Residents of the Penns Neck neighborhood of West Windsor, still smarting from the experimental closing of the Route 571-Route 1 jughandle last fall and its deleterious traffic consequences, got another jolt last week when they saw an aerial map showing options for Route 1 traffic that included, among other possible changes, traffic circles located virtually in the middle of their residential area.
But the map was intended to be only a planning tool, according to West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, who wrote a letter to alleviate the concerns. The map was one of several documents being used by a coalition of mayors of West Windsor, Princeton, Plainsboro, among other townships, as well as the two principal landowners affected, Princeton University and the Stanford Research Institute, as they weighed DOT proposals.
“I suspect Princeton felt it was far enough along with its ideas to share an aerial map depicting some suggested improvements with its Council on April 8,” wrote Hsueh. “Until I see what Princeton University and Stanford Research Institute receives from its engineers, I don’t know what the conceptual improvements will look like. So far, we only have ideas and possibilities.”
The good news, Hsueh wrote, is that the DOT is now suggesting spending as much as $40 million (as compared to the $2 million for last fall’s proposal); and that both the university and SRI are involved.
“It is essential to obtain their commitment and consensus to what the coalition will propose to the DOT because certain infrastructure improvements may affect their future development potential as well as master plan obligations,” the mayor wrote. “Once these two stakeholders provide their input, we will develop a consensus on a concept that is affordable and doable within the DOT timeframe.”
But Plainsboro Mayor Peter Cantu urged all parties to move quickly. Noting that area mayors had directed engineers to come up with a consensus approach, he added, “I will take a dim view, indeed, of anyone or any plan that causes so much delay that we lose the $40-$50 million promised to us by the state. My concern with the West Windsor alternate proposal is that it may be driving up the costs and the time needed to do the project.”
