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Jones Beach bike path extension

Old 10-16-17, 09:21 PM
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dendawg
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Jones Beach bike path extension

Plan to add 10 more miles to Captree. Completed in 2020

https://babylon.greaterlongisland.co...ee-state-park/
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Old 10-17-17, 06:07 AM
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Good to hear they are moving ahead.

Possibly the retired judge living in Gilgo who was fighting it, died.
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Old 10-17-17, 06:16 PM
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It would be great if they closed the right lane on the northbound Robert Moses Causeway so you could connect with Montauk Highway. After all there are currently 3 lanes and the northbound Wantagh has only 2 (after they closed the right lane for MUP safety).
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Old 10-19-17, 06:27 AM
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Yea, while the southbound lanes can get jammed up over beach traffic on a really busy day, that isn't the case going northbound, at least not until you get to the Southern State. I wouldn't hold my breath though. I've always wondered how it is that something like a bike lane along a wide sandy stretch can become an issue. 90% of the people using it are likely to be local families with kids, maybe the rest would be more serious cyclists. It isn't as if we are totally evil in any case, although I'll have to say people think we are. We're just a bunch of criminals and ******* in their eyes.

I don't usually ride out on Long Island (for that reason stated above), but I'd give this a shot when it completes.
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Old 10-19-17, 08:32 AM
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Originally Posted by zacster
90% of the people using it are likely to be local families with kids, maybe the rest would be more serious cyclists.
I'd say 90% are serious, 9% are locals and 1% kids.

Remember it's a good distance from parking and there are very few "local" residents.
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Old 10-20-17, 09:10 AM
  #6  
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Originally Posted by oldnslow2
I'd say 90% are serious, 9% are locals and 1% kids.

Remember it's a good distance from parking and there are very few "local" residents.
There will be parking at both ends of the trail, as well parking at the town beaches so I would guess lots of access for people who would use it. And not just bikers as I see plenty of roller bladers and runners when I ride it.
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Old 10-20-17, 05:47 PM
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One scheme of mine is to retire, buy a Sprinter van, put up signs in Gilgo and Cedar Beach telling folks to call my cell, the van comes and picks up them and their kids, when they discover that the fun ride was east bound with a 15 mph tail wind.

I'l have free ice cold water, soft drinks $2, bike repair as needed, tubes, and it's $10 back to the JB lot.
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Old 10-20-17, 05:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Steve B.
One scheme of mine is to retire, buy a Sprinter van, put up signs in Gilgo and Cedar Beach telling folks to call my cell, the van comes and picks up them and their kids, when they discover that the fun ride was east bound with a 15 mph tail wind.

I'l have free ice cold water, soft drinks $2, bike repair as needed, tubes, and it's $10 back to the JB lot.

I was thinking that too, that the riding is only good one way. I've done the Rockaway ride and always get hit with the wind.
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Old 10-23-17, 06:08 PM
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NYSDOT TO HOLD OCTOBER 25TH PUBLIC INFORMATION OPEN HOUSE ON PROPOSED OCEAN PARKWAY SHARED-USE PATH EXTENSION The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) invites residents and all interested parties to an open house meeting this month on the proposed extension of the Ocean Parkway Shared-Use Path in the Town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County and Towns of Babylon & Islip, Suffolk County. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Jones Beach State Park West Bathhouse. Public parking will be available in Field 4. NYSDOT as well as the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation will have representatives present to answer questions and receive comments on the proposed shared-use path project. Public comments may also be submitted by email to r10-rpic@dot.ny.gov, or by calling 631-952-6929, or by writing the Ocean Parkway Shared-Use Path team, NYSDOT Region 10, State Office Building, 250 Veterans Memorial Highway, 5th Floor, Hauppauge, NY 11788. Comments must be submitted by Wednesday, December 27, 2017. The existing shared-use path is a continuation of the Ocean Parkway Coastal Greenway running through Jones Beach State Park and along the Ocean State Parkway which ends at Tobay Beach. The proposed third phase of this project would continue the pathway from Tobay Beach along the north side of Ocean Parkway for ten miles to Captree State Park. Plans include a new 10 to 13 foot wide accessible shared-use path providing access to the scenic waterfront and parkway, new bicycle parking areas at locations near existing parking facilities, new native planting to provide a buffer for the communities along the barrier island and additional wildlife habitat. Work is currently slated to begin in summer of 2019 and be completed in summer of 2020. Project information is available at www.dot.ny.gov and searching Project Identification Number 0006.16.
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Old 10-23-17, 06:59 PM
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Thx for this
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Old 10-23-17, 06:59 PM
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I plan on going... might even ride there.
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Old 10-25-17, 09:31 PM
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Anyone able to make it to this? Working tonight so no go for me.
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Old 10-26-17, 06:27 AM
  #13  
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Yes, went about 6. Hit massive traffic jam on Meadowbrook due to their closing half drawbridge for construction, so one lane at rush hour. Sigh.

