PLAINSBORO: Official sees good in jughandles test

By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
   PLAINSBORO — Since the DOT began its Route 1 traffic experiment, worries swirled around the inevitable heavier traffic brought on by the onset of school and the ending of summer vacations.
   While West Windsor’s Penn’s Neck residents have been vocal about their ongoing issues, their neighbors over in Plainsboro appear to be having better luck.
   ”By and large, the effects have been all positive — we’ve been pleasantly surprised,” said Plainsboro Administrator Robert Sheehan.
   Mr. Sheehan said they have been watching Plainsboro Road and Sayer Drive carefully to see if traffic has been diverting to places it doesn’t belong, but that the only real increase was in the morning on the Scudders Mill ramp.
   ”While it’s been a little more, the changes at Harrison Street have had an overall beneficial impact,” he added.
   Since the pilot went into effect, the DOT has made signage improvements to alert drivers to use Scudders Mill Road to turn around to prevent them from continuing down to Sayer Drive.
   ”The DOT has been very responsive and helpful with us. It’s going very well and has done much to benefit the community,” said Mr. Sheehan.
   Mr. Sheehan emphasized that in Plainsboro, they are looking at the bigger picture — an overall improvement in the flow of Route 1 traffic would help foster economic development in town, especially by making the drive easier for commuting employees.
   ”Our employers depend on folks coming from Bucks County and Burlington County — they have to confident their employees aren’t facing obstacles coming to work,” said Mr. Sheehan. “We hope to have a significant level of economic development over the years to come.”
   Mr. Sheehan said they would still continue to monitor traffic effects in the area.
   In Princeton, there were concerns about the traffic study impacting the arrival time of buses. Superintendent Judy Wilson confirmed on Wednesday that since school started on Sept. 6, all the buses have been running fine — including the ones dropping off Cranbury students at the high school.Ms. Wilson added that so far, the impact has been more on employees traveling from Route 1 on Alexander Road or from 295 on Princeton Pike — who have reported traffic has become slower and more congested.