A new trail crossing was installed recently where the Trolley Line Trail crosses South Mill Road, including a crosswalk with high visibility markings and a pedestrian-activated rapid flashing beacon, which flashes yellow strobes when the button is pushed. Thanks to the township and county for making crossing South Mill Road safer!
A few details remain, however, and a WWBPA trustee met with township and county engineers to explain the issues, such as placing the buttons for easy accessibility and connecting the crossing to the trail on the east side of the road, which is about 65 feet further north.? We’re confident these will be addressed in the not-too-distant future.
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Eagle Scout Paul Ligeti sent us this report on our Nov. 13 ride along the route through town that he developed, mapped and marked. About 15 people participated–a perfect size given the stops along the way for explanations of the sites.
The rescheduled inaugural ride of the West Windsor Interpretive Historic Bike Trail took place on Nov. 13. Unlike the wintry weather of the original date, we were met with a mild, pleasant fall afternoon.? I was happy to see the riders enjoy the trail, which is the result of my Eagle Scout project in West Windsor?s Troop 66 and two years of work.? The 11 mile-long trail, which I designed with historical and traffic considerations in mind, winds through much of the town. My troop and I laid red plaques in front of many historically significant sites, including the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church, the Schenck Farmstead and Grovers Mill.
The highlight of Sunday?s ride was a stop near? Grovers Mill to hear a local resident regale us with a vivid description of the days in his youth during the infamous October 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. He also recounted subsequent commemorations of the event attended by the likes of governors and the writer of the original broadcast.
Anyone interested in riding the trail, or just learning more about the history of West Windsor, is invited to check out the website http://wwhistoricbiker.weebly.com/.? As an online companion to the trail, it provides a map of the route and historical background on the sites with the markers and dozens of others, as well.
Thank you WWBPA for arranging the inaugural ride.
And thank you, Paul, for creating it!
Riders meet at the kiosk in Dutch Neck that explains the trail
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The WWBPA’s snowed-out 11-mile ride of historic West Windsor sites has been rescheduled for this Sunday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m.
The route has been created by Paul Ligeti as part of his Eagle Scout work. We will meet at the kiosk at the trail?s starting point, next to the World War II memorial in Dutch Neck (corner of Village Road East and South Mill Road). Paul will say a few words about his project before the ride begins, and there will be a stop about midway to hear more from a local resident about West Windsor and “War of the Worlds.”
The ride is free and open to all, but helmets are required. While much of the route is on roads with bike lanes or on quiet residential streets, it does include a portion of Cranbury Road. Children under 12 should be accompanied by an adult. Please bring a signed copy of the wwbpa waiver form.
The weather forecast at this point calls for sun, but dress in layers just in case the sun isn’t shining as strongly as we’d like.
Join the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance and Eagle Scout Paul Ligeti for the inaugural bike ride of Paul?s 11-mile tour of historic West Windsor sites. Paul?s route points out many places beyond the imaginary Martian landing in War of the Worlds. Did you know West Windsor has two stops on the Underground Railroad? Or that a double murder in Dutch Neck in 1910 led to the first use of the electric chair in Mercer County? Woodrow Wilson used to bike from Princeton to walk around Grover?s Mill Pond, another stop on the tour. The red markers you see around town are stops on this route, which you can find on http://wwhistoricbiker.weebly.com.
We will meet at the kiosk at the trail?s starting point, next to the World War II memorial in Dutch Neck (corner of Village Road East and South Mill Road) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 (rain date is Sunday, Nov. 13). Paul, a member of Troop 66, will say a few words about his project before we start. We will stop around the halfway point to hear more about War of the Worlds ? broadcast almost to the day 73 years ago, on Oct. 30, 1938.
While much of the route is on roads with bike lanes or on quiet residential streets, it does include a portion of Cranbury Road. Helmets are required, and children under 12 should be accompanied by an adult. Everyone should bring a signed copy of the waiver form available here: wwbpa waiver form. For more information, email [email protected].
