Here’s a transit possibility that seems like a slam dunk for a variety of reasons. For more than 20 years I have proposed a public-private partnership to extend the Dinky into Plainsboro to increase line revenues and relieve traffic coming into Princeton Junction and Princeton Borough, and provide interconnecting access from Plainsboro’s Town Center to Princeton Junction.##M:[more]##
Satellite parking (plenty of space for a new multi-story parking garage in the shadows of the bridge) and a “kiss & ride” would be an extraordinary benefit to the Plainsboro business and residential communities.
The Merrill Lynch Training & Conference Center site (currently with new owners) adjacent to Plainsboro’s Scudders Mill Road bridge as a terminus coupled with existing right-of-way make this 2-mile route a compelling consideration. The conference center could arrange hotel and conference bookings from New York and Philadelphia, completely accessible via train (Northeast Corridor and the Dinky). Shuttle service would be available within Plainsboro to other Plainsboro hotels, and parking would be relieved at the Princeton Junction station.
Periodically I have written this elixir in the community newspapers. When Plainsboro Road was reconstructed several years ago, I communicated with Plainsboro municipal officials to ensure the bridge base was widened to permit the Dinky’s passage up to Scudders Mill Road bridge.
Princeton’s perspective on regional planning is continually defined as “what other townships should do.” What community wouldn’t want to export a tax-exempt enterprise (hospital) and gain new commercial ratables and seniors housing/residential tax revenue windfall?
Merrill’s consideration has shifted its focus from disinterest in Plainsboro to rejuvenating the West Trenton line in Hopewell. This renaissance would afford access between its Hopewell offices and Bucks County and New York.
Recently departed New Jersey Transit executive director George Warrington was a former president of Amtrak. Consequently NJ Transit missed an excellent opportunity over the last several years to leverage its residual contacts and relationships in Washington to make it happen. Perhaps the solution lies with Senator Lautenberg.
New capital equipment for track construction was recently authorized by the New Jersey Transit Board of Directors.
Let’s hope DOT Commissioner Kolluri considers extending the line in to Plainsboro to the former Merrill/BlackRock, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forrestal properties, and the proposed University Medical Center at Princeton. Improved transportation will go a long way toward erasing the state’s fifth worst business environment, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Improving the Dinky Extension would go a long way toward mitigating some of the demands for state-funded Route 1 improvements for the private University Medical Center at Princeton (Plainsboro) — and encourage further utilization of mass transit.
Pete Weale
Fisher Place, West Windsor
