Chatham Township, located in Morris County is home to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge which offers residents and tourists a large recreational and education area to enjoy.  The Township’s natural beauty of steeply sloping areas and densely forested pockets offsets the southern Passaic River flood plain area.  Residents and tourists alike come to the Township to bike, hike and enjoy the natural surroundings and take advantage of local businesses. 

The purpose of this website is to gain feedback from residents regarding the current walkway and bikeway areas throughout the Township and identifying areas in need of improvement or additional connections.  The outcome of the plan is to identify a series of interconnected walkway and bikeways that will provide safe and efficient pedestrian activity throughout the Township and allow for interconnected links to Township open space and community areas. 

Chatham Township has long encouraged the implementation of alternative modes of transportation.  The 1999 Master Plan stated many guiding principles for the creation and enhancement of walkway and bikeway systems.  Goals from the Open Space Plan Element include:

1. To enhance the quality of life for all Chatham Township residents.
2. To preserve lands that connect existing public lands.
3. To expand recreational opportunities.
4. Provide linkages between elements of the open space system, enhancing the safety and pleasure of travel throughout the township.

Walkway and Bikeway areas promote alternative modes of transportation and encourage healthy initiatives that benefit Chatham Township residents as well as the natural environment.  Providing safe access to alternative forms of transportation can also stimulate community awareness and involvement by local residents.  Strategic improvements to State, County and local roads can improve shared bicycle paths and increase safe areas for non-motorized transport. 

Through this effort, the Township seeks to establish policies and strategies that will accommodate all modes of travel through the Township and provide connectivity among services and destinations.  These policies and strategies will establish safer access for residents and visitors.  Streetscape improvements and traffic calming strategies should be encouraged to effectively accommodate pedestrian and bicyclist movement throughout the Township where necessary.  Resident participation in this area is important to the process from the outset to ensure all interests and concerns are understood and addressed. 

Locally identified improvements on State and County roadways will require acceptance and endorsement.  Policies and strategic responses should be developed and implemented jointly among all responsible agencies.  To this end, the Township’s planning initiative will promote a vertically integrated planning effort where all concerned agencies participate in balancing the need to protect quality of life, enhance community character, and provide safe pedestrian and bicycle movement through the crossroads.

Mindful of the residents’ quality of life and the realities of roadway functions, the Open Space Committee set out to clearly articulate specific goals and objectives.  After reviewing the 1999 plan and discussing goals and objectives with the Open Space Committee, the following goals provide guidance for this effort and will be included in the Walkway / Bikeway Plan revision:

1. Encourage connectivity within Chatham and with neighboring communities.
1. Promote a bicycling and walking pathway system that connects all areas of the town.
2. Complete sections of the bikeway / walkway system to achieve continuity.

2. Promote bicycling and walking as a means of reducing traffic congestion and pollutants from automobile emissions.
1. Support and provide bike racks at every park, field, and school.

3. Inventory and catalog funding sources and methods for bikeway planning and system improvements.

4. Promote use of alternative easements and rights-of-way, such as utility easements, for bikeway / walkway corridors.

5. Promote construction of sidewalks along school routes, community gathering spaces, and high volume and high speed roads.

6. Promote biking and walking safety education.
1. Identify hazardous locations on roadways and bikeway / walkway system and develop strategies to mitigate the problems.
2. With assistance from Township Police, develop a bicycle safety program.
3. Promote use of bicycle helmets.
4. Increase motorist awareness of the needs and rights of bicyclists and pedestrians.

7. Reduce automobile traffic and relieve parking in the downtown area of the township.
1. Explore a downtown bicycle storage facility, especially at the train station in Chatham Borough.  Work with appropriate Borough officials and NJ Transit.

8. Create design guidelines for roadways that encourage biking and walking.