43 people enjoyed a? nice ride on a beautiful fall day, a little over 5 miles round trip from Community Park to McCaffrey’s and back. Thanks to everyone who participated, including our WWBPA trustees, student advisers and volunteers who planned, led and directed the bicyclists, and even handed out a few bandaids, and special thanks to McCaffrey’s for donating the refreshments!
The fall colors were out in full force (see our facebook page for more pictures) and we enjoyed the Trolley Line Trail as well as the bike lanes on Rabbit Hill Road and Bennington Street.? Also appreciated were new high visibility crosswalks at Davenport and Southfield Road by the shopping center. We also saw a policeman patrolling the Trolley Line Trail on motorcycle.
The group included all? ages, from those enjoying a ride in a trailer to us older kids (at heart), and split into 3 smaller groups pretty quickly – the fast group led by the speedy student advisers, a middle pack of family members, while the last group comprised those with the smallest bicyclists.
We got a number of positive comments, including a request to do this more often. With the new bike lanes on Village and Penn Lyle, we have more routes to choose from, thanks to the township and county.
West Windsor is applying for three bicycle and pedestrian-friendly grants from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. One will help pay for an extension of the Dinky Line Trail behind the office buildings along Alexander Road between Vaughn Drive and Route 1, giving bicyclists a safe alternative to Alexander Road and giving office workers a pleasant outdoor retreat. (See the map here:?Dinky Line Trail Extension Map.) It falls under the Safe Streets to Transit program. Another, part of the Bikeways program, would help extend the bike lane on Edinburg Road to the eastern entrance of Mercer County Park, creating a family-friendly route to the park. The third, part of the Roadway Infrastructure Program, would allow for the repaving of New Village Road between Edinburg and Old Trenton Road, including the bike lanes and ensuring that ramps at the crosswalks are suitable for those on wheelchairs, pushing strollers and others. While at least the first two are in this year’s capital improvement budget, any state funding obviously means less local money (via property taxes) will be needed.
These grants are highly competitive, and state officials made clear at the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition‘s summit early this year that community support for the projects is an important consideration.
Of course, the WWBPA will write letters as an organization, but we’d also like to see some from individuals. Write a letter to the mayor (we are told they want original signed letters, not emails) this week for each project you want to show support. The Municipal Center address is 271 Clarksville Road, West Windsor NJ 08550. Apologies for the short notice, but the township wants the letters by Friday. The letter does not have to be long. Any personal experience with the area and why the improvement is needed would make it even better.
Enjoy a few photos from Saturday’s ribbon-cutting for the West Windsor Historic Bike Trail, a project by West Windsor resident Paul Ligeti, with a supporting cast of his Scout Troop 66. The kiosk that explains this 11-mile loop is next to the World War II memorial in Dutch Neck. Read the article in the Trenton Times too.
Construction is expected to start in late August or early September on an eight-foot-wide multi-use path along the Mercer County golf course on South Post Road from Village Road West to Conover Road. Most of the cost is covered by a grant from the NJ Department of Transportation.
The path will let kids bike safely to the ball fields at the corner of Conover Road and give rowers at the Caspersen Rowing Center a safe place to run.
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Join Eagle Scout Paul Ligeti, township and scout officials for the ribbon-cutting of Paul’s 11-mile route through historic West Windsor at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 30, at the trail’s starting kiosk next to the World War II memorial in Dutch Neck (corner of Village Road East and South Mill Road).
Paul started this project to get his Eagle Scout award, but it has turned into a labor of love. His website not only has a map but plenty of detail about West Windsor that goes beyond War of the Worlds. Did you know West Windsor has two stops on the Underground Railroad? Or that a double murder in Dutch Neck in 1910 led to the first use of the electric chair in Mercer County? And that Woodrow Wilson would bike from Princeton to walk around Grover’s Mill Pond? The red markers you see around town are stops on this route.
Great job, Paul!
The WWBPA intends to team up with Paul for a group ride once the weather cools down. Watch our website and Facebook page for details.
