February 27, 2013

“No Dearth of Ideas” on DOT’s Route 1 Concept

A concept plan being floated by the New Jersey Department of Transportation to ease traffic congestion on Route 1 has residents from both sides of the highway eager to comment on its possibilities. “There is no dearth of ideas,” Anton Lahnston, chair of a committee exploring the plan, told Princeton Council on Monday night following a day of meetings with citizens of West Windsor in the morning, and Princeton in the evening, before the Council session.

“I’ve got about 40 or 41 points at this juncture,” Mr. Lahnston said. “If you live in Princeton, it’s one thing. If you live in West Windsor, it’s another.”

But the idea is to bring these communities together, along with Plainsboro and the University Medical Center of Princeton, to come up with a response to the plan, Mr. Lahnston and others involved in the meetings agree. Mayor Liz Lempert stressed at the Council session that the governing body will confer with West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh before preparing a response to the plan.

The concept was introduced early this month by the DOT, asking for feedback from Princeton, West Windsor, and Plainsboro before a decision is made on whether to proceed. There is no money for the project now, and it could cost up to $40 million.

The plan would involve widening the highway to four lanes in each direction between Harrison Street and Washington Road, eliminating the jughandles at both intersections, adding a traffic light and two jughandles for U-turns about halfway between the two roads, adding a new, circle-shaped jughandle at Washington Road at the now vacant site of a former Exxon gas station to allow drivers going south on Route 1 to cut across onto Route 571, and eliminating the light at Fisher Place. Motorists traveling north on the highway would take the new jughandle, travel south, and then turn right on -Washington Road in order to get into Princeton.

An overflow crowd packed a room at Princeton’s municipal building for a meeting of the Traffic and Transportation committee on Monday. Several of those in attendance stayed on to reiterate their concerns at the Council meeting, where Mr. Lahnston, who chairs the committee, delivered a report.

A DOT trial that closed the jughandles last August was scrapped earlier than originally planned after vociferous citizen protests. Residents attending the Monday meeting called that effort a waste of money, and some had their own ideas about how to help traffic flow better on Route 1. Eric Payne, a resident of West Windsor and a member of a citizens group called Smart Traffic Solutions, said there were four accidents in front of his house during the jughandle trial last year.

Mr. Payne has come up with his own plan for the highway. He said that an environmental impact study done in 2003 specifically recommended not to do what the concept plan suggests. “Let’s bite the bullet and get the problem fixed with an overpass, or if that isn’t possible, then by creating other access roads,” he said, adding that lights should be removed from Route 1, not added. “My plan eliminates all but one light, or at least gets it down to two.”

Josh Wilton, a real estate agent who works at Nassau and Harrison streets, recalled watching the surge in clogged traffic at that intersection from his window during the last DOT trial. He urged the committee to remember that Route 27 traffic is affected by Route 1. “Take into account that on a good day, it’s bad,” he said. During the last trial, it was “abysmal.”

At the Council session, member Jenny Crumiller asked why the DOT has not provided data on the traffic situation, specifically the recent trial that closed the jughandles last summer. Princeton engineer Bob Kiser said he thought data would be generated by the DOT if the communities express interest in developing the concept plan.

Councilman Patrick Simon commented that the traffic congestion improved on Route 1 during the trial last summer, but traffic getting on or off the highway and crossing the road was made worse.

In delivering his report about the earlier meeting, Mr. Lahnston said that people in Princeton and West Windsor have concerns about Route 1 traffic that go back decades. “We need more information from the DOT. We need to see traffic data,” he said. “We also need to put together a response to them saying yes, we want a seat at the table, but we need to partner with West Windsor and Princeton University and have everyone involved.”

Another public meeting on the issue will be held in West Windsor tonight at 7 p.m., at 271 Clarksville Road. Visit www.westwindsornj.org for more information.

February 20, 2013

DOT Presents Concept to Ease Route 1 Congestion

When Princeton Council’s Traffic and Transportation Committee meets next Monday to discuss the latest concept that the New Jersey Department of Transportation has released regarding traffic woes on Route 1, one issue is certain to take priority: Making it easier to get into town.

