West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance

WWBPA @ WW Community Day

Thursday, May 9 by joegorun

Come on out to see WWBPA and spin the wheel at the West Windsor Community Day event on Sat 5/11 12pm-4pm at Duck Pond Park.

Tags: West Windsor
Posted in Uncategorized |

WW Martian Family Bike Ride

Monday, October 22 by joegorun

Come out to the WW Martian Family Bike Ride on Sunday 10/28 at 10am. Meeting at Grovers Mill Coffee House. Rain cancels. Check our WWBPA facebook page for further details.

Tags: bicycle, bike ride, West Windsor
Posted in Bicycle-Friendly Community, Bicycling Trip, Bike Ride |

Walk with us on May 2nd to the first Farmers? Market of the Spring

Friday, May 1 by joegorun

The West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance?is organizing its sixth annual Walk to the Farmers? Market to mark the opening day of the market on?May?2, at 9 a.m.

Tags: Community Walk, Farmers' Market, walking, West Windsor
Posted in Farmers' Market, Pedestrian, Princeton Junction train station, West Windsor Walks |

Mercer First to Complete Streets (Policies)

Saturday, January 10 by JerryFoster

Five years after Montclair and NJDOT adopted New Jersey’s leading Complete Streets policies, this week Mercer County became the first to have all roads covered – state, county and every municipality. Congratulations to Mercer County for reaching this very important milestone toward making our communities more bicycle and pedestrian friendly!

Complete Streets policies require road improvements to support biking, walking and transit for users of all ages and abilities as the rule rather than the exception, and provide for incremental improvements without mandating retrofits.

Complete Streets benefit everyone, e.g. better safety (not just for cyclists and pedestrians, but mainly for motorists), higher property values (see walkscore.com) and improved security (more eyes on the street). Those who walk or bike feel better, are healthier and live longer – students who bike or walk to school score better on standardized tests.

Realizing these benefits will take time, as responsibility for our roads is divided between the state (for federal and state roads), counties and municipalities. Even a short trip can include roads and/or bridges under the care of many jurisdictions – for example, biking around Princeton’s Carnegie Lake involves traversing 3 counties and 5 municipalities, plus a state and maybe even a federal road.

What does a Complete Street look like? It depends – Complete Streets are not cookie-cutter. All of these pictures might be considered examples in some sense, while each may have additional possibilities to make them even more complete.

See if you can pick out which picture shows which Mercer County municipality – Trenton, Hamilton, Ewing, Hopewell Township, Pennington, Hopewell Boro, Princeton, Lawrence, West Windsor, East Windsor, Hightstown and Robbinsville.

Tags: Carnegie Lake, Complete Streets, complete streets policy, East Windsor, Ewing, Hamilton, Hightstown, Hopewell, Hopewell Boro, Hopewell Borough, Hopewell Township, Lawrence, Mercer County, Pennington, Princeton, public safety, Robbinsville, Safe Routes to School, standardized testing, trenton, West Windsor
Posted in Advocacy, Complete Streets, Uncategorized |

Our Trail-to-Trail Community Bike Ride (and Walk)

Monday, September 24 by silvia

Join the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance for its sixth annual Community Bike Ride on Oct. 6 (rain date Oct 7) as we head down the D&R Canal towpath to discover how it connects to other bicycling and walking routes.

Our eight-mile ride will leave from Turning Basin Park (Alexander Road and the canal) and head to Brearley House in Lawrence (located on the 20-mile Lawrence Hopewell Trail). We?ll stop there for refreshments and some give-aways, plus hear about the Lawrence Hopewell Trail and the East Coast Greenway before turning back.

This is the last in our series of free family-friendly bike rides for 2012. Meet at the park at 2:15 p.m.; the ride leaves at 2:30 p.m. No preregistration is necessary; just bring a bike in good working order and a helmet. Children under 13 should be accompanied by an adult.

