Paramus Adding Dedicated Bike Lanes On Midland Avenue

PARAMUS, NJ – Dedicated bike lanes are coming soon to Paramus.

The lanes, which will be added on both sides of Midland Avenue from Paramus Road to County Road, are part of project to increase safety for pedestrians, drivers and cyclists in one of Bergen County’s busiest towns.

“These will be the first of their kind in Paramus and will assist with bike safety, and should also reduce speed in this heavily traveled area,” Mayor Richard LaBarbiera said in a recent social media post.

With portions of Midland Avenue slated to undergo resurfacing this spring, adding the two-way bike lanes "was a no brainer and had bipartisan support," the mayor also said.

The road, he said, "has generous lanes" and designating the lanes "could improve safety by simply adding striping - which was being done anyway - and signage."

Northjersey.com reported that the project will not widen the road nor require new sidewalks. Midland Avenue's 17.5 foot wide travel lanes will be trimmed down to about 12 feet after the bike lanes are added, the report said.

In another social media post about the project, LaBarbiera said, "Studies will tell you that wider lanes encourage higher rates of speed. By choking down to smaller lanes driver tendency will be to reduce speed. Reducing lane width is a very effective design tool to reduce speed without effecting capacity in residential areas."

According to Northjersey.com, officials are treating it as a pilot program that could be expanded based upon feedback and usage.

Bike lanes are planned for Midland Avenue from Country Club Road to Paramus Road, past Midland Elementary School and the library towards Bergen Community College. They would connect cyclists to popular biking trails through Saddle River County Park.