“We would like to see reasonable access to Princeton from the three major roadways С Washington Road, Harrison Street, and Alexander Road,” says Anton Lahnston, who chairs the committee. “So we would hope that any reconfiguration would allow the community to be served in that way.”

The committee’s meeting, which is open to the public, will be held at 5:30 on February 25, preceding the Council’s 7 p.m. meeting at the Municipal building. On hand will be representatives from Princeton’s engineering and police departments, as well as a liaison from Princeton University.

The DOT released its concept early this month at a meeting attended by Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert, who asked Mr. Lahnston to consider the proposal at a Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting. The concept comes several months after a failed experiment last summer to reconfigure traffic on Route 1, which involved closing the jughandles at Washington Road and Harrison Street. The trial was discontinued after residents of the Penns Neck section across Route 1 complained about a heavy influx of traffic, and commuters entering their neighborhood to make turns and avoid traffic delays.

Among the ideas being floated by the DOT are widening Route 1 to four lanes in both directions, eliminating the jughandles at Washington Road and Harrison Street, eliminating the jughandle and traffic light at Fisher Place, building new jughandles on both sides of Route 1 about halfway between Washington Road and Harrison Street, and constructing a partial traffic circle and light at Route 1 and Washington Road. That would allow motorists going south to turn left onto Route 571 toward the Princeton Junction railroad station.

Joseph Dee, spokesman for the DOT, stressed last week that the concept being considered is just that: a concept.

“When the commissioner pulled the plug on the pilot program last year, he made a commitment to continue to work with the communities to find a solution to chronic congestion along this corridor,” he said. “This proposal, which is just a concept that we shared with local officials, was an effort to focus discussions on an idea that we put together as a way to help alleviate congestion. The point was to say, take a look, let us talk you through it, then take it back to your residents and see what the sense is.”

As proposed, the improvements would cost roughly $35 million and handle anticipated traffic volumes for 20 years, Mr. Dee added. “This is a starting point for a conversation. We’ll see what the feedback is from Princeton, West Windsor, and Plainsboro, as well as from Princeton University and the hospital,” he said. “We’ll see if they like it or dislike it, or maybe have some good suggestions. It is not a plan or a project being designed, funded, or in engineering.”

Mr. Lahnston said he hopes the Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting will result in a report of some sort for Council. “My sense is that we’re probably going to come back to the Council with not so much an opinion on ‘yes or no, we support this,’ but as we see the advantages and disadvantages,” he said. “We’ve been closely involved in all of this over the past year, and we have the jughandle trial fresh in our minds. We’re relying heavily on our engineers to give us advice.”

One idea proposed in the past has been to build an overpass, but that is prohibitively expensive. “There is a big concern about the expense of this whole thing,” Mr. Lahnston said. “This concept seems to be something the state could afford, and that is an important factor.”

December 26, 2012

Princeton Weathers A Perfect Storm of Issues

This year Princeton weathered a major hurricane, opened a spanking new community park and pool, elected a mayor for the new municipality, coped with Route 1 left turn prohibitions, and prepared for consolidation, which officially takes effect on January 1. The University’s proposed Arts and Transit will become a reality, while the future of an AvalonBay development at the hospital’s former site on Witherspoon Street remains uncertain. University President Shirley Tilghman announced her retirement, effective this June, and the Township said good-bye to two retiring officials, Administrator Jim Pascale, and Police Chief Bob Buchanan.

Consolidation

Once voters approved the consolidation of Princeton Borough and Township last year, a Transition Task Force was put in place to guide the merger of two municipalities into one. This highly detailed project involved numerous subcommittees and the participation of citizen volunteers. The committees met with nearly every department in the Borough and Township to determine the most painless way to streamline operations before the new form of government is officially unveiled on January 1.

Both governing bodies named appointees to the Task Force. Led by Chairman Mark Freda, the group of 12 made recommendations on everything from office furniture to pension plans; from shade trees to trash collection. Some of the ideas they advised the governing bodies to approve must ultimately be confirmed by the new Princeton Council to be sworn in January 1. The Task Force held a public forum early this month to help inform citizens of what to expect once the new form of government goes into effect.

