MARGATE – A local business owner is concerned about the reconfiguration of Washington Avenue proposed in a streetscape redesign that will go out to bid in a few short weeks.
Real estate broker Joseph DiLorenzo of DiLorenzo Realty Group, 101 N. Washington Ave., said there’s too much truck traffic serving local businesses, such as pizza parlors, restaurants and the CVS store on the corner of Ventnor and Washington avenues, for the roadway reconfiguration to be safe. He is filing Open Public Records requests for traffic survey and engineering reports and dates of all meetings where the plan was discussed.
He said the plan to turn Washington Avenue into a one-way street with a one-way bike lane “lacks a competent rationale” especially regarding emergency services that might be needed in the neighborhood.
He said his neighbors have “expressed alarm that the project appears to be moving forward without any real opportunity for the public to present opposition.”
Although the most recent Master Plan Review of 2017 noted the project was part of the city’s plans for the future, the Board of Commissioners has been discussing the project in detail since 2022 when it started applying for grants to fund the project. The project, which aims to connect two business districts – one on Ventnor Avenue and the other in the Waterfront Special District on Amherst Avenue – will make the roadway safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists, officials say.
DiLorenzo, who owns a multi-unit office complex on Washington and Winchester avenues, said he wants the city to be successful, but not at the expense of public safety.
“There’s already a log jam of parking. We just can’t wrap our heads around this,” he said Friday afternoon, expressing frustration that city officials are not listening to his concerns.
Photos provided by Joseph DiLorenzo DiLorenzo provided Downbeach with several photographs of truck traffic on what he calls a congested roadway.
“I’m concerned about delivery trucks when they stop in the street and you can’t get around them. So what’s the reason for one-way traffic. It will cut the flow of traffic on a main artery.”
He said the project was not well conceived and the city could find better use for $3 million of taxpayer money.
Although he said residents were not adequately informed, DiLorenzo has met with city officials at his office on two occasions – on May 1 with city engineer Ed Dennis Jr. of Remington & Vernick, and again on June 1 with Mayor Michael Collins and a group of business owners.
Dennis said the city reviewed the concept plan with them and that the plan was revised several times to address their concerns. Dennis also presented the concept plan to the community during a Board of Commissioners meeting on April 17.
The plan will change the traffic pattern – currently a two-way street – into a one way street heading from Atlantic Avenue to Amherst Avenue. The original plan had a bi-directional bike lane, but that idea was changed twice after meeting with stakeholders, Dennis said.
The first change revised plans to have a single bi-directional bike lane into single-direction bicycle lanes on both sides of the vehicle cartway. After meeting with stakeholders a second time, the bike lane configuration was changed again to allow just one bicycle lane on the Ventnor side of the roadway traveling in the same direction as motor vehicle traffic. The bike lane will be painted bright green like the bike lane on Atlantic Avenue. There will also be striped buffer zones on each side of the bike lane to provide a safety zone to separate bicycle traffic from parked vehicles, which will prevent riders from getting “doored” when a motorist opens the door of the vehicle unexpectedly.
“They had other concerns and we went back to the drawing board,” Dennis said. “Both rounds of revisions were significant.”
Green spaces along the curbline will remain and not be paved with brick pavers. New bicycle racks will be added to the waterfront park on Amherst Avenue and a new loading zone will be added in front of the municipal parking lot on Washington Avenue.
“We were responsive to their concerns,” Dennis said. “Now it’s a more balanced project to accommodate the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists, while preserving the free flow of traffic.”
Dennis said in speaking with the management of the CVS store, he learned the city can expect about seven truck deliveries a week, which he said is “not overburdensome.”
As far as the reconfiguration goes, it is designed to make the roadway safer, Dennis said.
“There will be an overall reduction in traffic, there will be fewer turning movements at intersections, traffic flowing toward Amherst will reduce the number of conflict areas, and the bump outs at the corners will make it better for pedestrians crossing the street,” he said.
The city conducted a traffic survey as part of the grant requirements, he said. Peak hour traffic counts conducted in summer last year showed twice as many vehicles traveling toward the bay than the beach.
Dennis said he believes traffic flowing off Jerome Avenue onto Amherst Avenue toward Longport will be reduced, and drivers using Amherst as a cut through to get to the downtown business area will be funneled to Ventnor Avenue instead.
“We’re basically connecting a one-way street to a one-way street,” he said, referring to the current one-way direction of Washington Avenue between Atlantic and Ventnor avenues and the recently reconfigured section of Amherst Avenue between Washington Avenue and the Longport border.
The $3.5 million streetscape beautification project is being funded in part with $1.6 million in grants from the NJ Department of Transportation and federal government. Grant funds include $162,000 from the DOT’s Safe Routes to Transit grant program, and $1.5 million from the competitive federal Transportation Alternatives Set Aside program.
The crosswalks and sidewalks will be paved with brick pavers and new lighting will be installed. Concrete curb ramps, curbs and gutters will be upgraded before the roadway is repaved. The paving portion of the project includes water, sanitary sewer and stormwater drainage system improvements. A feature of the new streetscape will maintain 35 existing trees and add 47 new street trees to the governor’s strip, but without tree grates.
The commissioners hope to approve a construction contract during summer, begin construction in the fall and finish by spring 2026.
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