By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
Despite limited funds for making Princeton Township more bike and pedestrian friendly, two bicycle and walking pathways are in the works.
The township’s Engineering Department has made the most progress with a portion of a Quaker Road path that would ultimately connect Mercer Street in the area of Princeton Friends School, Princeton Battlefield State Park and Institute for Advanced Study lands to the Historical Society of Princeton’s Updike Farm on Quaker Road.
Another path that is on its way to completion is a new segment of the Stony Brook regional bicycle and pedestrian pathway, which will run from the Route 206 side of Hutchinson Drive in the Washington Oaks development to the campus of The Hun School of Princeton and stretch for slightly over a half mile.
The completion of a slightly less than half-mile stretch of the path, connecting the Updike Farm to the Princeton Friends School, is planned for the end of the year and the necessary funding has been allocated, said the township’s engineering assistant Anthony Soriano.
”Ideally, we would have it constructed this year contingent upon many things, including a waterline getting installed, which the Historical Society is paying for and approvals from the state,” he added.
The safest way of connecting the other points of the proposed path and sources of funding for the continuation of the Quaker Road path have not yet been determined.
”The township’s intent is for the path to extend to the parking area for the Princeton Battlefield, but that will require approval from the New Jersey Historical Commission,” Mr. Soriano said. “We would like to see an extension from Updike Farm down to Quaker Road, all the way down to the tow path (along the Delaware & Raritan Canal) or in that vicinity.”
The department’s goal is to have the Stony Brook path project out to bid for a construction contractor in the fall, with the majority of funding for building it having come from grants, including one for $500,000, Mr. Soriano said.
The Township Committee’s funding for the resurfacing of Valley Road this year has presented the engineering department with another opportunity for adding a bike and pedestrian path to the township.
Mr. Soriano said members of the Engineering Department have walked Valley Road with members of the Sidewalk and Bikeways Advisory Committee to explore possibilities for building a path or bike lane along the road.
”We’re looking at options along Valley Road and we’ve walked Valley Road just to see what we have to work with at Witherspoon Street and North Harrison Street,” he added.