This year, we are adding a walking option, from Port Mercer Canal House. Gather at the parking lot at 2:15 p.m. (departure time is 2:30 p.m.) for the 1.3-mile walk to Brearley House. Because of road construction, the parking lot is only accessible from Route 1, not Princeton.

The ride is so-sponsored by the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, Sustainable Lawrence and the Princeton Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee.

About two dozen people, many of them new faces, joined us on Sept. 15 for a five-mile loop from Community Park down the Trolley Line Trail to Penn-Lyle Road and past High School South back to the park. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Tags: bicycle, bike ride, biking, D&R Canal, East Coast Greenway, Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, Lawrenceville, Princeton, walking, West Windsor
Posted in Alexander Road, Bicycle routes, Bike Ride, Community Bike Ride, D&R Canal, East Coast Greenway, Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, Lawrenceville, Princeton, Trails, Walkability |

Join Our “Bugs and Bikes” Ride

Tuesday, August 7 by silvia

Our July bike ride stopped at Van Nest Park

The West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance invites cyclists of all ages to join us on the third in our series of casual family-friendly rides, on Saturday, Aug. 18. The destination of our ?bugs and bikes? ride is the Plainsboro Preserve, 80 Scotts Corner Road, where participants can opt to take part in the family nature program ($5/per person).

Meet at West Windsor Community Park tennis courts (off the North Mill Road entrance) for a 12-mile roundtrip ride at 2:15 p.m. or at Town Center School in Plainsboro for 5-mile roundtrip ride at 2:45 p.m. Walkers are also welcome and should arrive at the preserve by 3:15 p.m. We will use quiet streets and bike paths as much as possible. Those on the 12-mile ride should be comfortable riding on slightly busier streets.

The preserve?s nature program begins at 3:30 p.m., and pre-registration for that program is recommended (609-897-9400). Those who choose not to take part can join us for a casual walk around the preserve before heading home. (No biking in the preserve itself!)

There is no charge for the WWBPA ride, nor is pre-registration necessary. Just bring a bike in good working order and a helmet. Children under 13 should be accompanied by an adult. Check our website (wwbpa.org) or Facebook page for any changes. The rain date for this ride is Sunday, Aug. 19.

Additional rides are planned for September and October. Thanks to all who took part in our July ride–an 11-mile tour of historic West Windsor sites–and our short ride for ice cream in June.

Where would you like to ride?

Tags: bicycling, bike ride, Plainsboro, West Windsor
Posted in Bike Ride, Plainsboro |

Celebrate Our Bicycle-Friendly Community on Saturday

Wednesday, May 23 by silvia

Come to Community Park on Saturday, when West Windsor will be honored during the BikeFest festivities for being New Jersey?s first bicycle-friendly community.

Jen Laurita will present the award on behalf of the League of American Bicyclists, a national non-profit organization that honored West Windsor with a bronze medal in September. BikeFest is one of the many reasons that the community was selected. Other criteria include educational events (such as BikeFest?s Bike Rodeo to teach good biking skills), infrastructure (the many bike lanes that have been added over the years) and government policies.

The award will be given around noon, after riders are back from their rides (anywhere from 1 ? miles to 40 miles) and grabbing lunch and just as the DJ gets going and the kids take over the moon bounce and giant slide.

Stick around to applaud West Windsor! You also have a chance to win one of 10 $25 gift certificates from Halter?s Cycles on Router 1 in South Brunswick.

Not signed up for BikeFest? You can register here or on Saturday at Community Park. (Rain date is Sunday.) Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.

Tags: BikeFest, League of American Bicyclists, West Windsor
Posted in Bicycle-Friendly Community, Bike Ride, BikeFest |

Walk With Us To The Farmers’ Market

Sunday, April 29 by silvia

The West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance is organizing its third annual Walk to the Farmers’ Market on Saturday May 5 to mark the opening of the market for the season.

