Letter to the editor
To the editor:
The Borough of Hightstown is coming out of the closet with regard to the Bypass issue. Letter after letter decries the presence of truck traffic in a north-south direction through the town, and they point fingers at East Windsor, claiming the east-west traffic relief (while significant) is not enough. However, their real intent is to divert all truck traffic to Route 130 through East Windsor, and that is not only shameless, it stinks. Particularly since their local tax-paying businesses constitute a majority of the remaining truck traffic within Hightstown.
The Bypass is a remnant of old Route 92, intended to connect Route 33 with Route 206 north of Princeton. Although the Bypass was the only portion of Route 92 that the state could salvage out of the original plan, they never waivered in their intent to route the bypass north of Hightstown. The Alliance of Bypass Committees proposed a southerly alignment for the Bypass, which was outshouted by Hightstown in favor of immediate construction. Now that the roadway doesn’t parallel Route 33 through the borough, and take away north-south traffic to and from the Turnpike, they complain. Well, we told you so. It wasn’t supposed to.
The Turnpike exit in Hightstown is there to stay, and the only way to keep north-south "through" traffic out of Hightstown AND East Windsor is to encourage trucks to use exit 7A to access Route 130. The "speed limit issue" doesn’t keep trucks off the 2.4 miles of Bypass they need to use to get to Route 130; they can GET THROUGH Hightstown down Route 33 and get on Route 130 at Hickory Corner Road in the same 2.4 miles! In other words, they save another 2½ miles even before having to travel down 130, through East Windsor’s valuable shopping district. A diversion onto the Bypass toward Route 130 more than doubles the distance, with no speed advantage, since Route 130 is 45 mph for most of the trip through East Windsor. Not to mention the effect on East Windsor’s pedestrians, our bicyclists, our neighborhoods?!
I personally wrote County Executive Bob Prunetti in January 1996, asking him to keep truck traffic on the Turnpike and to push the New Jersey Department of Transportation to make good on its statement that the newly opened intersection of Routes 195 and 295 would "be the crossroad of central New Jersey," since "keeping trucks on the Turnpike is also crucial to the toll road’s ability to stabilize its finances" (ref. 12/95 article in The Trentonian and 12/95 article in The Star-Ledger). In fact, toll incentives for using exits 8A and 7A have never been considered. Any incentive to keep trucks from using Exit 8, and using 8A or 7A for north and south deliveries, respectively, are imperative for relief in ourcommunity as a whole. It’s not as though I and other members of the Alliance of Bypass Committees sought to improve the lot of East Windsor over Hightstown. We could not make our voices heard over pent-up demand for an all-purpose "solution."
The "impact" of the Bypass on the Borough of Hightstown has yet to be acknowledged by the citizens and local government of Hightstown, simply because it is not a panacea for all of their traffic concerns. I find their blame to be extraordinarily selfish, considering the traffic relief that has been attained on behalf of the citizens of East Windsor Township. It is time for them to take their heads out of the sand, and deal with the Turnpike Authority, which is in the best position to alleviate traffic in this region overall. Oh, I forgot … the Turnpike Authority is in the business of making money off the rest of us; you might as well give up and keep trying to place the blame on East Windsor. It must be so much more convenient.
Kristine E. Floren
Co-Chairwoman, Alliance of Bypass Committees