About 20 people from West Windsor and neighboring communities headed earlier this month to Freehold and the Metz Bicycle Museum, a museum filled with what must be more than 100 bicycles collected over 60 years by a former Cranbury resident who, we learned, came up with the idea for those scalloped cement blocks to edge gardens.
Most of us used part of the Henry Hudson Trail, a well-used, shaded and paved path on what was once a freight railroad line. We were accompanied from Marlboro High School by a number of local residents who gave us some extra local flavor: Freehold High School, Bruce Springsteen?s alma mater (we heard a few stories about him!); the Battle of Monmouth monument; and lunch on Main Street.
A smaller? group of hardy cyclists peddled from West Windsor to Freehold (about 22 miles). They had the bright idea to stop for ice cream on the way home!
Our youngest cyclist, 9-year-old Ashley, hitched her bike to Dad’s some of the time. We learned she’s a budding fashionista with real affinity for shoes. So guess what her favorite bike had?
We’ve got something special planned: a family-friendly bike ride to the Metz Bicycle Museum in Freehold? on Sunday, June 5.
We’ll be riding about six miles each way, most of it on the Henry Hudson Trail, a 24-mile paved multi-use trail that connects Freehold to Atlantic Highlands (with a couple of gaps). We’ll be starting at the end of the southern section, at Marlboro High School on Route 537 north of Freehold (NOTE: that’s a change in plans from our earlier intention to start at the Bicycle Hub a bit further up and take some back roads to the trail). We also will bike on Freehold streets.
This is a fabulous museum for gadget-lovers, not just cyclists: it’s packed with hundreds of bicycles, from boneshakers, highwheelers, quadricycles, ordinaries and safeties (we’ll learn what all those are) to tricycles, children’s bikes and trick bikes. See a lamplighter bicycle that is over eight feet high as well as miniatures made by a prisoner of war in Belgium in the early 1940s.
We’ll leave the high school at 11 a.m., which gives us plenty of time to grab lunch and see some of Freehold’s Springsteen sites, before our 1 p.m. appointment at the museum. The museum can only handle 30 people at a time so you MUST RSVP if you want to join us. Just send a quick email to [email protected]. (We’ll also contact you on Friday the 3rd if the weather looks bad.)
The ride is free, but museum admission is $10.
What a great way to mark National Trails Day (OK, a day late)!
From our friends at the East Coast Greenway (the Maine-to-Florida route for walkers and bicyclists that uses the D&R Canal for part of the New Jersey route):
A critical, long-planned piece of the future East Coast Greenway is in danger of getting cut from NJDOT’s project list. Please join the East Coast Greenway Alliance to voice your support for keeping the 2.5-mile Route 7 Improvement Project alive in New Jersey!
NJDOT is recommending that the 2.5-mile Route 7 improvement project, in Jersey City and Kearny, be deleted from its Study & Development Program. We are asking all of our supporters to voice their approval for keeping this project alive. NJDOT will meet on May 18th to make a final decision on this project. Please email (to [email protected]) and/or mail a letter of support for this project. We need to show public support for bicycle & pedestrian infrastructure. If we don’t give people choices and build alternative infrastructure our options for transportation will always be limited and our policies will continue to lead to increased congestion, decreased safety and a less-healthy lifestyle. Thanks for your support!
Not sure what to say? The ECG offers this template:
I am writing you in regards to the recommendation made by NJDOT to remove the above mentioned project from the Study and Development Program. I feel that the 2.5-mile Route 7 project is a vital corridor and connection for the future route of the East Coast Greenway. I understand the many challenges and that significant costs are associated with this project but feel the benefits to the general public will outweigh the challenges and justify the investment.
The East Coast Greenway is a developing safe and accessible bicycle & pedestrian corridor which stretches from Maine to Florida. Currently 26% of the East Coast Greenway exists as traffic free trails.? We have worked very closely with NJDOT over the years and their commitment has had the direct result in making New Jersey a leader amongst states in the development of the East Coast Greenway. Currently 53% of the ECG in New Jersey exists as traffic free trails.