This free family-friendly walk is open to people of all ages, and those in wheelchairs and strollers as well. We will meet in the Maurice Hawk School parking lot at the back of the school, and start strolling at 9 a.m.; please arrive by 8:50 a.m. so we can leave on time.? Our mile-long route will take us to Berrien Avenue on the school path, and then down Berrien to Alexander Road.? We will then cross Alexander Road by the Arts Center and turn left onto the new sidewalk constructed last summer with the help of a Safe Routes to Transit grant obtained by West Windsor Township.? We will cross Wallace Road and continue up over the roundabout and along more of the sidewalk along Alexander Road,? including a key portion installed last year, to Vaughn Drive, where we will turn right and proceed to the Farmers’ Market.

Children of all ages will be challenged by a game of “I Spy” along the way.

We’ll follow a different route back to the Hawk parking lot for those who are interested.

Tags: pedestrian, walking, West Windsor
Posted in Alexander Road, Farmers' Market, Walkability |

Complete Streets Adopted in Mercer Municipalities

Thursday, March 15 by JerryFoster

Complete Streets policies are being adopted in municipalities throughout Mercer County. Since March 1, Trenton, Hopewell Borough, Princeton Borough and Princeton Township have all adopted Complete Streets, joining West Windsor and Lawrence townships. Will Mercer County be next?

As of this posting, only Monmouth County has adopted a Complete Streets policy, although Essex County was asked to consider the policy last night.

Complete Streets policies make clear that bicyclists, pedestrians and other roadway users are to be accommodated by default, rather than by exception, and will greatly increase safety for all users.

NJ DOT Commissioner James Simpson calls it the Way to Zero Fatalities. NJ DOT’s Complete Streets policy was ranked as the best of its type in the nation, though New Jersey Future’s report shows several ways to improve its implementation.

Please join us to encourage Mercer County to adopt Complete Streets – since nearly every major road in West Windsor is a county road, our state and municipal policies are not enough.

Tags: Complete Streets, Essex County, Hopewell Borough, James Simpson, Lawrence, Mercer County, Monmouth County, New Jersey Future, NJDOT, Princeton Borough, Princeton Township, trenton, West Windsor, Zero Fatalities
Posted in Advocacy |

Transit Village Not Enough to Achieve Smart Growth

Sunday, December 25 by JerryFoster

This post was published as a Letter to the Editor in the West Windsor Plainsboro News December 16, 2011.? In response to Lucy Vandenberg’s letter in the West Windsor Plainsboro News December 2, 2011, WW Transit Village a Model for State. As I expect Ms. Vandenberg would agree, the Transit Village is a good start, but more needs to be done to achieve the benefits of Smart Growth.

It’s not enough that the Transit Village will “make it possible for people to get out of their cars and walk, bike, and take the train to their destinations.” We must be able to safely walk and bike to and from the Transit Village.

It’s not enough to have compact development – we need a grocery store within walking distance, like the Acme that used to be in downtown West Windsor. Land use law and/or policies must require diverse uses – we need more than banks and real estate offices downtown, so that people have a variety of walkable destinations.

It’s not enough that compact development could be environmentally beneficial – we need specific open space preservation tied to specific dense developments like the Transit Village. It’s irrelevant that other space in New Jersey is already preserved.

It’s not enough to have Smart Growth policies for land use – transportation policy must support land use policy, by implementing the flexible standards in the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s (NJDOT) Smart Transportation Guidebook.

It’s not enough that NJDOT and West Windsor Township adopted Complete Streets policies – Mercer County must also adopt the policy, which requires roadway improvements to support walking and biking. Otherwise major roads like CR 571 in downtown West Windsor are subject to expensive but counter-productive “improvements” that don’t meet the the township’s goal for “pedestrian-friendly, village scale development.” There’s nothing pedestrian-friendly about a wider road with 30% more cars going 45mph, with no place to safely wait in the middle when crossing.

