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PRINCETON: DOT outlines jughandle trial plan for Route 1

By Victoria Hurley-Shubert
   PRINCETON — Plans to eliminate jughandles at two major Route 1 intersections in Mercer County continued this week as stakeholders met during a Transportation Forum in Princeton Wednesday.
   One of the suggestions from the forum, held May 23 at the New Jersey Hospital Association, was to involve neighbors to the north and south in South Brunswick and Lawrence in the planning process, as they might see some overflow motorists.
   ”As you know Route 1, especially at peak periods, operates at over capacity,” said Joe Dee, director of communications at the Department of Transportation.
   Traffic is further snarled while motorists cue up to use the jughandles at Harrison and Washington streets, diminishing lane capacity. The plan would send u-turn traffic to Scudder’s Mill Road in Plainsboro, which is the next northbound interchange.
   Plainsboro Administrator Robert Sheehan said the changes to the traffic pattern will impact the whole Route 1 corridor although traffic conditions were worse when the economy was better. Route 1 problems are larger than just one troubled intersection.
   ”The solutions are few along Route 1, absent significant expenditures and major infrastructure and that doesn’t look like its going to happen anytime soon,” he said. “DOT should be applauded for being creative and working with all of us to try and make the best of a bad situation.”
   Motorists traveling east and west on Washington Road will still be able to make left turns onto Route 1. Only the movements from the jughandles will be restricted, according to the DOT plan.
   DOT officials hope the plan alleviates the back up from Scudder’s Mill Road onto Route 1, and this will be done by adjusting the timing of the light at Harrison Street, allowing more traffic to flow on Route 1.
   ”It will allow us to retime it and allow more green (light time) on Route 1,” said Mr. Dee. “We will also retime Washington Road to allow more traffic through these two intersections.”
   West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, said Route 1’s reputation has cost the area some business development and all the trouble spots are in West Windsor and the impact of the left turn prohibition will extend into South Brunswick and Lawrenceville.
   ”We’re all going to lose a little bit here and there and at the end of the day, we are going to find we all are going to gain something,” he said.
   He said Quakerbridge and Province Line roads and Canal Point Boulevard would feel the impacts of closing the northern jughandles.
   ”People are going to eventually figure out which way is going to be better,” Mayor Hsueh said.
   The mayor also mentioned that the connection between West Windsor and Princeton, which is a narrow bridge on Alexander Road, would also need to be improved at some point. Last year, the area saw major traffic tie ups as the S-curve in the road was improved.
   One alternative access to Princeton will be closed at the same time as the jughandle experiment-Quaker Road, said Liz Lempert, Princeton Township deputy mayor. The bridge over the Stony Brook is scheduled to be replaced beginning Aug. 1.
   Officials said they are concerned about the impact on the roadways north and south of the new traffic patterns.
   The 12-week test period will begin on either July 30 or Aug. 6, which are both Mondays, according to DOT officials.
   Signs and dynamic message boards will announce the changes before the trial period begins, said Mr. Dee.
   Traffic surveys taking car counts are already in place in Princeton to collect baseline data before the trial period begins.
   Bluetooth technology will be used to gather trip times while not identifying vehicles throughout the trial period.
   The DOT will evaluate the impact the changes have on local business communities throughout the process, officials said.
   Karen Jezerny, director of public affairs at Princeton University, said university officials have been cooperating with the DOT to get an accurate use of Faculty Road and driver behaviors, such as those that make U-turns out of frustration. The university will be supplementing the DOT data with traffic flow in residential communities, such as Broadmead Road.
   They are concerned about the impact of the changes on the 5,000 employees at the university, its’ Tiger Transit system and maintenance vehicles who service buildings throughout the area.
   Mr. Dee reiterated that the DOT will be watching out for unintended consequences and if the project is a failure, the plug will be pulled.
   After delaying the start of the trial because of outcry from local officials and the Princeton business community, officials said the test will begin in August because traffic is not at its peak, schools are not in session and local universities have not reconvened.
   Pam Hersh, vice president for government and community affairs at Princeton HealthCare System said the hospital’s move to Plainsboro focused attention to the traffic problems in this section on Route 1 and the experiment “is an excellent test and long overdue.”
   ”We still have facilities in Princeton, so we are concerned in both directions,” she said. “The development on Route 1 will continue and we need to address the problem.”
   Hospital officials are worried about the backups onto Route 1 from Scudder’s Mill Road.
   By the trial start date, all the ambulances that service the hospital should have their Opticom systems installed to allow the ambulance drivers to change the light at Harrison and Route 1 to get through the signal.
   The hospital will begin an employee education campaign to address fears about getting to work.
   Lori Rabon, president of the Princeton Regional Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said many visitors would be coming into the area during the trial time period. She also said information will be placed on the visitprinceton.org website and featured on the homepage, as well as the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
   Route 1 hotels will also need to adapt to the changes in the traffic patterns and officials are trying to get the traffic alerts sent to GPS systems. She also said they would be watching how NJ Transit would be responding to the changes along its routes.
   Many officials present asked the DOT to create a special webpage with all of the trial information, so other agencies like the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and businesses can link to it from their websites for consistency of information.