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
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.
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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.
The WWBPA welcomes Andy Clarke, executive director of the League of American Bicyclists, as the guest speaker at its annual meeting on Thursday, Feb. 25 (7:30 pm at the West Windsor Municipal Center). LAB champions bicycle-friendly communities, not only for the safety of bicyclists but for the wider economic benefits to the community. As well as working on policy issues, Andy? has managed a range of bicycle and pedestrian planning projects at the state and metropolitan levels and has worked extensively with state and local advocacy groups.
New Jersey has yet to have a community be designated as bicycle-friendly by the LAB. Can West Windsor be the first?
New York, which has championed a number of innovative transportation projects, including pedestrian-free sections of Broadway and bike lanes between the curb and street parking on Ninth Avenue, has outlined possible changes on First and Second Avenues. They include protected bike lanes and pedestrian refuge islands. On most of the corridor, the plan calls for bike lanes along the left curb, protected by a floating parking lane.
Read the preliminary plan from the First Avenue / Second Avenue Select Bus Service Community Advisory Committee.
As one of his final acts in office, Governor Jon Corzine signed a bill to improve pedestrian safety in crosswalks.
Bill No. A-1329/S-2480 (Stender, Wisniewski, Bramnick, Ramos, Giblin/T. Kean, Beach)
Requires New Jersey drivers to stop and remain stopped–not simply yield–while pedestrians are in crosswalks.
Continues to require that motorists yield to pedestrians in unmarked crosswalks.
Requires motorists making right turns at red or yellow signals or at stop or yield signs, to stop for pedestrians crossing the street onto which the motorist is turning.
Increases the fine for violations to $200, and a portion of that fine goes to the Pedestrian Safety and Enforcement Fund.
Assumes the motorist did not exercise care for the safety of the pedestrian if a collision occurs between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian when the pedestrian is in the crosswalk (either marked or unmarked).
Oops! We gave a bad email address for student advisor applications. The correct address is [email protected].
To compensate for our mistake, we’ve extended the application deadline to Jan. 31. Application forms and requirements can be found here.
Student advisors work with the Board of Trustees to plan events and advocate for improvements that help make West Windsor and neighboring communities more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. This is an excellent way for students to make a difference in their community while developing organizational skills, helping to plan and publicize events, and learning to lobby local government.
All students in the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district and all West Windsor residents who attend other area schools or are being home-schooled are eligible to be student advisors to the WWBPA.
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Transportation planners recently revealed that Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 has 50% more accidents than similar roads in New Jersey.
Joseph Sun wrote the WWBPA and local newspapers with his nomination for another danger spot in town: the intersection of Scott Avenue and Alexander Road near Brothers Pizza. “The red-brick pavement there gives pedestrians and cyclists the impression that they have the right of way. Yet motorists zoom through the intersection. I recommend that we have four-way stop signs there.”
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.
Let's all make West Windsor safer for pedestrians and bicyclists
This year I will:
1)??? Drive the speed limit, yield to pedestrians and give bicyclists three feet when passing;
2)??? Walk or bike more often when running those short errands of a mile or two;
3)??? Get out and have fun on longer walks or bicycle rides;
4)??? Become a member or renew membership in the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance and a regular reader of wwbpa.org;
5)??? Let my elected officials know what I think are problem areas for bicyclists and pedestrians in my community (and copy to the WWBPA);
6)??? Participate in WWBPA activities and attend the WWBPA annual meeting on Feb. 25, where an action plan for 2010 will be discussed.
Together we can make change happen.
WWBPA trustees have their own extra resolutions to:
1)??? Ensure that improvements along Princeton-Hightstown Road/Route 571 make our Main Street better for both bicyclists and pedestrians. While some of these improvements will take years, others can happen more quickly. One change we?d like to see in 2010: bike lanes along Washington Road;
2)??? Begin talking with area officials about improving bicycle and pedestrian connections between West Windsor and Plainsboro, including the need for safe routes to school;
3)??? Keep pushing for promised (and budgeted) improvements, including a crossing beacon on South Mill Road for the Trolley Line Trail and paved shoulders in Mercer County Park;
4)??? Work on other upgrades to our network of trails, including better signage.
(With thanks to Bike&Walk Montclair for inspiring us to come up with our resolutions)
West Windsor and Mercer County are working on reducing the 50 mph speed limit on Cranbury Road from the Plainsboro border to just before Van Nest Park, where the limit drops down to 25 mph. The speed limit will be cut to 40 mph from the border with Plainsboro and then cut again to 30 mph ahead of the curve around Perry Drive. This curve has been the scene of many accidents and near-accidents, where cars have karoomed onto residents’ yards.
In addition, the Township is studying the possibility of reducing speed limits on parts of Southfield Road.
The WWBPA applauds these as? important safety measures and is encouraged that the Township will reduce speed limits.
40 MPH from the county line of Middlesex County and Mercer County along?Cranbury Road to Perry Court.
30 MPH from Perry Court along Cranbury Road to the point approximately?350 feet east of Steele Drive where the current speed limit is posted for 25?MPH.
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.
In 2010, the Township plans to install a sidewalk in Berrien City, on Alexander Road north of the intersection with Berrien Avenue and running west toward the intersection with Wallace Road. It also intends to narrow the throat of the kiss-and-ride train station exit to shorten the crossing distance and add another crossing of Wallace Road. This is in keeping with recommendations contained in the 2004?Orth-Rodgers report and is best illustrated by figures 10 and 11 (pages 41 and 42). This is another good step toward greater pedestrian safety near the train station, and the WWBPA hopes it will be followed up with sidewalks on the west side of Scott Avenue.
Monthly meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month via Zoom. We will eventually resume meeting in the West Windsor Municipal Building. Email us at [email protected] if you would like the Zoom code.
Find us at the West Windsor Farmers Market (Vaughn Drive parking lot) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every other Saturday from May through Halloween.
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.
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.
In 2010, the Township plans to install a sidewalk in Berrien City, on Alexander Road north of the intersection with Berrien Avenue and running west toward the intersection with Wallace Road. It also intends to narrow the throat of the kiss-and-ride train station exit to shorten the crossing distance and add another crossing of Wallace Road. This is in keeping with recommendations contained in the 2004?