The Rt 1 Regional Growth Strategy is not enough, since it doesn’t sufficiently support redevelopment in Trenton and New Brunswick, the two already-compact but underutilized “developments” anchoring the region. With the right policies, much of the region’s growth could fit into Trenton and New Brunswick with far less environmental and traffic impact. Without supporting our cities, the strategy’s Bus Rapid Transit system will effectively encourage sprawl in outlying areas, contrary to its stated goal.

Respectfully, it’s wrong to promise reduced congestion by implementing Smart Growth, even with Smart Transportation and the Bus Rapid Transit system. Like water, the transportation network balances itself as people choose to walk, bike, drive, or take the bus or train, depending on the cost and convenience of each. If there is less congestion, people will switch to driving until there is enough congestion to make it better to take another way.

The Transit Village is a good start, but doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We need complementary supporting policies to achieve the benefits of Smart Growth. If Smart Growth just means new and denser development, then it has already failed to achieve its goals.

Tags: Bus Rapid Transit, compact development, complete streets policy, CR 571, dense development, downtown west windsor, land use policy, Lucy Vandenberg, Mercer County, New Brunswick, NJDOT, redevelopment, Rt 1 Regional Growth Strategy, Rt 571, Smart Growth, Smart Transportation, Smart Transportation Guidebook, sustainability, Transit Village, transportation policy, trenton, West Windsor, West Windsor Plainsboro News
Posted in Advocacy, Main Street, Pedestrian, Route 571, Safety, Speed limits, Sustainability, Walkability |

Who Pays for Our Roads?

Monday, October 10 by JerryFoster

There’s an urban myth that only motorists pay for roads, therefore implying that bicyclists and pedestrians don’t belong on them. Is it true?

Not according to the 1995 study Crossroads: Highway-Finance Subsidies in New Jersey, which found that motorists only pay 77%. The rest ($733 million in 1995) is subsidized by the general taxpaying public.

“This subsidy is borne entirely at the local level, by New Jersey counties and municipalities. Localities spend $1.2 billion a year providing roads and motorist services, but collect only $200 million directly from drivers; the difference of $1 billion is paid largely through property taxes.” – Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Motorists pay even less now than in 1995. The New Jersey gas tax, fixed at $0.105 per gallon, has not changed since 1988, according to the 2010 study Spiral of Debt: The Unsustainable Structure of New Jersey’s Transportation Trust Fund. The federal gas tax has been fixed at $0.184 per gallon since 1993. You can be assured the cost of improvements haven’t stayed fixed since then. How did we make up the difference? According to the 2010 study:

“It didn?t happen overnight but gradually: Over the last 25 years, we have bought ourselves major transportation improvements ? road widenings, interchange redesigns, new rail lines and countless other projects ? without raising the money necessary to pay for them.

Instead, we?ve borrowed money. We have borrowed ? and we continue to borrow ? so much money that nearly every dollar we raise in taxes for transportation projects from the gas tax and other taxes, almost $900 million a year, is instead going to pay off interest and principal on bonds issued years ago.”

The state’s Quick Facts web page estimates that 1% of Transportation Trust Fund funding is Pay-As-You-Go, and the rest is borrowed.? According to the 2011 report Do Roads Pay for Themselves?, New Jersey exempts gas purchases from the sales tax, and the lower gas tax rate is in effect a subsidy that encourages gas purchases.? The major components of the Transportation Trust Fund revenues are the fuel tax ($483 million in FY2010), petroleum products tax ($200 million in FY2010) and a portion of the sales tax ($200 million in FY2010). The petroleum products tax is on activities such as oil refining and is paid by industry, while we all pay sales tax, of course.

So the state’s Fiscal Year 2012 Transportation Capital Plan total of $3,363,038,000 includes $149,703,000 for Multimodal programs (4.45%). Of course this funding is only for interstates and federal and state highways, except for specific improvements funded by the state’s local assistance program. So US 1 is covered in West Windsor.

