It could be a decade before ground is broken, according to the DOT.
By: David Campbell
The state Department of Transportation’s recent unveiling of its preferred roadway alternative to the Millstone Bypass begs the question: What will have to be displaced in order to clear a path for the anticipated right-of-way?
DOT spokesman Michael Horan said it’s too early to talk specifics. For one thing, given the shortfalls in the state’s depleted Transportation Trust Fund, the financing for the estimated $65 million-and-up project is still unresolved. DOT Commissioner Jack Lettiere is currently prioritizing projects under the agency’s capital program. A decision on which ones will get a green light is expected soon, Mr. Horan has said.
"Though the basic footprint (for the bypass alternative) is settled, as to what properties need to be acquired, we’re still in the very early stages," the spokesman said. "We can’t move forward until we know what’s going on department-wide."
Anthony Sabidussi, the DOT’s project manager for the two-and-a-half-year roadway study, did say when the plan was unveiled last month that the right-of-way will avoid residential displacements and minimize business displacements.
But Mr. Sabidussi said some temporary and permanent impacts may still result from construction. "The department will make every effort to avoid and minimize these impacts during final design and construction," he added.
Still, according to DOT Assistant Commissioner F. Howard Zahn, who also spoke at that meeting, it could be a decade or more before ground is broken and there is no guarantee all elements of the phased plan will be built.
The basic footprint for the bypass alternative, which largely was the product of a lengthy study done by Rutgers University’s Voorhees Transportation Policy Institute with the help of a community advisory roundtable, includes the following elements:
Route 1 in a below-grade underpass of Washington Road.
Frontage roads on both sides of Route 1 from south of Washington Road to the vicinity of the current Harrison Street interchange.
Elimination of the existing Route 1 intersections at Washington Road, Fisher Place and Harrison Street, and construction of two signalized interchanges linking Washington and Harrison with Route 1 by way of the frontage roads.
A new Harrison Street connector road linking existing Harrison near the Delaware & Raritan Canal with an overpass interchange at Route 1 to the south of where Harrison currently meets the highway. The current Harrison Street would end in a cul-de-sac under the DOT plan.
A connector road linking Vaughn Drive near the Princeton Junction train station to Route 571 just to the west of the Northeast Corridor rail line.
Some details about possible impacts on the ground from the DOT right-of-way can be gleaned from a February 2003 memorandum to members of the advisory roundtable from Jon Carnegie, senior project manager with the Rutgers institute.
According to the memo, all but one of the 19 roadway alternatives to the former Millstone Bypass that were considered would result in multiple business displacements.
Under the alternative on which the DOT plan is based, Larry’s Sunoco at Route 1 and Harrison Street would be displaced, as would the Gulf and Exxon gas stations to the west of the highway and Washington Road, the memo said.
According to former Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed, who sat on the roundtable, Eden Institute’s facilities off Route 1 and Logan Drive would not be disturbed under the DOT proposal, nor would the Baptist church near the northeastern corner of Route 1 and Washington Road.
And residences on lower Harrison Street, which would dead end under the plan, could see a rise in property values when it is no longer a throughway to Route 1, Mr. Reed said.
"They’ll probably go way up," he said. "There’s not much housing on that end of Harrison, but there are some handsome houses."
For West Windsor Township, no-build will result in impacts as well.
The DOT plan leaves out an east-side connector road linking Route 571 to Route 1 near Harrison Street through the Sarnoff Corp. property, which West Windsor officials say is critical to diverting traffic away from residences in the Penns Neck area of Washington Road.
"I don’t see very much improvement for the Penns Neck area in the short and long term," said Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh.
In addition, some older office buildings around the train station could be lost or modified under the DOT alignment, Mayor Hsueh said, though he noted that specifics are still forthcoming.