No real meeting, just a ton of DOT folks milling around with name tags as well as a slide show with Powerpoint (but no running commentary) essentially repeating what was on the many foamcore board displays, that laid out the design and issues.

It's exactly what they say it is, a 10 mile extension to Captree. No access to TOBAY or Town of Babylon beaches via the path, you would have to legally enter where the auto's currently enter. So possibly the towns can retain control over who gets in, except at TOBAY where the current un-manned entry at the current path end is retained.

No current plan to extend north over the RM Causeway, though I wrote a comment to ask for that. One of the supposed benefits they state is "commuting". Not sure who they think would benefit from this extension as a commuting route, maybe lifeguards at the beaches.

The meeting was at the (closed for the occasion) Landmark restaurant, good beer list, mediocre menu.
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Old 10-26-17, 11:22 AM
  #14  
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Originally Posted by Steve B.
No access to TOBAY or Town of Babylon beaches via the path, you would have to legally enter where the auto's currently enter.......One of the supposed benefits they state is "commuting". Not sure who they think would benefit from this extension as a commuting route, maybe lifeguards at the beaches.
So, we will spend millions, to build a public path, adjacent to multiple premier public beaches, while making actual access to these beaches from the path difficult?

I'm in awe.
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Old 10-26-17, 06:01 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
So, we will spend millions, to build a public path, adjacent to multiple premier public beaches, while making actual access to these beaches from the path difficult?

I'm in awe.
I’ll try to find an online version of the detailed maps.

Essentially and from what I saw, there is no inclusion of the bike path into the Babylon town beach parking lots, outside of the street level crossing points of the existing car entry/exits, where the path will cross those entrances/exits. It appeared that as a cyclist, you would have to enter the Babylon lot (Cedar Beach) via that same road the cars use (if they allow it). The existing entry into the west end of TOBAY as currently exists is to be retained, thus you get access as current. I didn’t see that with Babylon and the DOT took pains to note that there is no bike only access to the private communities of West Gilgo and Gilgo, nor to the south side Cedar Beach, outside of where the path crosses the automotive access points. The plan is to build new bridges over the existing pedestrian tunnels linking north side parking lots to south side beaches. There were no plans I saw to create access points to any facilities on the south side of Ocean Parkway.

My take on this and as has been discussed prior, is the towns do not want cyclists, as that takes away the profit from car entry. I did not see any representatives from OBY or Babylon and suspect they do not have a choice on all this as it’s state property.

The only DOT document I could find is here

https://www.dot.ny.gov/regional-offi...0Slideshow.pdf

Last edited by Steve B.; 10-26-17 at 06:04 PM.
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Old 09-27-20, 07:45 PM
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Went to JB today and as I started heading to Tobay I saw a sign that said Tobay 3.6 miles and Captree 13.6 miles. At first I was hoping they finally opened it up, no such luck. I remember reading there was some safety questions at one of the beach entrances. Has anyone heard any news when it might be opened.
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Old 09-28-20, 06:05 AM
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Originally Posted by justtrying
...Has anyone heard any news when it might be opened.
The Town of Oyster Bay, for one, has serious safety concerns about the crossing at TOBAY Beach. I believe these concerns are warranted.

New York State apparently hasn't acted on them yet, so the Town of Oyster Bay is likely (justifiably) pushing to keep it closed until after Election Day. This may seem shady and calculated on the Town's part, but I can understand that, as long as the State is not responding to their concerns, they do not wish to take a hit at election time in the likely event that someone is injured at the TOBAY Beach crossing. I am told the Town of Babylon is in the same situation with the crossing at Gilgo Beach.

So my guess is that the extension will open November 4th, just in time for another round of COVID-19 and a civil war.
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Old 09-28-20, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Papa Tom
The Town of Oyster Bay, for one, has serious safety concerns about the crossing at TOBAY Beach. I believe these concerns are warranted.

