By Donald Gilpin
In spite of numerous thunderstorms and high heat, 21 days in July with temperatures over 90 degrees, including 10 days when workers had to be sent home early, the Princeton Municipal Engineering Department reports three major construction projects heading towards completion, along with several other projects in the works.
Major reconstruction on Dickinson Street and University Place and significant improvements on Terhune Road between North Harrison Street and Grover Avenue are expected to be finished by October, and the Cherry Hill Road shared-use path extension should be complete before school starts early next month, according to Princeton Assistant Municipal Engineer Jim Purcell.
On Dickinson a new sanitary sewer main drainage system is being installed along with full roadway reconstruction. Lucas Brothers Inc., the municipality’s contractor, is now working on replacing the sidewalks on University Place, after which they will replace sidewalks on Alexander Street and Dickinson. Dickinson is closed to through traffic. University Place is two-way, but alternating traffic can be expected.
The Terhune Road Improvements Project, with municipality contractor Black Rock Enterprises and funding from New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) grants, will complete and improve the existing pedestrian and bicycle network on Terhune and North Harrison, with new sidewalks and traffic-calming measures.
The Terhune project is being constructed in cooperation with the developers of The Alice and the Thanet Circle redevelopments.
The Cherry Hill Road Project, nearing completion with contractor Earle Asphalt Co., will include the construction of a new shared-use path, installation of a concrete retaining wall with handrail, and narrowing of the road as a traffic calming measure.
Also moving forward under the auspices of the municipal engineering department is a road resurfacing project covering the entire length of Stuart Road. The road has been milled, and Purcell noted that the paving should be taking place over the next two or three weeks.
Mercer County, under a program to assist municipalities with road resurfacing, is providing labor and equipment for that project, billing the Municipality for materials.
Stuart Road will be closed to through traffic during work hours with drivers asked to plan alternate routes.
PSE&G has paved 12 miles of Princeton roads in various parts of town in the past two years, Purcell noted, and will probably be doing some striping later this month.
A Pretty Brook Road closure in the next few days may cause “a bit of nightmarish traffic,” Purcell observed. Williams Gas Pipeline Transco will be doing pipeline repairs adjacent to Pretty Brook Road with the road closed for a day or two so they can mobilize their equipment. There are detour signs up and down the Great Road and up and down Carter Road.
At the end of this week the NJDOT will start the milling and resurfacing of Princeton-Kingston Road between Snowden Lane and the Princeton municipal boundary at Kingston. The work will be done at night.
Scheduled for early fall is the reconstruction, with milling and resurfacing, of the shared use path on Mt. Lucas Road between Stuart Road East and Poor Farm Road. Purcell noted “significant stormwater management” associated with this project.
Other initiatives on the engineering department agenda for the coming weeks include the conversion of the two-lane Harrison Street boulevard in front of the Princeton Shopping Center on Harrison Street to single lanes with protected bike lanes, and an ordinance to restrict right turns on red at a number of intersections in town.
The work to be done on Harrison is mostly striping with bids and Council approval is necessary before the work begins, but the engineering department is hoping to complete the work before school opens.
The ordinance, scheduled for public hearing next Monday night, would also extend pedestrian walk signals by five seconds so that pedestrians would have time to get into the street and be seen in the crosswalk by turning motorists.
Princeton has recently been honored on the silver level by the Safe Routes to School Recognition Program for its “commitment and support of the Safe Routes to School program by enabling and encouraging walking and bicycling.”
Purcell noted, “We received the award for all of our roadway and off-roadway constriction. We take into consideration the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists in addition to motorists.” He mentioned in particular the Witherspoon Street project with its focus on raised crosswalks near Community Park School, enhancing safety for children biking and walking to school.