Tuesday, July 20 by sandy
On July 19, 2010, West Windsor Township Council adopted a resolution, requesting “that Mercer County establish a bicycle route from the Delaware and Raritan Canal to the Princeton Junction Train Station at West Windsor along Washington Road.”
This is just a first step. The Departments of Transportation for both Mercer County and the State of New Jersey will have to come on board, since this is a county route and it crosses U.S. Route 1, for which the State of New Jersey is responsible. It’s not clear how quickly they will act. Join the WWBPA in reminding officials that this is the best way for cyclists to go between West Windsor and Princeton and that bike lanes will make the route safer for all. Come to our next meeting (Aug. 12) to learn more about how you can help.
Comments »
Posted in Advocacy, Bicycle routes, Route 571, Washington Road |
Sunday, July 11 by silvia
This is how Washington Road might look with bike lanes.
The West Windsor Council is discussing a resolution that asks Mercer County to designate ther shoulders on part of Washington Road as bike lanes. Please show your support at Monday’s meeting (July 12, West Windsor Municipal Center, 271 Clarksville Road) and speak up during public comment at the start of the meeting ( 7 p.m.)
Comments »
Posted in Bikeability, Route 571, Safety, Washington Road |
Thursday, July 1 by silvia
The WWBPA has written to local and county officials urging that the shoulders on Washington Road between Route 1 in West Windsor and Faculty Road in Princeton be marked as bike lanes. After the repaving work is done, the shoulders will be wide enough — so what are we waiting for? And why not create bike lanes on Washington Road on the other side of Route 1? This would be a big safety improvement for cyclists commuting to the Princeton Junction train station or to jobs in Princeton, as well as for recreational cyclists.
Do you agree? Let officials know!
Read the WWBPA letter.
Comments »
Posted in Bikeability, Route 571 |
Friday, June 18 by silvia
Mercer County is repaving Washington Road/Route 571 between Route 1 in West Windsor and Faculty Road in Princeton beginning Monday, June 21. The work will take about 10 days and during that time, only westbound traffic will be permitted between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. (Traffic will flow in both directions at other times).
Mercer County notes that the entire roadway will be milled first, which creates a rough surface. Cyclists may want to seek alternate routes.
A decision has not yet been made whether the restriping will include a bike lane or just shoulders. Watch for updates.
1 Comment »
Posted in Route 571, Washington Road |
Wednesday, June 9 by sandy
Planning for an improved intersection, June 9, 2010
From the West Windsor Township Web site:
Construction begins on the Cranbury Road/ Wallace Road/ CR 571/ NJ Route 64 intersection improvements
Construction has begun on improvements to the intersection of Cranbury Road/ Wallace Road/ CR 571/ and NJ Route 64. The project includes new pedestrian crossings in every direction, countdown timers on traffic lights, and a dedicated left turn lane coming off of the bridge (eastbound) turning onto Cranbury Road. In addition, the State has approved using the eastbound side of the bridge as a pedestrian crossing with a sidewalk on the south side of the bridge leading to Station Drive and a crosswalk to get to the sidewalk on the south side of Washington Road.
If you have any questions concerning this project, please contact the West Windsor Township Engineering Division at (609) 799-9396.
http://www.westwindsornj.org/road_construction_060810.html
Construction vehicles near intersection, June 9, 2010
Posted in Pedestrian, Road Signs, Route 571, Safety, Walkability |
Wednesday, February 3 by silvia
A new report from the Alliance for Biking & Walking shows that lack of investment in biking and walking could be contributing to higher traffic fatalities in the U.S.
In New Jersey, 12% of all trips are on foot or by bike, according to the study, putting us on par with California, Pennsylvania and Connecticut and not far behind New York. Yet 23% of all traffic fatalities were pedestrians or bicyclists. Only New York (25%) and Hawaii (24%) fare worse. And only 0.6% of its federal transportation funds go to benefit bicyclists and pedestrians, one of the lowest ratios in the nation.
Nationally, 9% of all trips are made by bicyclists and pedestrians and 13.1% of all traffic fatalities are bicyclists and pedestrians. States on average spend 1.2% of federal transportation funds on bicyclist and pedestrian projects
Walking and bicycling also are great forms of exercise and a way to help fight the country’s growing obesity problem–if we can make it safe.
In West Windsor, the WWBPA is advocating for a safer Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571, which has 50% more accidents than similar roads in New Jersey. We also want safer routes to the Princeton Junction train station and more safe routes to schools. We have held a number of events to highlight safety problems across down and conducted an inventory of 193 intersections to assess walkability.
Comments »
Posted in Advocacy, Bikeability, Route 571, Safety, Walkability |
Saturday, January 30 by silvia
Mercer County is planning improvements to a number of intersections in West Windsor that will make our roads safer for pedestrians. Several of these involve Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 or are near our schools.
