Pennington to implement student safety plan in September

Pennington’s primary concern is for the safety of children who choose to walk to school

By Olivia Tattory
   Pennington Borough will post a uniformed police officer at the intersection of Route 31 and Delaware Avenue, extend the hours for the crossing guard at the intersection of Main Street and Delaware Avenue, and implement other safe-passage measures for students, beginning in September when local schools reopen.
   These decisions are in response to the Hopewell Valley Regional School Board’s elimination of certain public-funded bus service to Timberlane Middle School and Hopewell Valley Central High School, Councilman Edwin Tucker, who heads Pennington’s Public Safety Committee, said at Monday’s council meeting.
   The officer will be stationed for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon when school is in session, barring an emergency requiring the officer to leave the post. A crossing guard at the intersection of Main Street and Delaware Avenue will be provided for an additional half-hour in the morning and a half-hour in the afternoon, in order to accommodate the middle school and high school schedules.
   The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has approved the borough’s request to allow the crossing officer to control the traffic light at the intersection, by the means of a manual override of the traffic signal.
   Additionally, Mercer County recently installed countdown signal heads at the intersection of Main Street and Delaware Avenue and also will complete the annual re-striping of pedestrian crossings by September. A county study of traffic at the intersection also will be conducted when school reopens.
   The borough also plans to purchase and maintain portable pedestrian crosswalk signs for the intersections of Main Street and Curlis Avenue; Burd Street and Delaware Avenue; and Abey Drive and Curlis Avenue. Signs at the railroad bridge crossing also will be posted requiring that bicycles be walked across the bridge for safety concerns.
   NJDOT recently released its study — requested by Pennington and Hopewell Township — of the Route 31 and Delaware Avenue intersection. The report recommends:
   — Replacing the existing pedestrian signal heads with countdown signal heads, restriping of the existing standard crosswalks with ladder striping, replacing the existing curb ramps with new ramps and installing actuated flashing beacons on the existing school warning signs on northbound and southbound Route 31.
   — The installation of a sidewalk on Route 31 northbound from the Pennington Golf Center to Broemel Place. This improvement includes replacing deteriorating sidewalks on Delaware Avenue.
   The anticipated time frame for these NJDOT improvements is two years.
   THE DECISION to reduce hazardous route bus service was based, in part, on the school board’s position that the district’s three towns could make improvements to the infrastructure that would eliminate hazards on routes to schools. The overall development and implementation of such projects would require coordination and cooperation of Pennington, Hopewell Township, Mercer County and the state of New Jersey — because Route 31 is a state highway and Main and Delaware are county roads, and both Pennington and township children are involved.
   Pennington’s primary concern is for the safety of children who choose to walk to school because of the school board’s elimination of school-funded bus service. Thus, the implementation of the measures discussed above are being taken to assure students’ safe passage, said Mr. Tucker.
   Last summer, Mr. Tucker said in his report, the school board eliminated all school-funded bus service for secondary students who live within 2.5 miles of their school and for elementary students who live within two miles of their school — without regard for hazardous conditions. Non-hazardous (or courtesy busing) was eliminated by the school district in 2005.
   The school board later decided to continue bus service for elementary students living on hazardous routes and to offer middle and secondary school parents the opportunity to purchase bus service for the 2007-2008 school year at the cost of $150 per student with a $300 family cap. The board plans to re-examine this plan after a year and might make changes, Mr. Tucker noted.
   Although the school district is not required by law to provide busing for secondary or elementary students who live within the state’s set limits, the local district did provide busing for years for some of these youngsters, as a "courtesy," until recent budget crunches led school officials to revisit the practice.