The West Windsor Township Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance that would allow low-speed cars to travel under the speed limit on a portion of Alexander Road and Canal Pointe Boulevard, which have speed limits of 35 miles per hour.
A public hearing was held on June 22, following an ordinance introduction earlier this month.
The move is in response to a request from Princeton University that staff be able to use electric cars to travel on township roadways to make their way from Princeton to other portions of the campus in West Windsor, including the new building the university will be leasing at 701 in Carnegie Center. The 112,000-square foot, four story office building is situated between Canal Pointe Boulevard and Route 1, adjacent to Princeton Overlook.
When the West Windsor Planning Board gave approval to Boston Properties for construction of 701 Carnegie Center in November, 2007, one of the conditions was the creation of traffic management options to minimize the congestion caused by the new building.
The idea was for Boston Properties to offer these traffic management options to tenants at the new building, but not force them to utilize them. While a few options have been discussed at the Planning Board level, the university came up with its own sustainable initiative — replacing some of its gas vehicles with electric cars, the basis for the ordinance.
The university needed permission from West Windsor officials because the new cars can only travel between 20 and 25 miles per hour, but will need to access roads like Alexander Road and Canal Pointe Boulevard, which have speed limits of 35 miles per hour. State law already permits the low-speed cars on roadways up to 25 miles per hour, a Princeton University official said. The cars, she explained, are not golf carts, but simply low-speed cars about the size of a Ford Ranger.
Princeton officials have said that there would not be a large volume of these low-speed cars on the roadways, and that if they found there significant back-ups at certain parts of the day, they would work with township police to find better solutions. In addition, the university will be avoiding having its staff drive the cars during rush hour, and will mostly permit them between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., since staff members generally work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
