I used to ride that route frequently. It was 30 years ago. I just had trouble using Google Street View. I dragged the yellow man to Rt 9W, and it kept landing me on the Palisades Parkway. So eventually, I dragged the yellow guy onto E Clinton Ave, then I navigated back to Rt 9W. OK, now I see that road has gotten worse. They obliterated the shoulder and they went from two lanes to four lanes (total, in both directions). You don't have any good choices there.

One thing cops don't do often enough is tell people they think they're doing something unsafe that is either legal or on the cusp of legality. Maybe that's what this cop was doing. Cops sometimes care about people. Maybe this was his way of showing it. Maybe not. They seem not to be trained to communicate that way.

30 years ago, I worked at the bike shop in Tenafly, and sometimes I would take E Clinton Ave there. It's a huge, terrifying hill. Back then, I didn't do a lot of lane taking, but I certainly did then, and I was definitely moving at the speed of traffic.