Hightstown is one step closer to creating a pedestrian path linking the borough’s residential areas, schools, businesses, mass transit, parks, library and other amenities.
By: Michael Ross
HIGHTSTOWN Sixteen years and $500,000 in state grants later, a borough walking path is one step closer to being constructed.
On Jan. 18, Borough Council introduced a measure that would borrow $47,500 to partially fund the construction of a 1.5-mile path that will quarter the borough like an X, the center of which will be the downtown business district.
The bond ordinance is part of the Hightstown Greenways Project a partnership between the borough, The Peddie School, the Greater Hightstown East Windsor Improvement Project, the county and the state which originated in 1989 with the Hightstown Environmental Commission.
The purpose of the project, which is split into two phases and estimated to cost more than $550,000, is to enhance pedestrian links between residential areas and the borough’s schools, businesses, mass transit, parks, library and other amenities.
If the ordinance is approved, the bond partially will fund the $300,000 estimated project cost for Phase II, which includes the construction of a stone-surface walking path, along with concrete sidewalk improvements in various locations.
A $250,000 state grant will fund the majority of Phase II. The New Jersey Department of Transportation awarded the grant, available through the NJDOT Local Aid Program, to Hightstown in January 2003.
According to Borough Clerk/Administrator Candace Gallagher, 75 percent of the funds are available upon awarding a contract. The balance is available upon completion of the project.
On Jan. 26, Borough Chief Financial Officer George Lang said the bond will not have much of an impact on the local tax rate.
Phase II is the leg of the X that traverses the borough from the southwest to the northeast. The greenway will start in the area of Hightstown High School and end in the area of the Wyckoffs Mills condominiums. It will extend along Summit Street, Railroad Avenue, Stockton and Broad streets and will connect Dawes Park, the central business district and Memorial Park.
A portion of the path that will extend from Broad Street along Cranbury Station Road will be built by the Rob- ertson Douglas Group the Eatontown developer that is constructing Enchantment at Hightstown, an adult-active community.
Phase I is the leg of the X that traverses the borough from the southeast to the northwest. The greenway (which roughly is equivalent in length to the Phase II path) will start near the southern tip of Peddie Lake and end in the area of Rocky Brook Park. It will extend along Peddie Lake and Rocky Brook and connect Memorial Park, the central business district, Grant Avenue Park and Rocky Brook Park.
Phase I also is supported by a $250,000 state grant, which was awarded to the borough in January 2000.
According to Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts, Phase I is expected to begin this spring. Phase II is expected to begin this fall. Both phases should be completed by year-end.
On Monday, Roger G. Cook, chairman of the Hightstown Environmental Commission, said engineering work, negotiations with private property owners, and Department of Environmental Protection applications contributed to the project’s 16-year gestation.
A final reading of the ordinance and public comment is scheduled for Monday’s Borough Council meeting at Borough Hall.

