Recommendations for traffic calming measures on Clarksville Road will head to the West Windsor Planning Board in March for review and incorporation into the Master Plan.
Township Council voted to send the report, complied by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, to the board after hearing a presentation from DVRPC officials on February 11 and listening to 30 minutes of public comment on the issue.##M:[more]##
The study area consisted of a two-mile long section of Clarksville Road about 500 feet west of the road’s intersection with Meadow Road, northeast to Princeton-Hightstown Road. The report listed problem areas and suggestions for improving pedestrian and bicycle circulation in addition to calming vehicular traffic (See The News, February 8).
Residents, while supportive of the study’s findings, suggested ideas of their own.
Clarksville Road resident Anthony DeCarlo was among those calling for weight limits on the road, saying commercial vehicles coming from Route 1 bypass traffic by heading through Plainsboro and coming up Clarksville Road at high speeds. “I know it’s a county road and the township is limited in what it could do, but I would love to see a weight limit on Clarksville Road, perhaps to 10,”000 gross vehicle weight,” DeCarlo said. “I think that will do more to help the traffic calming than almost anything else.”
Others, like Bolfmar Avenue resident Dick Snedeker, said they were surprised the section of Clarksville Road near Grover’s Mill was not included in the study. “I’m totally mystified,” he said, adding that the half-mile of the road before Grover’s Mill is the second most densely populated residential section of the entire road. He said that most drivers travel at speeds around 50 miles per hour, and that about four years ago, he presented a petition to council asking the speed limit to be lowered to 25 miles per hour. The council supported the idea with a resolution, but efforts to reduce the speed limit when it was sent to the county level were unsuccessful. “I think the scope of this study should be broadened at least to give some consideration to that part of Clarksville Road, which to date, is one of the most important and sensitive parts of the road,” Snedeker said.
Resident and parking authority board member Alison Miller and planning board member Diane Ciccone suggested tweaking some of the study’s specific recommendations. Ciccone, who lives on the corner of Penn Lyle and Clarksville roads, said placing a turn signal northbound on Penn Lyle Road was a good idea, but that reducing the traffic to one lane on Clarksville Road and placing bike lanes there heading toward Route 571 would cause more problems with cyclists, as motorists would veer into the bike lane while making a right-hand turn. Miller suggested officials also look at the turning radiuses of school buses at that intersection. She also said that there are some developments, including the future Jewish Community Center site, located between Quakerbridge and Meadow roads, “well before your proposed ‘Welcome to West Windsor’ sign,” and placing a sign near the Penn Lyle intersection would be inappropriate. “Maybe you should just have a little logo of sunshine or something else, but we’d like to welcome people to West Windsor at the actual borders,” Miller said.
West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance president Ken Carlson said he appreciated the study, but also suggested officials look at making the bridge on Clarksville Road that crosses over the Northeast Corridor rail line more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman also shared this concern, saying the study’s first location began directly after the bridge. There have been good improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians elsewhere leading up to the bridge, but those people cannot head over the bridge. “It just seems that you sort of missed the mark,” Kleinman said.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said township officials have been working with the county for the past six years regarding the Clarksville Road bridge, and an understanding was reached that once the Meadow Road project is completed, the bridge would be looked at next.
Councilman Charles Morgan said he was worried that fire trucks, who can’t easily turn right off Penn Lyle Road as it currently is designed, would be further hampered by the study’s recommendation that would actually take turning space away from the high school side of the road.
Hsueh said he would bring the suggestions from the council and residents to the Planning Board as it works on its Master Plan.##M:[more]##
In other business, the council unanimously passed a resolution calling for an acceleration lane turning onto Old Trenton Road from Bear Creek Boulevard. The resolution was in response to concerns expressed by Village Grande residents that the exit only allows them to turn right onto the northbound lane of Old Trenton Road, and that the intersection is dangerous and potentially life threatening as it currently is.
The resolution urges the Mercer County Freeholders to pass a concurring resolution, and that copies of the joint resolution be sent to the DOT, the county executive’s office, and the freeholders.
