recently he was forced to hold up a fire truck behind him at the intersection of Washington and First streets, where bump outs are being construct on all four corners. "But in my experience, it doesn't function very well."

Last week Ramos asked the Zimmer administration to halt construction of the bump outs, located at Washington and Newark, 1st and 7th streets, until Hoboken's police and fire departments had established they could navigate the bumped-out intersections.

"The bump outs being placed as part of Washington Street redesign appear to me much larger than what I and others who have approached me anticipated," Ramos wrote in an Aug. 10 email to Zimmer and other members of her administration.

He received a response the next day from Assistant Business Administrator Patrick Wherry stating that, "In the design phase of the project, turning templates were performed for all vehicles including fire trucks using Hoboken specific fire truck sizes."

"All have been properly constructed per the design, which was approved by the City Council," Wherry wrote. "Based on crash data analyzed for the project from 2010-2013, there were 17 vehicular-pedestrian collisions on Washington Street. A large fraction of collisions occurred during vehicular turning movements."

Councilman Michael DeFusco, a Ramos ally who is running to succeed Zimmer as mayor, called for an emergency public council meeting to address the redesign plan.

Apart from the bump outs, DeFusco said trees were being cut down even though their removal was not specified in the redesign plan. The plan also calls for a resurfacing of Washington Street and installation of new water mains.

"No one would dispute that Washington Street is in desperate need of repair," said DeFusco, who also voted for the redesign plan last year. "But the current administration's handling of this vital project has raised an enormous amount of concern throughout the community."

Zimmer announced in June that she would not seek a third four-year term, and Council members Ravi Bhalla and Jennifer Giattino, as well as Freeholder Anthony Romano, are also among those vying for the job.

A Zimmer spokesman, Juan Melli, released a statement defending the bump outs.

"Curb extensions are one of the most effective pedestrian safety measures and are recommended by all federal, state, and local engineering design manuals," the statement read. "They prevent dangerous illegal parking in crosswalks, improve the ability of crossing pedestrians and drivers to see each other, reduce pedestrian crossing distances and exposure, and slow turning vehicles, which is a major cause of pedestrian collisions along Washington Street."

All but one council member, Giattino, voted in February 2016 to approve the Washington Street redesign plan incorporating the bump outs. At the time, however, the bump outs were overshadowed by a controversy surrounding another Zimmer-backed safety feature of the Washington Street plan: protected bike lanes, which would have eliminated the illegal but time-honored practice of double parking.

In the face of angry business owners concerned about the lanes' potential impact on pickups and deliveries, council members amended the redesign plan to eliminate the protected bike lanes but left in the bump outs, which drew little notice by comparison.

But now some business owners, and even local clergy, are raising concerns about the bump outs and related elements of the redesign plan.

Fr. Alex Santora of Our Lady of Grace Church, a frequent Zimmer critic, branded them as "stupid." Joyce and Eugene Flinn, the owners of Amanda's and other Washington Street restaurants, are among those alarmed about the potential removal of trees along Washington Street.

"Call us tree-huggers," Joyce Flinn said.

Diana Davis, who chairs the Hoboken Shade Tree Commission, said a total of 22 trees had been identified for removal by the project's engineers, and that three trees had been removed without the commission's consent. But Davis said the removals had ceased, at least for the time being. Any trees that are removed, she said, will be replaced.

The three trees that were removed included two by Arthur's restaurant at 3rd Street and one by Walgreens at 1st Street. At some of the other 19 sites identified for tree removal were either dead or dying, Davis said.

The commission has not approved the removal of the remaining 16 healthy trees on the chopping block, and will evaluate each one to determine whether it's possible to do the work around them or transplant them, Davis said. She insisted none will be removed until the commission makes its determination, although she could not say precisely when that would be done.

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.