After five-month hiatus, West Windsor’s draft Master Plan returns to the spotlight.
By: Gwen Runkle
WEST WINDSOR After a five-month hiatus from dealing with the township’s draft Master Plan, the Planning Board is expected to return to the topic Wednesday.
The board is expected to hear a report from the Edinburg Village Subcommittee, one of two subcommittees created by the board when it suspended its draft Master Plan discussions in August 2001.
At that time the board tentatively approved the traffic circulation element of the draft Master Plan but pulled several controversial items, such as the Alexander Road bridge and Edinburg bypass, for further study.
The board decided two subcommittees one for Princeton Junction and one for Edinburg village should gather more specific information about several traffic and land-use issues before it moved ahead to deliberate on the plan’s final element, land use.
The top recommendation in the Edinburg Village Subcommittee’s report is to implement four interim solutions to help solve traffic problems in the Edinburg area until the Edinburg bypass, which would shunt traffic on Old Trenton Road around the Edinburg area, is built.
The first interim solution calls for a traffic signal to be installed at the intersection of Old Trenton Road and Robbinsville-Edinburg Road, along with the construction of a designated left-turn lane on Old Trenton Road for westbound traffic turning onto Robbinsville-Edinburg Road.
Second, the group has proposed creating a designated left-turn lane and a straight-through lane and extending the right-turn lane for eastbound traffic turning onto Windsor Road where the traffic signal is now on Old Trenton Road.
The third interim solution calls for building a designated right-turn lane and a left-turn/ straight-through lane on Edinburg-Robbinsville Road heading toward Old Trenton Road from Dutch Neck.
And fourth, the group would like to increase the radius of the curb in front of the Village Pantry convenience store.
Sam Surtees, township land use director, estimated the interim solutions would help alleviate traffic problems in the Edinburg area for about eight to 10 years and cost around $400,000 to $450,000 to implement.
He also said no buildings would have to be removed, but did acknowledge the plans may require the township to acquire additional right-of-way for road widening.
The subcommittee even discussed the possibility of eliminating the Edinburg bypass and instead relocating all the homes in Edinburg to 10 acres along Windsor Road now reserved for the bypass, Mr. Surtees said.
The Princeton Junction Study Group is expected to present its report to the Planning Board "in the next couple of weeks," Planning Board Chairman Ed Steele said.
That report outlines five planning goals for creating a center in Princeton Junction to foster community identity and serve as a ceremonial, cultural and civic focal point for the entire community.