Residents of Cranbury Rd and others concerned about safe streets for children, pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers came to the West Windsor Township council meeting on July 22nd to show support for sidewalks on Cranbury Rd. Organizing the group has been Sarah Thomson and Samirah Akhlaq-Rezvi, two residents of Cranbury Rd. At the meeting, a number of residents shared stories of unsafe conditions on the road and their call for sidewalks to build a safer, healthier and more community oriented street. Members of the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance were on hand to support the residents.
The concerns of the residents were heard by the Council. All five council members voiced support for sidewalks on Cranbury Rd and for funding an engineering study to see what options are available. The Township is also interested in applying for a competitive state grant to fund the sidewalks. Some council members agreed that due to the urgency of the issue, there is sufficient funding in the capital budget to build sidewalks even before a grant from the state is approved.?Mark Shallcross was present to photograph all the folks speaking as well as the great signs they brought!?The?meeting?and?organizing?have been covered by the West Windsor Plainsboro News in?this past weekend’s paper.
Do you support sidewalks on Cranbury Rd? There are a number of ways you can help to make sidewalks happen.
Attend: There will be a public meeting with Mayor Hsueh to discuss Township and community plans for sidewalks at 10 AM on Saturday, Aug 10th at the Municipal Building at the corner of Clarksville and North Post Roads. All are encouraged to come to the meeting to show their support and maintain the momentum for action.
Write: Sarah and Samirah are seeking volunteers to write letters describing concerns about safety on Cranbury Rd and support for sidewalks to accompany the Township’s grant application to the state. These can be emailed to the WWBPA and we will pass them along to Sarah and Samirah for inclusion in the Township’s application. We can also pass along your info to Sarah and Samirah if you’d like to get more involved with the community group organizing for sidewalks on Cranbury Rd.
Photos by Mark Shallcross.
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More than 40 West Windsor residents of all ages walked up a narrow stretch of Cranbury Road during the afternoon of Friday, June 28, calling for sidewalks from Millstone Road to Princeton-Hightstown Road (County Road 571). Cranbury Road is a heavily traveled road that lacks a proper shoulder ? often a shoulder of any sort. Yet the right of way for the roadway is at least 33 feet ? leaving 11 feet or more for sidewalks without the taking of any private property. The West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance supports community efforts to implement a complete, family friendly, commuter friendly street for this important travel corridor in our community.
Residents of Cranbury Rd were joined by Mayor Shing-fu Hsueh as well as Council members Linda Geevers and Kristina Samonte for the walk. While some stayed at the gathering point, unwilling to walk with small children along the as-now unsafe road, most of the community members and officials walked the road single file, slowing rush-hour traffic. Some motorists stopped to voice support. In addition to the signs that residents carried as they walked, many also planted them in their yards, with messages such as ?Let us walk without fear.?
Residents have been asking for sidewalks for at least 20 years and told local officials they want to be able to walk safely to downtown Princeton Junction and to the train station as well as to let their kids visit neighbors.? They also called for better enforcement of the 25 mph speed limit, and several immediately volunteered their driveways when the mayor said the police would need a place to park.
The group walked from 109 Cranbury past Stobbe Lane, over Bear Brook and toward Sunnydale, stopping at the home of a mother and son who are in wheelchairs. There, the mayor made comments and took questions from residents. Mayor Hsueh said a grant application from the township last year to study a possible project was rejected by the state and that the county doesn?t have money either. He promised that if the state can?t provide funds, he would look at what the township could budget and approach the county for help. He also promised residents that he would arrange a group meeting with the township engineer to explain the township?s idea for the roadway, speak to the police chief about enforcement and to give residents regular updates. Councilwoman Geevers urged residents to remain organized.
Do you walk, bike or drive along Cranbury Road? Do you want safe streets for families, commuters, the elderly, and all other road users in West Windsor? Do you want your lawmakers to know that you support sidewalks on Cranbury Rd? Consider attending the West Windsor Township council meeting with other community members this Monday, July 22nd so representatives as well as members of the community can hear about these concerns. Public comment is available for those who wish to speak.
