No, it wasn’t an April Fools’ prank. On April 1, the New Jersey Department of Transportation revealed revised plans for the $265 million, 12.5-mile Route 35 Reconstruction Project. The original reconstruction plan for the Hurricane Sandy-damaged Route 35, which was first announced in February 2013, was touted as a complete streets project, but it provided little in the way of bike accommodations other than paved shoulders in some segments of the right of way.

The updated plan includes 10 miles of bike accommodations — mostly dedicated bike lanes, with shared lane markings or “sharrows” in some locations. The change comes after a year of advocacy by Tri-State, along with the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition and Greater Philadelphia Bicycle Coalition, to assure that this project serves as an example for New Jersey and rest of the nation of how complete streets can be implemented.

The project, which extends through eight municipalities, has been divided into three sections:

Mileposts 0-4 (Berkeley, Seaside Park, Seaside Heights and Toms River)

Route 35 North, from the entrance to Island Beach State Park in Berkeley through 6th Avenue in Toms River, will have a continuous bike lane of either four feet or five feet in width for all but 11 blocks. These 11 blocks will include sharrows.

On Route 35 South, from 6th Avenue in Toms River to Grant Avenue in Seaside Heights, bicyclists will have a four-foot dedicated lane, however, between Grant and Lincoln Avenues, cyclists will have shared road infrastructure. From Lincoln Avenue, southbound cyclists would be diverted one block east to Boulevard, which has no bicycle accommodations, and then rejoin Route 35 south of K Street, where there will be a four-foot-wide bike lane all the way until the entrance to Island Beach State Park in Berkeley.

Mileposts 4-9 (Lavallette, Toms River and Brick)

This five-mile section of Route 35 is will see five-foot bike lanes that will be marked alongside the northbound and southbound travel lanes, with the remaining shoulder space serving as a buffer between parked cars and the bicycle lanes.

Mileposts 9-12.5 (Mantoloking and Bay Head)

In this northernmost section, the northbound and southbound roadways reunite, with two lanes of traffic in each direction. In Mantoloking there will be five-foot bike lanes on both sides of Route 35, buffered from vehicular travel lanes with five-foot-wide painted buffers.

Parking is permitted, however, along the highway shoulders in Bay Head, which doesn’t leave enough space for dedicated bike lanes. As NJDOT notes in the plan, bicycle accommodations in Bay Head remain only “conceptual,” so in the meantime, “Share the Road” signage and sharrows will be installed.

Cyclists aren’t the only winners

Tri-State and its partners are currently reviewing the pedestrian accommodations included in the updated plan, but according to NJDOT’s press release, new pedestrian accommodations will include:

63,000 linear feet of new or rebuilt sidewalk, including a continuous sidewalk along the entire 12.5 miles of the northbound lanes

1,200 ADA-compliant curb ramps

200 pedestrian countdown signals

The addition of a Pedestrian Hybrid Signal just north of the Route 37 interchange to promote safe pedestrian access to the bay in Seaside Heights

These updated plans are a vast improvement over what was presented last year, but some sections still lack dedicated bicycle accommodations and continuous sidewalks. Fortunately, advocates aren’t alone in pushing for more pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure: Both Brick and Lavallette passed Resolutions urging NJDOT to include continuous sidewalks on Route 35 south.