WW’s roundabout ‘disaster’

Richard Moody of West Windsor
    The new roundabout at the Alexander Road railroad crossing in Princeton Junction is a disaster. Whereas the new bridge is a vast improvement over the old one, the design and introduction of the roundabout itself once again demonstrates West Windsor Township’s lack of foresight in failing to appreciate the traffic flow after the roundabout came into operation.
   Since the end of the Christmas/New Year’s Eve holidays, there have been lengthy and time-consuming delays on Alexander Road on the Wallace Road side of the station in Princeton Junction during the morning rush hour. On most mornings, the back-up stretches down Alexander to the side entrance for the Acme parking lot and sometimes as far back as Route 571. This is forcing impatient traffic to turn around and cut across to Clarksville Road where the delays due to the Maurice Hawk school bus and car traffic can be almost as tedious. And for those who don’t take another route, the delays on Alexander are excruciating.
   Before the roundabout was introduced, traffic coming down North Post Road from Clarksville Road did not have the right of way when turning left over the old bridge. Now this North Post traffic enters the roundabout, has the right of way when turning left and, in doing so, prevents the long line of traffic on Alexander between Route 571 and the roundabout from making it’s right turn across the bridge. This is compounded by additional traffic coming up from the station on Wallace having dropped off riders at the station. So now there are two snarl ups — one at the intersection of Wallace and Alexander and the other at the roundabout itself.
   Did West Windsor Township not realize that traffic on a roundabout has right of way and that the heavy Princeton-bound Alexander traffic in the mornings would be blocked by cars coming down North Post? Alexander carries many commuters from Route 571 into Princeton between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. and in the pre-roundabout days that traffic had right of way in making a right turn over the bridge and traffic flowed smoothly.
   In addition, most drivers in this country are unfamiliar with the protocol at roundabouts and, in this case, the tightness of the circle coupled with this lack of roundabout experience causes hesitations and additional delays. Roundabouts have worked very well for many years in Europe but only when a thorough study of the potential traffic flow has been carried out, the roundabouts are not small and potentially dangerous and drivers are familiar with standardized roundabout procedures.
   Once again, the township appears to have squandered our taxpayers’ money on a white elephant. Perhaps the flow could be improved with traffic lights that filter the traffic asymmetrically in favor of the Alexander traffic during rush hours but revert to flashing yellow outside these times as a warning to drivers as they approach a confusing and tight roundabout.
Richard Moody
West Windsor