Hurricane Sandy

With extensive property damage and long-lasting power outages, it took a while for Princeton residents to dig out from Hurricane Sandy, a “super storm” that hit the East Coast in late October.

In an initiative that boded well for consolidation, Borough and Township police and other personnel joined forces to respond as a single entity to emergencies, issue alerts, and begin the daunting task of picking up the trees and limbs that lined — and often blocked — local streets. In his attempt to take care of a tree on his property, William Sword became the area’s only storm-related fatality.

Princeton Public Library and Princeton United Methodist Church were among the havens of light, warmth, and electricity during the first days after the storm. Opening doors to the front of the library, lobby, and community room at 7 a.m. on Thursday, November 1, the library had a record 8,028 visitors between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Princeton public school children will be attending three additional days of school in 2013 — February 15, April 1, and June 20 — to make up for days lost during the storm. Princeton University had about 50 trees come down on campus as a result of the super storm and Director of Communication Martin Mbugua noted that there were “dozens” of reports of “blocked roads, damaged vehicles, fences, and other property.” In its end-of-year commendations, Princeton Township cited the University for helping with emergency response teams, and, on election day, for making Jadwin Gym available as a polling place.

In the days following the storm, schools, businesses, churches, synagogues, and other organizations held drives that collected much-needed supplies for devastated coastal communities.

The Hospital Move

Amid much fanfare, the University Medical Center of Princeton relocated in May from its longtime headquarters on Witherspoon Street in Princeton Borough to a glittering new facility on Route 1 in Plainsboro. While only a few miles from the old location, the new, $522.7 million hospital is a world away in terms of technology and design. The 636,000-square-foot hospital is the centerpiece of a 171-acre site that includes a nursing home, day care center, a park, and additional facilities. Each of the 231-single-patient rooms have large windows and high-tech capabilities.

Nine years in the making, the new facility is closer to a large percentage of the people the hospital traditionally serves, executive director Barry Rabner said during the opening week. A special open house was held for the community in the days before the official move took place.

Jughandle Closings

Looking for ways to ease traffic congestion on Route 1, the New Jersey Department of Transportation announced in March a decision to implement a 12-week experiment that eliminated left turns for Route 1 northbound motorists at Washington Road and Harrison Street. Protestations from the public and local officials regarding timing — the trial would coincide with the opening of the new hospital near Harrison Street — led the DOT to postpone the program until August. While the trial eased some traffic flow on Route 1, motorists were getting stuck on ancillary roads, and parents in the area were fearful for their children’s safety as cars used their driveways to make U-turns in order to correct routes affected by the jughandle closings. When demonstrations were organized by West Windsor residents on Washington Road, NJDOT Commissioner James Simpson closed down the pilot program two weeks short of its projected finish date.

Arts and Transit

Thanks to a December 18 vote in favor of its $300 million Arts and Transit proposal by the Planning Board, Princeton University can now begin to put its ambitious plan for an arts complex into action. The approval came after many contentious meetings of the governing bodies, nearly all focused on the fact that the terminus of the Dinky, which connects Princeton Borough and Princeton Junction station, will be moved 460 feet south as part of the plan.

Few had problems with the design for the Lewis Center for the Arts, which will include new teaching, rehearsal, performance, and administrative spaces designed by architect Steven Holl in a cluster of village-like buildings. Landscaped open spaces and walking paths that are part of the plan have drawn almost unanimous approval from officials and the public. This year, the University hired architect Rick Joy to design the renovation of the two Dinky station buildings, which will be turned into a restaurant and cafe.

Borough Council passed a resolution in July opposing the plan to move the station stop. And Save the Dinky, a group of citizens opposed to the idea of moving the Dinky, has filed lawsuits related to the contract of sale from 1984, when the University bought the Dinky shuttle line, and to its historical significance. See the story in this issue for details.

AvalonBay

Not satisfied with the plan for a rental complex proposed by the developer AvalonBay Communities, area residents, including those in the neighborhood surrounding the former site of the University Medical Center at Princeton, waged a relentless campaign to convince the governing bodies that it was not right for the town. Their hard work was rewarded on December 19 when the Regional Planning Board voted to deny the application. It remains to be seen what the developer’s next step will be. See the story in this issue for details.

