By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR Just call it Occupy Washington Road.
The concerned residents of Penns Neck are planning demonstrations at 207 Washington Road next Saturday and the week after to protest the Route 1 jughandle closures, which continue to impact their quality of life and safety.
”Worsening safety conditions, children increasingly at risk and nine accidents are driving the demonstrations,” said resident Tamerra Moeller in an Oct. 3 email. “We will conduct the demonstrations safely, while we protest the dangerous situation driving our efforts. Above all, we want the jughandles reopened.”
Town authorities and police are aware of the demonstrations, which are planned from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on both Oct. 13 and Oct. 20.
About two months ago, the Department of Transportation (DOT) closed the jughandles at Washington Road and Harrison Street as part of a test to relieve Route 1 traffic.
Almost immediately after the experiment began, West Windsor residents on Washington Road, Varsity Road and Fisher Place have been suffering from drivers doing illegal U-turns and K-turns on their properties.
With their quality of life and safety being compromised, the people vocalized their concerns to town officials, at council meetings and to the DOT in hopes of solutions.
To address the concerns, the DOT and town police have taken measure such as increasing signage to alert drivers, increasing local police presence and adding state police presence to hand out tickets to offenders.
However, these attempts have failed to make much of a difference to West Windsor and its residents. As recently as Oct. 1, resident Susan Parris reported school buses were no longer able to get to houses on Fairview Avenue and Fisher Place since Sarnoff is no longer allowing them to turn around on its property.
A new bus stop was created at the corner of Washington Road and Fairview Avenue, but it has created more safety hazards.
”Even though the DOT assured me that our kids wouldn’t have to cross Washington Road, the buses are stopping on the other side and we have no choice but to cross,” said Ms. Parris in an Oct. 1 email. “Even the bus drivers are concerned for our safety and don’t know what to do.”
With no improvements or solutions in sight, residents and town and county officials have stepped up and put a series of efforts in motion to bring the state pilot to an end.
A couple of weeks ago, the Penns Neck residents began meeting at the West Windsor Senior Center to organize a plan of action. Dubbing themselves the “Smart Traffic Solutions,” they quickly formed an online petition at www.change.org/petitions/NJDOT.
The petition not only represents the desire to reopen the jughandles, but also calls for an overpass at Harrison Street, a Vaughn Drive connector and the widening of the Alexander Road bridge at Stony Brook.
By Thursday afternoon, the petition had reached its halfway mark at 500 signatures. The petition needs a total of 1,000 signatures.
The group also formed a Facebook page called “No U-Turn, New Traffic Patterns on Washington Road,” which 56 people have joined so far. The page allows concerned people to keep everyone posted on any new developments regarding the pilot and allows group members to voice concerns, upload pictures of offending drivers and document the progress of “Smart Traffic Solutions.”
But West Windsor residents aren’t the only ones trying to end the experiment before it potentially becomes permanent.
On Sept. 27 the county freeholders sent a proposed resolution to the DOT, state delegation, Gov. Chris Christie and the West Windsor Council opposing the continuation of the pilot project.
The Township Council followed suit at its last meeting on Oct. 1 with a last minute introduction of a resolution also opposing the pilot.