Some existing pedestrian signals will be upgraded to include countdown displays. Ramps that comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (appreciated by those pushing strollers too!) or detectable warning surfaces will be installed along with those upgrades or where roads are being resurfaced.
The following intersections are getting ADA ramps and upgraded pedestrian signals:
- Village Road and Old Trenton Road
- Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 and Rabbit Hill Road
- Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 and South Mill Road
- New Village Road and Edinburg Road
- Dutchneck- Edinburg Road and Village Road East
- Clarksville Road and North Post Road
- Quakerbridge Road and Village Road
These intersections are getting ADA ramps:
- Clarksville Road and Everett Road
- Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 and Clarksville Road
- Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 and Slayback Drive
- In addition, Mercer County will mill and resurface Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 between Clarksville and Slayback as well as Clarksville Road between Everett Road and North Post Road.
Comments »
Posted in Route 571, Safety, Walkability |
Saturday, January 30 by silvia
Take a look at the WWBPA’s annual report, recapping many of our activities in 2009. In 2010, our focus will be on promoting bicycle safety education to children and adults, partnering with schools to promote safe routes to school, highlighting existing bicycle and pedestrian links and advocating for connections to fill in missing links.
We are determined to improve our main street (Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571) . We also have heard the need for safe connections to Plainsboro and want to start the conversation now.
Join us at our annual meeting, 7:30 p.m. Thursday February 25 at the West Windsor Municipal Center, to talk about how to best achieve these goals. Together we can make a difference and get closer to our goal of a bicycle and pedestrian-friendly community.
Comments »
Posted in Advocacy, Bikeability, Route 571, Walkability |
Monday, January 11 by silvia
Let's see the right changes to this dangerous road.
The WWBPA’s recommendations in response to Mercer County’s “concept” plan for Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 are getting plenty of attention.
Please take the time to read our lengthy comments aimed at making this busy stretch of roadway safer for bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists and making it more in keeping with the Main Street our town deserves. Leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts about what needs to be done.
The key points are:
- Reduce speed to 25-30mph, per state guidelines;
- Landscaped medians with left-turn cutouts and pedestrian refuges rather than a two-way left turn lane;
- Pedestrian-activated signal that stops traffic at Sherbrooke Drive. This can be done as a first step, before the millions of dollars needed for the full concept plan is found.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers wants a formal response from the engineers and/or consultants to the recommendations and suggested that they may want to meet with us.
Resident Larry McGill wrote in a neighborhood forum: “The WWBPA is demonstrating once again what a tremendous asset it is to our town. The safety issues related to this stretch of 571 require exactly the kind of careful thought and analysis you’ve provided here.”
Former WWBPA officer Meg Chicco wrote:
“Many thanks to you and the WWBPA for your efforts to keep 571 at the top of the list. It has been a long process to get it this far and we have to keep pushing to make sure it doesn’t slip in the list of priorities.
I just want to comment on item #2. As you know the Mayors Task Force (bike/ped life before WWBPA) took an active role in working with the County and the Township to help design the plan that we have today. Some time during that process the idea of medians was proposed. The County was adamantly opposed to this idea for some very practical reasons.
- The road would have to be significantly wider to accommodate medians. This would require more taking of property and a greater engineering cost.
- Since the County is responsible for 571 maintenance they opposed medians due to upkeep and the difficulty they present for plowing.Landscaped medians (and ordinary ones as well) require maintenance.
- Since the properties along 571 would eventually change (we hope) with some being consolidated (we hope) the placement of driveways and cross-overs are yet to be determined.
- As for the change in speed-limit and a signal at Sherbooke, these are improvements that would not effect the current design.
If I recall correctly the Council passed a resolution with regard to the improvments on 571. If they didn’t back when the design was proposed they should now. If a resolution was passed, what is the effect of this resolution with regard to the obligations of the Township to press for these improvements?”
Once again, please leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts about how to improve this road. Thank you! To see comments already entered, please click on Comment here or below.
5 Comments »
Posted in Advocacy, Bikeability, Route 571, Safety, Speed limits, Walkability |
Tuesday, January 5 by silvia
West Windsor’s Planning Board will consider a proposal on January 6 to consolidate five residential lots between Route 571/Princeton-Hightstown Road, McGetrick Lane and Southfield Road for a mix of office and retail uses.
The WWBPA is aware that this area is difficult for bicyclists and pedestrians and will evaluate the plans to ensure they bring us closer to a bicycle and pedestrian friendly community.
This article about the project appeared in the West Windsor-Plainsboro News ahead of the meeting.
Update: The WW-P News report on the meeting. No decision was reached.
Comments »
Posted in Advocacy, Route 571 |