Election

Like the rest of the country, the majority of Princeton voters supported the reelection of President Obama. Democratic Congressman Rush Holt (D-12) won an easy victory over his Republican challenger, Eric A. Beck.

Locally, Princeton voters elected Democrat Liz Lempert over Republican challenger Dick Woodbridge as the new mayor of consolidated Princeton. The six Democrats running for the new Council, Bernie Miller, Patrick Simon, Heather Howard, Jo Butler. Lance Liverman, and Jenny Crumiller were all elected. The sole Republican challenger was Geoff Aton.

Princeton voters also endorsed an open space tax of 1.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

Historic District

A six-year dispute over whether to designate 51 properties in the town’s architecturally diverse western section remains undecided. Residents of the homes in an area bounded by portions of Library Place, Bayard Lane, and Hodge Road are divided over the question, and more than one meeting of Borough Council this year became confrontational as the residents aired their views. The Council was scheduled to vote on the issue on December 11, but an injunction filed by those opposed to the designation prevented them from doing so.

Those in favor say the designation will protect the neighborhood from tear-downs and the construction of new homes that don’t fit in with the existing architecture. Those opposed fear the restrictions that historic designation could impose on improvements and repairs to the exteriors of their homes. The question will be carried over to the newly consolidated Council.

Community Park Pool

After months of discussions about what should and should not be included, the new Community Park Pool opened on Memorial Day weekend and won kudos all summer long as record numbers of area residents signed on as members or came on a daily basis.

Improvements to the pool park included a 20 percent expansion of the diving well to accommodate more diving boards and a water slide, a fish-shaped kiddie pool, and a “family pool” adjacent to the lap pool.

Schools

As a result of consolidation, Princeton lost its “regional school district” identity and renamed itself “Princeton Public Schools.” Offered the chance to move the date for school elections to the general election in November, the School Board opted to keep it in April for this year; in December they opted to move the next election to April.

In this year’s April election, voters approved the 2012-13 Princeton Regional school budget that includes a tax levy of $63.4 million, elected new board members Martha Land and Patrick Sullivan, and reelected Rebecca Cox. Superintendent Judy Wilson acknowledged that “voter turnout was not as high as it usually is,” in the April election, but chalked it up to the fact that there was one uncontested race (Mr. Sullivan, in the Township), and a “non-controversial budget.”

In the November election, voters approved an additional infusion of $10.9 million for improvements to all of the schools’ infrastructures.

In the fall, St. Paul’s School learned that it had been awarded a 2012 “Blue Ribbon of Excellence” award, the highest prize the Department of Education can confer.

Libraries

While the Princeton Public Library’s legal status will change with consolidation, the Board of Trustees chose not to proceed with a proposal that would have merged the Friends of the Library with the Princeton Public Library Foundation. In response to board President Katharine McGavern’s suggestion that “a single organization would make more sense from an accounting point of view,” the rest of the board voted to support what former President Claire Jacobus described as “the human capital that exists in the Friends.” This year’s annual Book Sale and Children’s Book Festival were, as usual, shining events for the library.

At Firestone Library on the Princeton University campus, renovations began on a project that is expected to be completed in 2018. The estimated cost is “in the nine figures,” and is being underwritten by the University, “just as they would a new laboratory for scientists,” said University Librarian Karin Trainer.

IAS/Battlefield

It took several contentious public hearings for the Regional Planning Board to come to a decision allowing the Institute for Advanced Study to go forward with a plan for a faculty housing development this past March. In July, the Princeton Battlefield Society filed an appeal in Mercer County Superior Court challenging the approval. Along with some historians, they believe the site is involved in the historic counterattack at the Battle of Princeton during the Revolutionary War, and therefore should not be disturbed.

Despite the legal action, and the June announcement that The National Trust for Historic Preservation had named the Princeton Battlefield to its 2012 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, the IAS plan for eight townhouses and seven single-family homes on a seven-acre section of the campus is going forward. The development of 15 homes is expected to include a 200-foot buffer zone next to Battlefield Park that will be permanently preserved as open space.