Do you bike in West Windsor? Want to prevent your bicycle from being stolen, especially at the train station and other public parking locations? Want to increase the chance of recovering your bike if it is stolen? Consider participating in the free bicycle registration program being offered by WWBPA and the West Windsor Police Department. WWBPA and WWPD are launching the free program this month as a service to everyone who bikes in West Windsor. It’s similar to the program offered at Princeton University for riders on campus and commuters at the Princeton Dinky Station.
How does it work? Simply download a?form, fill it out with your bike’s description and serial number and return the form to the police department or the WWBPA to get your bike registration tag.
The self-adhesive aluminum tags attach easily to your bike frame (instructions), are very difficult to remove and make your bicycle less desirable to thieves. Each tag has a unique number and your registration?provides the West Windsor Police with contact information that makes it easier to ID and return stolen bicycles to their rightful owners.
Bike ID?registration forms?are available on the WWBPA website, West Windsor Police Department, 271 Clarksville Rd, or at?police website??and?at various events where WWBPA appears, e.g. WW Farmers Market and other announced events.
After you fill out the?registration form, deliver it to the WW Police Dept. or WWBPA at the Farmers Market on alternate Saturdays to pick up your self-adhesive numbered ID tag(s) and have the tag?numbers added to the registration form.
We’re hoping to get as many bikes as possible registered so share widely with your friends, coworkers and family members. We’ll be offering bike registration at the Farmer’s Market this Saturday, July 13th and at any event in which we host a table this summer, so feel free to drop by and check it out.
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WWBPA advocates for safer streets for all users: pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers alike. A critical need in our community is to improve safety and accessibility on Cranbury Road, a major connection between the train station and points west.?Current infrastructure?does not protect the most vulnerable users – pedestrians – who have no designated place on the road. A sidewalk, multi-use trail or pedestrian friendly shoulder would improve safety for those who must walk or choose to walk even given current unsafe conditions. Safer conditions would also encourage and allow more people to commute and travel without a car to our major transportation hub, especially those with special needs such as older adults and families.
WWBPA ?supports the Cranbury Road neighborhood in their efforts to create a safer Cranbury Road ?for everyone. Please join in on?June 28th (see info below) and show your support to have?a sidewalk/multi-use trail or pedestrian-friendly shoulder lanes installed?on the Cranbury Road from Route 571 to Millstone Road making Cranbury Rd accessible for all residents.
“As a group of West Windsor residents living on or near Cranbury Road, we invite you to join us for a walk along our street, north of Princeton-Hightstown Road, on?Friday, June 28. Or try to. We live in a beautiful area but, unfortunately, there are no sidewalks, nor even a shoulder.??We–and our children–face the danger of speeding cars as we walk to see our neighbors next door or to nearby stores. A stroll to the Princeton Junction train station or our local restaurants can become a perilous adventure.
Slowing traffic is important, but we are also asking our local and county officials to install a sidewalk/multi-use trail or pedestrian-friendly shoulder lanes on the road from Route 571 to Millstone Road. Cranbury Road has an unused right-of-way along this stretch, so this could be done without compromising any private property.
We invite all to join us at 109 Cranbury Road at?4 p.m.?on?Friday, June 28?as we walk along Cranbury Road to demonstrate the need for a safe route for us, our kids and the motorists and bicyclists who travel it daily.??Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh will join us.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) is currently accepting public comments on the new Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) for FY 2014. The key project for West Windsor is D0701, which plans for infrastructure changes on Route 571 between Wallace and Clarksville Rd. The plan is written to emphasize the idea of bike/ped improvements, but despite the language, the main ?improvement? planned is an increase in the number of traffic lanes to three from two. There has not been traffic growth in this portion of Route 571 for the last 10 years, so this capacity increase is both unnecessary and will move away from the ?town center? style intended for our main street in West Windsor. You can offer your comments until 6/18/13 on this project and other plans for our region by clicking on the project on the map. The position of the WWBPA is that speeds of 25-30 mph and a main street design will not be enhanced by the planned capacity increase. Instead, maintaining the current two lanes and focusing on increased safety for all road users including pedestrians and bicyclists is a better improvement to advance a town center type corridor. Check out our report with recommendations for improvements to this section of Route 571.
