The Department of Transportation’s left turn and jughandle lane closures along West Windsor’s stretch of Route 1 has negatively impacted residents in the northwestern part of the township. At the Monday, August 20, Council meeting, Business Administrator Marlena Schmid said that township offices have been inundated with calls complaining about cars that make u-turns in their driveways.
“Up until a few days ago there had been no signage prohibiting the u-turns from being made. Signage is now up and as a result traffic is coming into the area and using people’s driveways in order to avoid the detour that the NJDOT has in place. The mayor has personally contacted each resident we have received complaints from, and while the complaints have been shared on a daily basis with the NJ DOT project manager, we escalated the complaints to the assistant commissioner of the DOT and another individual with that office,” Schmid said.
Mayor Hsueh said Township Attorney Michael Herbert would be looking into the legality of West Windsor putting up its own signs in Penns Neck, as well as other enforcement from the township’s side.
“Actually I talked to Chief Pica and we should try to give tickets as much as possible, because with so many complaints coming we really need to penalize violations against the DOT’s signs,” Hsueh said.
West Windsor Councilman George Borek has been in touch with residents of Penns Neck, including Guy Pierson, who has told Council about illegal u-turns that cars make in his neighborhood on a daily basis.
At the August 20 Council meeting, Borek put the Route 1 experiment in context. “The DOT is solving its problem on Route 1, but unfortunately the quality of life for our residents on Fisher Place, Washington Road, Fairview, and other streets in Penns Neck is greatly impacted. The problem will really persist when school is back in session — certainly we should not be picking up the burden for the state’s missteps over the years.”
Borek believes that if the DOT had appropriated money for a Penns Neck bypass years ago, West Windsor wouldn’t have these issues today. “My opinion is that this is a cheap solution to a bigger problem,” Borek said.