October 17, 2012

Admitting Problems, DOT Ends “Experiment”

Two weeks short of the projected finish date, New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) officials responded to the growing chorus of complaints from motorists stuck on ancillary roads, and from area residents who feared for their children’s safety as more cars used their driveways to make U-turns to correct routes interrupted by jughandle closings.

NJDOT Commissioner James Simpson announced the end of the Route 1 “pilot project” in an early Saturday afternoon appearance on Washington Road (CR 571), where West Windsor residents had gathered to demonstrate their opposition to the program.

“I am announcing that NJDOT will end the trial program and restore all previous traffic movements within a week,” Mr. Simpson said. “We told local officials, residents, and other stakeholders in the Princetons, West Windsor, and Plainsboro that we would terminate the trial prior to its scheduled 12-week duration if we became convinced that unintended consequences could not be satisfactorily mitigated. We are making good on that promise today.”

“The DOT said they would cancel the trial if it was a disaster, and we’re all thankful Commissioner Simpson listened to the public outcry, kept his word, and pulled the plug,” said Township Deputy Mayor Liz Lempert.

“NJDOT crews will remove all barricades, barrels, and signage associated with the trial in the coming days,” reported DOT spokesperson Joe Dee. All traffic movements that were permitted prior to the trial will be restored, including right turns from Route 1 northbound onto Varsity Avenue and Fisher Place, and left turn movements from Route 1 southbound at Fisher Place and Washington Road.К

While the trial had reportedly eased traffic flow on Route 1, Mr. Simpson acknowledged the “unintended consequences” that had occurred as a result of eliminating left turns for Route 1 northbound motorists at Washington Road and Harrison Street.

“Unfortunately, the trial disrupted the Penns Neck neighborhood with additional traffic and created safety concerns. Our efforts to resolve those issues and guide motorists to the Scudders Mill interchange were unsuccessful,” Mr. Simpson said. “Increased congestion along Alexander Street in Princeton was also a concern.”

“We will be exploring value-engineered solutions involving a buildable project or projects to fight congestion in this corridor,” Mr. Simpson said. Mr. Dee concurred, noting that “the department will work with county and local governments, residents and other stake holders toward longer-term solutions to the traffic congestion along this stretch of Route 1.”

Elected officials who voiced opposition to the trial in recent weeks included the Mercer County Board of Freeholders, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, and Township Committeeman Bernie Miller. Ms. Lempert, who is the Democratic candidate for mayor of Princeton, was instrumental in mounting an online survey on the Township’s website, documenting motorists’ responses to the Route 1 trial.

In comments made after the decision to end the trial, Ms. Lempert acknowledged that “the Penns Neck citizens’ group deserves a lot of credit for organizing a successful protest.”

Her Republican opponent in the upcoming mayoral election, Richard Woodbridge, similarly noted that “it was really the West Windsor residents that caused the DOT to stop the experiment.

“We should have taken the lead there,” added Mr. Woodbridge. “We need to do a better job of getting ahead of these projects rather than reacting to them. It was such an obviously bad idea it should have never gotten off the ground in the first place.”

In a letter to Mr. Simpson written days after the cancellation, Township Mayor Chad Goerner had a different perspective. “As you know, our community was one of the first to actively voice concerns regarding the trial both in regional mayors’ meetings and also via a resolution expressing those concerns in 2011,” he wrote.

In the wake of the cancellation, Mr. Dee reported that elected officials, members of the business community, and others have “urged that a number of options be revisited, such as extending West Windsor’s Vaughn Drive to Washington Road, widening the Mercer County-owned bridge that spans the Delaware and Raritan Canal on Alexander Road and building an overpass near the intersection of Route 1 and Harrison Street.”


February 15, 2012

Team Effort Defers Jughandle Test

When the New Jersey Department of Transportation introduced plans last month to temporarily close the Route 1 jughandles at Washington Road and Harrison Street, Princeton business owners were among the most visibly upset. The idea of curtailing access to town for up to three months, starting in mid-March, was met with incredulousness and some mild hostility.