The Newark to Jersey City corridor is a critical connection for the East Coast Greenway and also for local non-motorized users who wish to travel between those cities, New Jersey?s two largest. On its eastern terminus, the completed safe and accessible bicycle & pedestrian corridor along Route 7 will enable users to cross the new Wittpenn Bridge being constructed over the Hackensack River and enable users to continue east into Jersey City and other populated towns and cities along the Hudson River in New Jersey.
On its western terminus the Route 7 project will connect to the Newark Industrial Track which will eventually provide a safe bicycle & pedestrian connection to Newark and many other populated regions in New Jersey. The Route 7 project is a vital link which makes all of these connections possible. Without the Route 7 link, these connections become even less feasible and more costly.
For all the aforementioned reasons I urge that the Route 7 corridor project not be removed from the Study & Development Program.? If, ultimately, NJDOT decides to cut this project, we urge the agency to put more resources into assuring the safety and accessibility of the current East Coast Greenway route.
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Want to cover New Jersey from north to south? Interested in a great, long ride in part of the state?
WWBPA member Dan Rappoport has mapped the routes for you. Dan got the idea for the project about three or four years ago, but started creating the cue sheets in earnest two winters ago.
The New Jersey Bicycle Route goes from Belvidere, near the Delaware Water Gap in the northwest, zigzagging to Cape May Point in the southeast in nine days. Daily distances vary from about 44 to 74 miles, with each day?conveniently?ending at a motel.
Dan also developed a New Jersey Bicycle Route Network of rides all around the state, with ways to avoid congested highways in densely populated parts of the state as well as routes in beautiful, rural settings. These rides range from 40 to 188 miles, though one could, naturally, break them down into smaller segments.
Dan also compiled a Bicycle Touring Resource Guide, including NJ DOT tours; New Jersey multi-use trails; Cycle Jersey 500 itinerary; cross-state, state-wide, multi-state, and regional bicycle routes and books.
We hope you’ll try some of these routes. Thank you, Dan!
Paul Ligeti of Troop 66, sponsored by Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church, is creating a bike route for his Eagle Scout project. The trail will pass by many of West Windsor’s historic sites, which are described on his project website. Please support Paul’s effort!
Please remember that when riding on the roadway, a bicyclist has all the rights and responsibilities of a motorist, including following traffic signals and stop signs, etc. Do not ride against traffic! Besides being the law, following the rules of the road has been shown to be safest for everyone, since motorists and bicyclists behave in a common predictable way. Enjoy your ride!
Big thanks go out to NJ DOT, who recently installed new warning signs for the multi-use trail along Scudders Mill Road, where it crosses the ramps onto and off of Rt 1 northbound.
The signs are extremely important for the ramp from Rt 1 northbound onto Scudders Mill Rd westbound, since that crossing is a high speed cloverleaf merge with very short sight lines. Additional warning signs are in place around the midpoint of the cloverleaf.
Today this ramp doesn’t see that much traffic, mainly serving U-turns to southbound Rt 1. In the future, however, there is potential for a lot of traffic, if the proposal to restrict westbound turns from northbound Rt 1 at Washington Rd and Harrison Street is adopted.
The NJDOT just published (only online) the New Jersey Bicycle Manual. It’s not just for kids, either. Here’s a list of the covered topics, from the table of contents:
Selecting, Fitting & Equipping Your Bike
Quick Maintenance Checks
Off to a Good Start
Traffic Basics
Sharing the Road
Parking Your Bike
Difficult Situations
Riding at Night & in Rain and Snow
Riding with Others
Riding on Shared-Use Paths
NJ Bicycling Law & Roadway Restrictions
Traffic Signals, Signs and Road Markings
The manual includes lots of clear diagrams and photos to help cyclists navigate in a variety of situations (even how to share the road with pedestrians and horseback riders).