Let’s look at county transportation funding – the 2011 Mercer County Capital budget Transportation Infrastructure total of $11,908,600?? includes $250,000 for bicycle and pedestrian improvements (2.1%). Capital Surplus provided $592,930 with the remaining $11,315,670 from General Bonds and Notes, i.e. borrowed, so 5.2% is Pay-As-You-Go. This assumes Mercer County is funded by property taxes rather than motorist-specific fuel or other motor vehicle use taxes. These pay for county roads, except for specific projects that are paid with federal and/or state funds, as the proposed CR571 Main Street project is.

West Windsor’s county roads include:

• Washington and Princeton-Hightstown Roads (CR571)
• Clarksville Road (CR 638)
• Quakerbridge Road (CR 533)
• Cranbury Road (CR 615)
• South Mill and Edinburg Roads (CR 526)
• Old Trenton Road (CR 535)
• Village Road West (CR 644)
• Edinburg Windsor Road (CR 641)
• South Post Road (CR 602)

Similarly, our municipal roadways are assumed to be funded by local property taxes, although some can be partially funded through the Off Tract Road Assessment fund, which is collected from real-estate developers. West Windsor’s 2011 Capital Improvement budget includes $757,050 for roadway improvements, $1,054,515 for traffic safety improvements, as well as $373,590 in bicycle and pedestrian improvements (17.1%). Some of these projects could be funded at least in part by state grants, if West Windsor is successful with its applications. (Money is scarce, so this is highly competitive.)

In any case, the vast majority of bicyclists and pedestrians are motorists as well (full disclosure – we have more cars than drivers in our family, though not for much longer).

So, everybody uses and pays for our roads – in general, the federal and state highways from borrowing, the rest from property taxes.

Tags: budget, Mercer County, mercer county roads, motorist, new jersey transportation funding, paying for roads, roadway funding, transportation trust fund, West Windsor
Posted in Advocacy |

Answers to the Mercer County Main Street Quiz

Monday, July 25 by JerryFoster

Picture 1

Here are the answers to the Mercer County Main Street quiz! This picture tour of other towns’ main streets is intended to better illustrate what West Windsor’s own Main Street will look like after the project is completed.

Picture 1 is West Windsor’s Main Street today:

• View: South / East on CR 571 from the driveway of the Sovereign Bank
• Speed limit / volume: 40mph / 18K (2009)
• Lanes: 2, turn lanes at intersections
• Shoulder: very wide, narrowing sharply
• Sidewalks: many gaps
• On-street Parking: no
• Streetscape: strip mall and individual commercial properties with parking lots typically in front

Picture 2

Picture 2 is Princeton:

Rt 571 Concept Illustration

So which other Mercer County town’s Main Street will most resemble West Windsor’s proposed design?

Only Hamilton and Robbinsville have a two way center left turn lane in? their main streets, and Hamilton’s streetscape more closely resembles West Windsor, rather than the new Downtown Robbinsville development. So Hamilton’s Main Street (Picture 7) is what we in West Windsor have to look forward to.

Why would we want this design for our Main Street? Lawrenceville’s US 206 handles nearly the same volume at much lower speeds, and even Pennington’s arterial SR 31 handles more volume at lower speeds, and without a 3 lane design. Today’s roadway is more like the Main Streets of other Mercer County towns than is the proposed design.

Please see the WWBPA’s recommendations for CR 571, and contact our public officials to express your support for these design changes – this project is the best chance we’ll have in many years to create a Main Street that we can be proud of!

Tags: Complete Streets, Downtown Princeton Junction, Hamilton, Hopewell, Lawrenceville, Main Street, Mercer County, Pennington, Princeton, Robbinsville, West Windsor
Posted in Advocacy |

Take the Mercer County Main Street Quiz

Thursday, July 21 by JerryFoster

Picture 1

The pictures are of various town’s main streets in Mercer County. Just match the town with the picture! Then look at the illustration for West Windsor’s proposed Rt 571 Main Street design, and identify which town West Windsor’s main street will most resemble when it’s implemented. Note that 1 town has 2 pictures, since their main street is parallel to another road that carries more traffic.