Ok, so now that you know what?s at stake for us in the upcoming plan, you might, if you are like me, be wondering: What is the DVRPC, what is a TIP and what does it has to do with planning in Mercer County and West Windsor? Have no fear. Here?s your crash course. The DVRPC is the organization that coordinates transportation infrastructure for our region, including Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton. The counties covered in New Jersey are Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer, along with Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties in PA. The commission is composed of elected officials from the cities and counties in the region as well as state level appointees from the governor?s office, and the DOT. One of the primary roles of the DVRPC is to set out transport priorities via the creation of a Transportation Improvement Plan every four years. The commission updates the TIP annually with input from local, state and federal officials as well as the public. We are currently in the FY2014 update of the 2012-15 plan.
Projects start off life as ideas and plans at the municipal, county or state level, where the WWPBA is heavily invested in advocacy for safe, healthy and useful infrastructure for all transportation users. This work helps to ensure that the best plans end up on the TIP. Being listed in the TIP does not guarantee that the project will go forward or be funded, however projects not on the TIP cannot receive federal funding, so it is a critical stepping stone to a project actually getting commitment and getting completed. One of the neat things about the public comments on the TIP for our region is that you can see not only what projects are planned but also the progress on each project and the estimated costs (those are some big numbers!). Very educational.
The last chance we have to make the plan the best it can be is at this stage, when a draft TIP has been presented. We encourage everyone to make a comment on what they want in the Route 571 corridor. The links to view the TIP and comment are above, and we will also be discussing this and other advocacy issues at our monthly meeting this Thursday, June 13th. One of WWBPA?s primary goals is to help shape transportation and infrastructure policies, plans and implementation so that our community is the best it can be. Thanks for helping us to make West Windsor a more livable place.
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Saturday, June 1st is National Trails Day, where people all over the country will be getting out to enjoy and build up our trails. We’re lucky to have so many great trails in the parks and along the waterways in NJ and if you go out any time from sunrise to sunset, the crowds will tell you how popular they are for both recreation and transport. Where do you wish we had a trail where we don’t? I know the extension of the Trolley Line Trail as part of the Knight Trail is one item on the wish list of the students in West Windsor and Plainsboro. Where else would a trail help you to get around more safely and comfortably, or help you to get out and about walking and hiking?
For those wanting to get out on National Trails Day, here are some of the events happening in our area in celebration of National Trails Day:
Run from Trenton to Piscataway on the D&R Canal Towpath. They start around 5 AM for the 34.1 mile run! Those who ?only? want to run 20 miles start at Rocky Hill.
For all the events in New Jersey from the shore to the Delaware Water Gap and to search PA, NY, etc
WWBPA will be at the Farmers’ Market on June 1st to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Stop by our booth and say hi before you head out hiking, walking and biking!
Check out this new slideshow?by our former trustee, Silvia Ascarelli. It talks about some things you may not know about bike sharing programs in cities in the US and around the world. I learned about bike share in smaller communities, which I’d not known about before. If we had some bikes available for bike share in West Windsor or Princeton or Plainsboro, where would YOU put the docking stations? Where would you want to borrow a bike to go to or from?
Here’s what’s been shooting around the ped/bike blogs this week.
Inequality in pedestrian death victims?from Streetsblog Capitol Hill: The elderly, people of color and men are more likely to be killed by cars while walking than other segments of our population, reported by the CDC.
Everyone can receive health benefits from biking to work from fitnessforweightloss.com: Infographic that reports health benefits from bike commuting, like 50% reduction in heart disease risk from 3 hours of biking per week. ?Also suggests ways to get started.
Bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure increased economic growth?from?America Bikes: New York City has been implementing new pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure and found, among other benefits, that local businesses grew around the new facilities. Where the protected bike lane was present, business sales increased by 49% compared to 3% in the borough as a whole. Businesses around a Brooklyn pedestrian plaza saw 172% growth relative to 18% in the borough as a whole.
Comment on regional transportation policy priorities from WalkBikeJersey: The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission has released its annual transportation priorities, including a clickable map to make it easier to see what’s planned for our area. You can send them comments via the map or via email. It’s also interesting to see how much they plan to spend on projects. there’s a lot of zeros in those numbers, so let’s make sure that some of those millions go to bicycle and pedestrian improvements, as required by our state, county and municipal Complete Streets policies.
