West Windsor residents will continue to see improvements in bicycle and pedestrian safety around the township over the next year, thanks to continuing Capital Budget Programs.
Money has been allocated to extend bike lanes on Edinburg Road between Village Road East and the east entrance to Mercer County Park.? Cyclists, remember that when the bridge over the Assumpink (and a stretch of Old Trenton Road) is closed for replacement later this year, you can take a shortcut through Mercer County Park and continue through West Windsor on Edinburg. Just yield to pedestrians on the path!
Funds also have been budgeted for to build the missing links in the path running parallel to the Dinky tracks on the Alexander Road side between Vaughn Drive and Route 1. This will be a great help for those wanting to bike-commute to work but not wanting to be on Alexander Road. One day we hope it will link to a bike and pedestrian bridge over Route 1.
There will be improvements in the timing of traffic signals along Alexander Road, which should make crossing safer for pedestrians.?The township will also continue with its crosswalk improvements, signage and striping enhancements, and sidewalk repair where street trees have caused damage.
The final phase of the Meadow Road improvements will be started, including a sidewalk from Clarksville Road to Duck Pond Park, making the park accessible from the new apartments on Clarksville Road and the Jewish Community Center accessible from the Estates at Princeton Junction.
And finally, this year will see the conceptual design for resurfacing of Canal Pointe Boulevard.? The WWBPA is hopeful that the township will follow the suggestions made by Orth Rodgers and enthusiastically supported by the WWBPA to put Canal Pointe on a road diet — giving it one travel lane in each direction, center turning lanes for left turns, decelleration lanes for right turns, and bike lanes.
These planned improvements show that West Windsor truly deserves its Bicycle Friendly Community designation. The WWBPA thanks township officials and the township council for these projects.
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?
Plainsboro has awarded a contract to construct a bike path on Plainboro Road from Maple Avenue (by the railroad bridge) to Prospect Avenue, one block east. That will fill in a key gap in the township’s bike network.
Sean Mellor of?BicycleRadio.com interviewed U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Tuesday, March 1. Listen to the interview on the secretary’s blog, fastlane.dot.gov.
LaHood discusses the 2012 budget, with a proposed increase in the transportation portion of the budget. LaHood emphasizes livability issues, multi-modal transportation, livable communities, walking and bike paths. He also discusses his campaign to end distracted driving.
On March 3, LaHood spoke before the Senate Budget Committee about President Obama’s 2012 budget proposals.
LaHood’s message was clear: “It?s essential to America’s economy that we find a way to repair our national infrastructure where we must and build for the future where we can.”
He said that “to spur new business and produce new jobs, we must … invest in .. .bike paths that make our streets more livable.” We heartily agree.
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An idea born of desperation, a bicycle snowplow in the Chicago area
The WWBPA gives a shout-out to the Forrestal Campus Bike Commuters, a newly formed advocacy group for cyclists who commute daily to Princeton University’s Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro.? The group, which boasts more than 30 members, was formed in response to a lack of snow removal ?from bike paths in Plainsboro — especially through the critical corridor along Scudders Mill ?Road. ?Despite a Plainsboro Township ordinance requiring the removal of snow and ice from bicycle paths and sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowfall, several sections of the two-mile path between ?Dey Road and Route 1 weren’t being plowed by their owners. ?And snow plowed from ?the roadway was blocking the road shoulder–so cyclists, runners and pedestrians were being forced to use car lanes, posing risks both to themselves and to motorists.
Andrew Wittenberg, the Plainsboro resident who formed the advocacy group, bike-commutes daily and year-round to the Forrestal Campus. ?”Unlike previous winters where new snow has melted away within days, this winter we’ve had persistent snow cover for over a month, making plowing of these bike paths essential,” he says.
He has written to the Plainsboro Police Department asking for strict ?enforcement of Township Code 79-10, which requires that owners clear the bike paths and sidewalks abutting their property within 24 hours, or face fines of up to $500 per offense. ?The law also empowers the Township to remove the snow without notice, at cost to the owner.
