Business Administrator Robert Hary gave updates on projects around town that are nearing completion at the October 3 West Windsor Council meeting.
Seventy-five new parking spaces have been added in the back of Community Park. Only finishing touches such as striping and landscaping work are still needed. Director of Community Development Pat Ward said the location of the new parking provides central access to all playing fields.
While insufficient parking has long been an issue at Community Park, a prominent aspect that went into its planning was storm water management. The lot will be the first one in West Windsor to be built from porous bituminous asphalt. This will give the new lot a slightly different look from traditional blacktop while holding runoff under the surface.
“One of our biggest challenges is not adding impervious surfaces. For the Alexander S-curve we added cisterns under the roadway to prevent storm water runoff. But for the sidewalks we put in along Penn Lyle Road we used the asphalt, and we’ll continue to use sustainable materials for capital projects,” Ward said.
At Duck Pond Park the area has been seeded and graded. Hary said the next step is building more active recreation spaces for public use, including tennis courts, basketball courts, and a children’s playground. There are no designs, site plans, or cost estimates yet, but Ward said the township has some money left over from previous grants that could be allocated for construction costs.
Bicyclists and pedestrians will be able get to Mercer County Lake in a safer fashion as the South Post Road bikeway creates a bike lane stretching from Village Road down to Conover Road. Ward says that heavy traffic along South Post has created the need for a designated lane for pedestrians and bikers. The path will end at Conover Road because, she says, there is minimal traffic at that location.