This is an excellent resource for both novice and experienced cyclists.
Here’s a study we like: dollar for dollar, building bike infrastructure creates more jobs than road works.
The findings, publicized by the League of American Bicyclists and quickly making its way around the blogosphere, examined the costs of engineering, construction, and materials for different projects in Baltimore and found that bike lanes create about twice as many jobs as road construction for the same amount of money. (Pedestrian infrastructure also tops roads.) Some of it has to do with the need for labor compared to materials. You can read the entire study here.
For those who say roads are paid for with gas taxes and tolls, well, no, they’re not. Not by a long shot, as this analysis points out.
The U.S. Department of Transportation posted its 2010 Record of Accomplishment, and the WWBPA sees some good things in it. Highlights include anti-distracted driving regulations and encouragement for more transportation opportunities. In particular, it helped level the playing field for bicyclists and pedestrians. This is a big accomplishment, particularly as some think bicyclists and pedestrians could lose out in some of the new Congress’s budget battles (see this analysis from the League of American Bicyclists).
Here’s some of what DOT did, in its own words:
In March 2010, DOT formulated key recommendations for state DOTs and communities to integrate the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians in federally-funded road projects. DOT discouraged transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians and encouraged investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.? Such recommendations include treating walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes, ensuring convenient access for people of all ages and abilities, and protecting sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected.? Through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grants program, DOT funded major projects across the country that allow Americans to safely and conveniently get where they need to go on a bike or on foot.
One of the TIGER grants “will repair, reconstruct and improve 16.3 miles of pedestrian and bicycle facilities that will complete a 128-mile regional network in six counties around Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey,” including the Schuylkill Trail, with artist’s rendering above.
The September 11th National Memorial Trail is being established as a National Historic Trail on the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 and will be a tribute to all those that perished in America’s single worse terrorist attack.
The route is to be a triangle that connects the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA, where Flight 93 went down. Much of it is on existing routes, including the D&R Canal/East Coast Greenway through West Windsor. Other parts still have to be determined, particularly the route from Shanksville to New York.
Organizers aim to have the trail segments planned by September 11, 2011, and many completed segments dedicated.
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Hamilton is in the middle of a review of its master plan, a long-term vision for planning and development. One goal is to add more bicycle and pedestrian paths.
The workshops on the master plan are continuing; this is the time for residents to make their views known. You can read more about what’s happened so far here.
It’s encouraging to see more New Jersey communities (Newark, Hoboken, Freehold …) are looking at infrastructure improvements for bicyclists. Here’s the latest on what we’ve read about Hoboken (and Jersey City).
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.
A new trail crossing was installed recently where the Trolley Line Trail crosses South Mill Road, including a crosswalk with high visibility markings and a pedestrian-activated rapid flashing beacon, which flashes yellow strobes when the button is pushed. Thanks to the township and county for making crossing South Mill Road safer!
43 people enjoyed a? nice ride on a beautiful fall day, a little over 5 miles round trip from Community Park to McCaffrey’s and back. Thanks to everyone who participated, including our WWBPA trustees, student advisers and volunteers who planned, led and directed the bicyclists, and even handed out a few bandaids, and special thanks to McCaffrey’s for donating the refreshments!
Paul Ligeti of Troop 66, sponsored by Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church, is creating a bike route for his Eagle Scout project. The trail will pass by many of West Windsor’s historic sites, which are described on his project website. Please support Paul’s effort!
Big thanks go out to NJ DOT, who recently installed new warning signs for the multi-use trail along Scudders Mill Road, where it crosses the ramps onto and off of Rt 1 northbound.
Today this ramp doesn’t see that much traffic, mainly serving U-turns to southbound Rt 1. In the future, however, there is potential for a lot of traffic, if the proposal to restrict westbound turns from northbound Rt 1 at Washington Rd and Harrison Street is adopted.
The 
Hamilton is in the middle of a review of its master plan, a long-term vision for planning and development. One goal is to add more bicycle and pedestrian paths.