“Bristol Meyers Squibb has been wonderfully prompt about clearing their section of the path,” says Wittenberg. ?”But other owners — including Middlesex County — have repeatedly violated the Township Code. ?We’re hopeful that Police enforcement will encourage the owners of these paths to promptly clear them of snow in the future. ?If those owners remain unresponsive, we plan to ?organize a letter-writing campaign to Mayor Cantu and the local papers, to underscore the importance of our local snow-clearing laws.?
The WWBPA couldn?t agree more and reminds property owners in West Windsor that our ordinances also require sidewalks to be cleared. Those who rely on a cleared sidewalk to head out for a walk, ?to visit with a neighbor down the street or to get to the train station, school, library, store or other destination appreciate your courtesy. Motorists who don?t want to find pedestrians in the street do too.
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.
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).
The township continues to work toward a multi-use trail along South Post Road from Village Road to Mercer Lake alongside the Mercer Oaks golf course. Permits and contracts are expected to be awarded in time for work to begin in the spring of 2011.
This trail, which was suggested by the WWBPA, will provide a safe route to the Conover Road ballfields and to the Rowing Center, which received six bike racks this year from the WWBPA. It is being funded by a $120,000 NJDOT grant awarded in 2009.
A bridge (really two two-lane spans) being built to connect Ocean City with Somers Point (near Atlantic City) includes space for both bicyclists and pedestrians as it connects Atlantic and Cape May counties and eliminates some traffic bottlenecks. As an article in the Atlantic City Press notes, bicyclists and pedestrians were forbidden to cross the old causeway, which has virtually no shoulder and no sidewalks. The new bridge will have a 10-foot-wide bike path.
Construction has begun, and the new causeway, which replaces four low bridges on Route 52, should be open in December 2012.
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Cycling shoppers can look forward to Quaker Bridge Mall?s expansion and renovation, which will include improved bicycle and pedestrian access to the mall. The plan is to provide trail links to both the Avalon Run community southeast of the mall and to Yorkshire Village on the other side of Route 1, behind Mercer Mall, as well as a path along the southern portion of the mall?s loop road.
A macadam path is to be added from Grover?s Mill Rd on the southeast side of the property to the Route 1 access bridge on the southwest corner of the parcel. The path will continue over Route 1 via a new bike/pedestrian lane to be added to the bridge that now connects the mall to Route 1 near Patio World Fireplace & Hearth and Toys R Us. Lawrence Township is working with the Yorkshire Village homeowner?s association to extend that path to Canal View Drive. From that point it is relatively easy to access the D&R Canal towpath (and then the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail and the East Coast Greenway) via the existing residential street and path leading to the neighborhood?s community center.
The size and shape of the new path over Route 1 is still to be determined, as is the timeline for the whole project. The?mall’s expansion, which was originally expected to be completed by now, has been delayed by the recession. The mall?s legal counsel was recently before the Lawrence Township planning board seeking a 20-year extension in their overall plan. The township granted an eight-year extension and underscored the importance of?bike/pedestrian access over Route 1.
The West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance supports Lawrence’s efforts to improve bicycle and pedestrian access over Route 1, which will improve connections for West Windsor residents as well. The current bridge over Route 1 on Quaker Bridge Road isn’t suitable for bicyclists and pedestrians. The WWBPA also wants to see the off-road path along Clarksville Road that is in West Windsor’s master plan become reality at some point and is pleased to see that a multi-use trail along Clarksville is part of the new apartment complex now under construction near the railroad bridge.
Our thanks to Lawrence Township’s bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group, the Sustainable Transportation Committee, for this report.
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.
West Windsor residents will continue to see improvements in bicycle and pedestrian safety around the township over the next year, thanks to continuing Capital Budget Programs.
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 township continues to work toward a multi-use trail along South Post Road from Village Road to Mercer Lake alongside the Mercer Oaks golf course. Permits and contracts are expected to be awarded in time for work to begin in the spring of 2011.
Cycling shoppers can look forward to Quaker Bridge Mall?s expansion and renovation, which will include improved bicycle and pedestrian access to the mall. The plan is to provide trail links to both the Avalon Run community southeast of the mall and to Yorkshire Village on the other side of Route 1, behind Mercer Mall, as well as a path along the southern portion of the mall?s loop road.