Less than two weeks later, the DOT announced that the pilot program was being postponed until August 1. Welcome news to business owners, the deferment came about two days after representatives of the Princeton Merchants Association (PMA), joined by representatives of local government, Princeton University, and the University Medical Center at Princeton, traveled to Ewing Township to meet with NJDOT Commissioner James Simpson about their concerns.

It was this united-front approach, combined with careful planning, that got the message across, say those involved in the effort. It began just after the DOT had made its presentation about the proposed jughandle closings. PMA president Carly Meyer gathered members in a meeting room at the Bank of Princeton to voice their concerns. Borough Commissioner Kevin Wilkes was also invited to that meeting, held just after the DOT’s information sessions in West Windsor and Princeton.

“We made a list of problems and I agreed to reach out to the transportation commissioner,” Mr. Wilkes said. “I had had experience with him last year in working out the Memorandum of Understanding (with Princeton University), and I knew him well enough to send him an email asking for a meeting. He immediately replied and said ‘Of course, no problem.’”

The group, which also included David Newton of Palmer Square Management; Chris Hanington of Princeton Shopping Center; Pam Hersh of University Medical Center of Princeton; Lori Rabon of The Nassau Inn; Jack Morrison of JM Group; Jan Weinberg of Weinberg Management; Barry Weisfeld of Princeton Record Exchange; and Karen Jezierny and Kristin Appelget of Princeton University, prepared a draft of points to be considered. “It was like a position paper, circulated around to make sure everybody’s concerns were outlined,” Mr. Wilkes said. “We sent it to the commissioner ahead of time, so they knew what we would be talking about. I don’t feel it’s useful to go into a meeting like that and surprise them with a bunch of gripes.”

On a conference call the day before the meeting with the commissioner, the group rehearsed who was going to say what. “We did another quick run-through the day of the meeting, when we got there,” Mr. Wilkes said. “We walked in the door at 8:30 and were probably out by 9:50, and it went very well. We didn’t know when we left what would result, but the Commissioner called within an hour to talk about actual strategies. The one he was most willing to try was a postponement. By Thursday afternoon, he made the announcement.”

Mr. Wilkes said that the group had alternately suggested closing Washington Road’s jughandle while leaving the Harrison Street one open, or possibly doing the experiment for only four weeks. The reasoning that seemed to convince the commissioner to defer the pilot program was that the opening of University Medical Center of Princeton’s new complex on Route 1, which is set for May 22, would interfere with the baseline data they were trying to collect.

Mr. Newton, who was among the most vocal at the DOT’s original information session, said he was pleased with the outcome of the meeting. “The Commissioner and his staff were very gracious with us,” he said. “They listened to our concerns, and we listened to them. They really do have an enormous problem on Route 1 between Alexander and Scudders Mill Road. We came up with the idea, and they kindly agreed to wait and see what impact there is going to be after the hospital moves. The one thing we left with is that we would like to be included in helping them work out the longer term solution to the problem.”

Ms. Hanington said the collaborative approach was the key. “The Princeton Borough and Township merchants joined together several years ago for exactly this purpose,” she wrote in an email. “By the time this Route 1 closure issue came up our association was much more than just a marketing group. We are truly a united community …. I am proud of our ‘battle victory‘ but really our work on this has just begun.’”

Ms. Rabon told the DOT Commissioner that the March-to-May closing of the jughandles would adversely affect those who have already planned weddings and other functions at the Nassau Inn during that time. “I wanted to make sure that hotels and banquet halls both downtown and along Route 1 have an opportunity to alert their guests,” she said. “They were really good about listening. We’ve got 1.3 million visitors that come downtown [a year], and it’s important to make sure we communicate with the DOT about this. They are promising to continue to work with us so we can get the messages out. This was a coming-together of PMA members with government, where you don’t always find such a willingness to listen and cooperate.”

The fact that the group spoke “in one voice, low on emotionalism and high on fact,” made the difference, Mr. Wilkes said. “We’re not saying they shouldn’t do the test at all. We’re saying that the way it is presently proposed might cause more harm than good. We want to work together with them. We have to entertain the possibility, even if we think it is remote, that the test will work out for everybody. We need to be open to empirical results.”