The towns are:

• Hamilton
• Hopewell
• Lawrenceville
• Pennington
• Princeton
• Robbinsville
• West? Windsor

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

Last, here’s the illustration from the Rt 571 design – which town will West Windsor’s Main Street most resemble? Sign in to comment, or send us an email at [email protected]. Answers will be posted in a few days!

Rt 571 Concept Illustration

Tags: Complete Streets, Hamilton, Hopewell, Lawrenceville, Main Street, Mercer County, Pennington, Princeton, Princeton Junction, Robbinsville, West Windsor
Posted in Advocacy, Main Street |

How West Windsor Gets to Work

Monday, December 27 by sandy

John Boyle of the WalkBikeJersey Blog analyzed the U.S. Census data from the American Community Survey for 2005-2009 (not data from Census 2010) to see how New Jerseyans get to work. Included on the blog is a spreadsheet listing all 522 New Jersey communities with the numbers and rankings for biking, walking, and taking transit.

The numbers don’t reflect those who use multiple ways to get to work, but only the mode used for the longest part of the trip or most frequently used. So if you ride your bike to the Princeton Junction station, take the train to New York City, then walk to your office, your commute would only be counted as “transit.”

Here’s how West Windsor ranks, out of 12,198 people counted:

• No. 144 of the 522 state municipalities for the percentage of people who bicycle (0.39%);
• No. 342 in the state for the percentage of those who walk to work? (1.31%);
• No. 39 for those who take transit (17.97%).

Not surprisingly, that puts West Windsor commuters way ahead of those in the entire country who take transit (4.95%), but somewhat below those who walk (2.9%) or bike (0.5%).

To see the spreadsheet for all New Jersey municipalities, go to the WalkBikeJersey Blog.

Tags: bicycle, census, commuter, pedestrian, transit, walking, West Windsor
Posted in commuter |

Progress on Path Along South Post Road

Friday, December 3 by silvia

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.

Tags: bike path, Duck Pond Park, FOWWOS, trail, West Windsor
Posted in Bicycle routes, Bikeability, Safety, South Post Road, Trails, Walkability |

Filling in Sidewalk Gaps

Thursday, November 25 by silvia

one of West Windsor's newest sidewalk connections

West Windsor is planning to fill in several gaps in the sidewalk network near the Princeton Junction train station.

The Township has acquired an easement along the Alexander Road frontage of Princeton Polygraph, the building between the old compost and mulch site and the U.S. Trust building at the corner of Vaughn Drive. As a result, a contract has been awarded to install sidewalks on the missing link on that side of the road from the roundabout to Vaughn Drive.

In addition, sidewalks will be installed on sections of Wallace and Alexander roads near the Arts Center, including the missing link across from the Arts Center, so that there is a complete connection between Scott and Wallace roads.

Improvements near the train station are being funded by a state Safe Routes to Transit grant.

Sidewalks are going in as part of the first phase of the Penn-Lyle improvements. One section will be from Old Village Road on the same side as the Trolley Line Trail to the point where the sidewalk now begins. Another addition will bridge the gap where the road crosses Duck Pond Run. This will create a continuous sidewalk from Village Road to High School South and Clarksville Road. (Bike lanes also will be added from Westwinds Drive to New Village Road.)

The township also has acquired an easement along the Alexander Road S-curve from Princeton University and has awarded a contract for sidewalks there.

Weather permitting, some work on all these projects will be done this year; otherwise, work will start once the weather warms up in the spring.

The township is still working on acquiring an easement for a sidewalk on the curve of North Post Road so that there can be a sidewalk link from the Municipal Center and library to the train station.

The WWBPA thanks the township for these improvements and others this year. They will go a long way toward making it safer for high school students to walk to school and for anyone wanting to walk to the train station.

Tags: Alexander Road s-curve, Princeton Junction train station, sidewalks, walking, West Windsor
Posted in Alexander Road, Pedestrian, Princeton Junction train station, Safety, Walkability |