West Windsor prides itself on being on the forefront in various ways: its sustainable practices, its open space and affordable housing policies, and its work in creating a more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly environment for residents, to name a few.
The newest innovative approach to come to West Windsor is in the form of the future promenade on the InterCap Holdings site off Washington Road in the train station redevelopment area. The promenade will implement a use of “shared space” for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists, in which all three will share the same roadway space.
Known as a “woonerf,” the concept was created in the Netherlands by Hans Monderman, a Dutch traffic engineer who was opposed to the use of traffic signs to regulate traffic. The concept, as members of the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance point out on their blog, goes by a variety of other names — Living Streets, Home Zones, and “shared space.”
As described on the WWBPA’s website, the safety of the shared space “depends on extremely slow speeds and one-on-one human eye contact to negotiate movement through the space.” The idea is that the shared space forces drivers to proceed with greater care, and at lower speeds.
According to an article referenced on the WWBPA website, a report called “Shared Space: Safe or Dangerous,” which was written by a team of four professors from the University of Wuppertal in Germany, the design has been implemented in a number of municipalities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and in the United Kingdom.
Monderman’s concepts does not focus on limiting car traffic and its speeds, but on voluntary behavioral change in all of the road’s users, which requires appropriate design. Most notably, the concept is “characterized by the absence of traffic lights, signs, and sign posting, and a clear and open design of public space,” the report states.
Further, the report states, “an important reasoning behind Shared Space is that by taking away traffic regulation elements, and by sharing road space, a certain feeling of insecurity is created. This is assumed to lead to a higher attention level, and thus to safer road user behavior.”
The traffic pattern concept may be new to the area — and America, in general — but the idea has already been implemented in various places throughout Europe.
The question is whether the idea will work in West Windsor, near one of the busiest train stations on New Jersey Transit’s Northeast Corridor and in an area already gnarled by traffic at rush hour.
The members of the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance believe it can, if it is designed appropriately.
“The WWBPA is confident that this plan, if built as shown in the pattern book, will be eminently walkable, and will provide those bicyclists who are comfortable in traffic with a wonderful place to stop and enjoy the amenities, like the Farmers Market,” the WWBPA commented on its blog. “We are hopeful that motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians will embrace the new shared street and quickly learn to navigate without traditional traffic control.”
The lack of that traditional traffic control created concerns from the public, and from some West Windsor government officials. When the Township Council approved the settlement with InterCap in November, council members and members of the public called for designated bicycle lanes or other amenities to make the promenade circulation safer. Council President Diane Ciccone even remarked at the time that she did not feel that New Jersey drivers were ready for the shared space concept.
However, WWBPA president Jerry Foster said that the concept can work in West Windsor and is supported by his organization. “The short answer is: Of course, it can work,” said Foster. “The issue is — can it be built so that it works?”
There are a few areas that can be improved to make the concept work. One is making the area where vehicular parking is designated safer for passing bicyclists, who risk getting hit by drivers who park and open their car doors to get out. The other is the function of the road, and whether it will turn into a cut-through for train station traffic.
Foster submitted the WWBPA’s recommendations to the Township Council during its meeting on December 13, most of which included language changes to two ordinances that put into effect the settlement agreement with InterCap. Those ordinances are expected to be introduced and adopted in January.
The WWBPA’s recommendations, Foster believes, would enable the shared space concept, as it exists, to be more achievable, while providing further protection to bicyclists.
Township officials have already included WWBPA’s prior recommendations to require back-in, angled parking in the promenade area. There are still areas around the transit village that contain parallel parking on the street.
One suggestion that was rejected was a buffered bike lane — one that was buffered by a two-foot striped area so that people can open their car doors and not hit bicyclists who are coming down the road.
The new changes proposed by the WWBPA at the December 13 meeting, however, include language that would do one of two things: either encourage bicyclists to bike in the middle of the road so that they stay away from car doors, or providing an option that would allow for InterCap to use different pavement coloring or install different pavement patterning for bicyclists to ride.
In its memo to the Township Council highlighting its proposed language changes, the WWBPA wrote that the “few remaining recommendations center around maintaining the goals of bikeability and bicyclist safety throughout the Transit Village and adjacent roadways and paths, especially where there is on-street parallel parking, where opening car doors present significant danger to passing bicyclists.”
In the section of the ordinance in which the use of bollards is used in place of curbs to provide “visual clues for pedestrian circulation, vehicular travel lanes, and on-street parking,” the WWBPA recommended encouraging car parking and bicycle lane positions through the use of “pavement treatments.”
The recommendation suggests that “bollards and/or more refined pavements” should be used to help with the circulation. The new wording allows for flexibility.
With WWBPA’s recommendations, the idea is to create a truly public space that discourages drivers using the district as a cut-through to get to the parking garages in the four corners of the district.
“Are they going to be encouraged to come through this district or be encouraged to go around this district?” Foster asked. “If the answer is they’re going to be coming through here, it will be very difficult, in my opinion, to give the drivers the idea that they will need to slow down.”
But if it is built in a way that discourages cut-throughs, it could work. In Europe, the concept is used in old town squares and areas where through-traffic would be discouraged, he said. “In this concept, it does not seem to be that way [to allow for cut-through traffic], and it will work,” Foster said.
“I thought this was head-and-shoulders above what is in the existing redevelopment plan, and that was head-and-shoulders above the previous plan,” said Foster. “Overall, we’re pretty hopeful.”
The township’s attorneys will incorporate the suggestions into the ordinances, which will be on the agenda in January for introduction and approval.
The 50,000 square foot promenade ( 750 by 160 feet) in the center of the site will require speeds as low as 15 miles per hour. The promenade would be so big that it could contain the same amount of space as occupied by areas in downtown Princeton, including the kiosk space in Palmer Square, Mediterra Square, Tiger Park, Hinds Plaza, and Palmer Square.
Under the agreement, InterCap will construct, maintain, and own the promenade. In the ordinance, officials specified that the promenade will include passive areas and active public gathering space that can host a farmer’s market and other public events.
InterCap, led by CEO Steve Goldin, a township resident, had sued West Windsor over the redevelopment designation of the 350-acre area around the Princeton Junction train station, which included InterCap’s 25 acres off Washington Road. The settlement calls for a total of 800 housing units — to be phased in — on InterCap’s property, along with retail development and infrastructure and amenity contributions, including the promenade, which would provide a public area for residents.