New York State apparently hasn't acted on them yet, so the Town of Oyster Bay is likely (justifiably) pushing to keep it closed until after Election Day. This may seem shady and calculated on the Town's part, but I can understand that, as long as the State is not responding to their concerns, they do not wish to take a hit at election time in the likely event that someone is injured at the TOBAY Beach crossing. I am told the Town of Babylon is in the same situation with the crossing at Gilgo Beach.

So my guess is that the extension will open November 4th, just in time for another round of COVID-19 and a civil war.
Thank you, I thought that was still the problem, I was hoping to hear that these problems were well on their way to being corrected. You would think that a traffic study would have seen the possibility of accidents at these crossings and addressed them during the planning stage
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Old 09-28-20, 01:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Papa Tom
The Town of Oyster Bay, for one, has serious safety concerns about the crossing at TOBAY Beach. I believe these concerns are warranted.
Your concerns (and TOBAY's) are not warranted. The crossings for the path at the entrance/exits to the beach from the parkway are at grade crossings, with stop signs placed for cyclists. It's a well marked crossing and is a common design to many bike paths I've ridden. As well, it's been the design for a few years now and it is a disservice to the public for TOBAY to now decide they don't like the design. As note that this at-grade crossing is used currently on the Bethpage path as well as the path Nassau County installed on the perimeter of Eisenhower Park. And quite frankly there is NO alternative to this design unless somebody comes up with a few million to build bridges and that's not going to happen. TOBAY needs to move ahead and allow this (if they have any choice).
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Old 09-28-20, 03:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Steve B.
..... It's a well marked crossing and is a common design to many bike paths I've ridden. As well, it's been the design for a few years now and it is a disservice to the public for TOBAY to now decide they don't like the design. As note that this at-grade crossing is used currently on the Bethpage path as well as the path Nassau County installed on the perimeter of Eisenhower Park.....
^THIS.

This path was designed to the inch years ago. The Town had plenty of time to object to the plan, and to do so now is just latest episode of obstructionism. The boneheadedness is simply awe-inspiring.
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Old 09-28-20, 03:17 PM
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Steve: If you've ridden the Ocean Parkway path this summer (which I'd assume you have) you have certainly seen the recklessness going on out there. I rode it to work at TOBAY Beach every day and I could not believe some of the behavior I saw from mostly experienced cyclists, the ones who will likely want to take the path all the way to the end. There's no way you can convince me that a dude hammering away at 17-18mph, cutting off little kids and old ladies and cursing at me with fifty pounds of equipment in my panniers is going to respect a STOP sign!

Had they routed the bikeway into the TOBAY parking lot the way they did at Zack's Bay, it wouldn't be crossing in front of drivers who are still decelerating from highway speed and would give drivers a chance to slow down and start paying attention to what is crossing the road. Right now, the path crosses the TOBAY entrance at an angle that makes cyclists virtually invisible to a driver in the TOBAY entrance lane. Had they made the crossover just a little further into the beach parking lot, or even run it into the lot by the snack bar, around the periphery on the bay side, and back out onto Ocean Parkway all the way at the east end of the TOBAY lot, it could have been much safer.

By the way, TOBAY was never happy with the design. I know this first-hand.
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Old 09-28-20, 03:29 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
^THIS.

This path was designed to the inch years ago. The Town had plenty of time to object to the plan, and to do so now is just latest episode of obstructionism. The boneheadedness is simply awe-inspiring.
Boneheads on Lon Gisland? Who'da thunk it?
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Old 09-28-20, 03:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Papa Tom
....By the way, TOBAY was never happy with the design. I know this first-hand.
Then why wait until this stage to throw sand into the gears?
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Old 09-28-20, 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
Then why wait until this stage to throw sand into the gears?
TOBAY has not wanted this path extension, like they never wanted the original 3.5 mile section terminating where it did. They made it clear from day 1 they did not want cyclists riding to their beach, nor accessing it. Likewise they were never going to allow a path thru the parking lot and I’m certain the state contemplated that. Thus the state had no real option but as currently designed.

And “how” people ride the path is completely irrelevant. They do that everywhere, BP path included and it’s not a reason to close BP or the Ocean Parkway. If some numbnut on the aero bar whose not paying attention gets nailed, good. They’ll learn they have to slow down for cars at certain locations.
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Old 09-28-20, 06:34 PM
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You know, maybe if someone invented, you know, "a thing", to make the numbnut on the aero bar slow down at the crossing point........like, some hump or irregularity in the pavement, something a bit bump-ish......I wonder if that's ever been done before, anywhere where excessive speed might be an issue. Hmmm. You know, a thing.

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