I suppose I’m getting just what I deserve. I spent three years on the Penns Neck Bypass Roundtable, trying to convince everyone that the roadway (also known as the Millstone Bypass) would be a good first step toward solving traffic problems that centered in Penns Neck –– known for a historic church and the intersection of Route 1 and Washington Road. I didn’t succeed in those efforts, and now my village is being subjected to traffic experiments that apparently require neither public opinion nor oversight. No one listened to our warnings during the public hearings, and now our worst fears are being realized.
For those who don’t live in this part of West Windsor, allow me to describe the extent to which Penns Neck is under siege due to the so-called Route 1 Pilot Project. Because of the new restrictions against turning toward Princeton from Route 1 North, many motorists now turn toward Hightstown on Washington Road and then turn around at the first opportunity. These drivers make U-turns in the middle of Washington Road or K-turns at intersections, and many others just turn around in our driveways. The “rush hour” actually lasts until mid-morning and rarely will five minutes pass without us seeing some awkward or hazardous move by a driver.
I live at the corner of Washington Road and Fairview Avenue. The driveway is the first on Fairview Avenue and has become a popular turn-around destination. On Thursday morning, August 16, a full size tank truck backed into the driveway and turned around. On Saturday, August 18, two medium-size moving vans both made U-turns on Washington in front of traffic. About an hour later a huge tour bus made a K-turn at Fisher and Fairview, which is forbidden to vehicles of more than four tons.) Several vehicles have run up on the lawn attempting to turn.
The mayor and the West Windsor police are equally frustrated and seem equally powerless to deal with the situation. They are attempting to deal with this situation, but it was imposed upon them.
My wife Susan spent an entire day last week trying to find a contact at NJDOT. We finally received a call back from a “liaison” at NJDOT who admitted she didn’t know the area but said there was no problem because no one else had complained. We pointed out that is probably because nobody knows where to direct complaints. But she said (in spite of the fact that NJDOT created the situation) that it was the responsibility of the West Windsor Police Department to issue tickets to motorists making U-turns. We told her that we assumed the WWPD has a few other things on their plate and can’t sit in Penns Neck all day long. When we told the WWPD of her contention they were not amused and confirmed that not only do they not have the manpower but that these turns are definitely illegal.
Maybe this experiment is helping the flow of traffic somewhere, but at what cost to our neighborhood? There are still folks here (like us) whose families have lived in Penns Neck for generations. We are a small but historic community, with the Penns Neck Baptist Church (a 250-year-old national and state historic site) in our midst.
But beyond my immediate irritation lies a concern for the near future. The schools will soon open and the children of Penns Neck will be on the streets waiting for buses. I predict that motorists who have little regard for lawns and fences will be similarly unmindful of the safety of pedestrians. The opponents of the Penns Neck Bypass apparently cared nothing for the safety of our children, and now we face these risks again, forced to endure the experiments that potentially serve the cause of traffic flow without any regard for the quality of our lives or even the security of our families.
David Christian Parris
207 Washington Road
The DOT has declared the experiment at Route 1 and 571 a success less than four days into the 12-week experiment. Those of you who had any high school science class might remember that you were told to collect ALL of the data before writing the conclusion. Seems DOT may have limited the scope of data they were willing to review before reaching the conclusion, or could it be they knew the conclusion they wanted?
Had they set up an experiment that looked not only at a single factor, the flow of traffic on Route 1, they might have noticed the secondary effects. Alexander Road is now effectively the only way to get into Princeton while traveling north on Route 1. The traffic into Princeton west from Hightstown backs up to the railroad bridge. Tractor trailers coming south on Route 1 and headed to Hightstown now have to use the Alexander Road exit off Route 1 and cross three lanes of Alexander Road traffic in less than 50 yards to return to Route 1. Numerous cars, trucks, and buses are making K turns along Route 571 to turn around and head for Princeton and Hightstown. The Scudders Mill Road bridge, already a nightmare at rush hour, has been asked to carry an addition load of those who missed Alexander Road while headed northbound on Route 1. One concession in the experiment, reopening of the Harrison Road entrance to SRI, had to be made just to allow the employees to even get to work because of the log jam on 571.
I trust this is a shortened version of the problems that will be present when school reopens. I doubt that will change the DOT’s conclusion.
Had DOT looked a little deeper into the problem of traffic flow on Route 1 they might have found that the light at Carnegie Boulevard was to have been removed when the Meadow Road overpass was finished in 2001. To stop thousands of cars all day long for the convenience of a few wanting to cross Route 1 makes little sense when compared to the short duration problem the Route 571 crossing presents during rush hour. Carnegie Boulevard should be a right turn only entrance to Route 1 from both sides.
SRI had agreed to work with the DOT so that a lane could be provided along Route 1 all across the front of SRI, similar to the entrance to Lowes and Carnegie Center, providing stacking for 50-plus cars waiting to cross Route 1 at Harrison into Princeton. There is little reason to have wasted money on the improvement at Harrison with this experiment on the drawing table.
My only hope is that this experiment has a greater “end game” in mind. The general inconvenience it has presented may be the justification to get them to agree to the long talked about plans that would include the bypass to Harrison and an overpass at the circle. One can only hope that government could be that farsighted.
Howard Eldridge
205 Mather Avenue
Eldridge reports that his area off of Route 571/Washington Road is “almost landlocked during rush hour as there is now only one way towards Route 1, Washington Road, and it is backed up way beyond my street.”
What about traffic at Scudders Mill Road? The editorial about the Route 1 closures in the Princeton Packet fails to mention the traffic problems created in Plainsboro by this half-baked idea.
With hundreds of cars piling up on Route 1 north to turn at Scudders Mill Road and the increased westward traffic from Route 130, the Scudders Mill intersection looks like Broadway and 42nd Street in Manhattan –– bumper-to-bumper traffic.
My commute from the Aspen to my office in Forrestal now takes 30 minutes instead of 10. How is this an improvement?.
Elaine Jancourts
Plainsboro