Check it out! New Jersey is judged 7th most bike friendly of all 50 states by the League of American Bicyclists. Here is our state report card. Washington captured the top spot, followed by Colorado, Oregon, Minnesota and our neighbor Delaware. We ranked highly in the policies and programs category, and need to work on our infrastructure and planning. We are lucky (and have worked hard to ensure!) that West Windsor, Mercer County and New Jersey all have complete streets policies. A complete streets policy is ?a good first step to demonstrate commitment to healthier, safer and more livable communities, but our lower infrastructure score shows the need to advocate for full and effective implementation of these policies in every transportation decision at the local, county and state level. The League report card also recommends several changes to the law in New Jersey such as a safe passing law and a law to prevent “dooring” of cyclists. Lots to do to keep improving our states environment for bikers and pedestrians, but we have a lot to be proud of!
May is time to celebrate bike riding in all its forms! I’m enjoying just being out among all the blooming trees on my ride to work, but if you’re looking for something more social, then check out all the events happening this month! You might be interested to sign up and record your distance cycled for the National Bike Challenge, which kicked off on May 1st. Also, there are a ton of local bike rides and events happening in May. Here’s the ones I know about:
May is National Bike Month! In recognition, the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Authority is hosting several events, including a photo contest, an employer bike challenge, Bike-to-Work Week (May 13-17th, 2013) as well as Bike to School Day (May 8th).
If you’ve been thinking of trying out bike commuting, bike to work week is a great time to give it a go. Need help planning your route or have questions on safety? Consider stopping by and visiting us at the West Windsor Farmer’s Market this Saturday from 9 AM – 1 PM.
For more information and to register for events, visit the GMTMA website.
The West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance is organizing its fourth annual Walk to the Farmers’ Market to mark the opening day of the market on May 4, at 9 a.m.
This free, family-friendly walk is open to people of all ages, and those in wheelchairs and strollers as well.
Receive a Raffle Ticket at the beginning of our walk.
and
Win a Prize at our booth located at the Farmer?s Market.
Meet us at the back of Maurice Hawk School, 303-305 Clarksville Road at 9 a.m. Our mile-long walk will take us to Berrien Avenue on the school path, and then to Alexander Road. We then cross Alexander Road and Wallace Road and continue over the roundabout to Vaughn Drive, where we will proceed to the Farmers? Market and the WWBPA table for our raffle. Prizes include:
Toddler Bike Helmet, 1 of 3 $5 gift cards for the Market, Reflective Ankle Band and a WWBPA T-shirt.
Children of all ages will be challenged by a game of ?I Spy? along the way.
If you can’t join us for the walk, you can still visit our table at the market. We’ll be there every other week starting with the first week of the market.
Hope to see you there!
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Come visit WWBPA at Communiversity this weekend. Held this Sunday, April 28th from 1-6 PM in downtown Princeton,?Communiversity is a huge street party featuring many University organizations, community groups and of course tons of music, arts, crafts and food vendors.?WWBPA will be there partnering with the Princeton Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee to share information about biking and walking in our communities. Stop by when you’re out and about and pick up information or purchase some safety gear! See you on Sunday!
At our Annual Meeting, Paul Kiczek compelled us with the story of Bobby Kennedy’s 50 mile walk in 1963 which inspired him to start the Freewalkers – a group advocating fitness, adventure and community by organizing epic hikes for everyone. Paul mentioned an NPR story on the 50th anniversary hike that his group undertook in honor of that original adventure.?Luckily for us, Paul is located right here in New Jersey so it’s easy and extra fun for us to participate. Several folks from the WWBPA took part in a Trenton to Princeton hike on March 24th. The next event is The Great Canal Walk – Trenton to New Brunswick – on April 6th. Check out the Freewalker’s website for more details on upcoming walks as well as the history of long hikes.
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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.
The concerns of the residents were heard by the Council. All five council members voiced support for sidewalks on Cranbury Rd and for funding an engineering study to see what options are available. The Township is also interested in applying for a competitive state grant to fund the sidewalks. Some council members agreed that due to the urgency of the issue, there is sufficient funding in the capital budget to build sidewalks even before a grant from the state is approved.?Mark Shallcross was present to photograph all the folks speaking as well as the great signs they brought!?The?meeting?and?organizing?have been covered by the West Windsor Plainsboro News in?this past weekend’s paper.
