WEST WINDSOR: Planned protest becomes a party

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   Sue Parris and her neighbors in the Penns Neck section of West Windsor don’t have to worry about motorists making U-turns in their driveways or seeing a line of vehicles on Washington Road in front of their homes anymore.
   ”It’s gotten back to normal,” said resident Eric Payne at a picnic-style party Saturday afternoon at Ms. Parris’ home to celebrate the end of a failed experiment to improve traffic on Route 1 by closing the jughandles on Washington Road and Harrison Street.
   Mr. Payne joined other neighbors and local politicians on the one-week anniversary of the state Department of Commissioner James S. Simpson announcement that the 12-week experiment was ending early due to the problems it had caused residents. As if holding a trophy or spoil of war, Mr. Payne posed Saturday with a left-over orange traffic barrier.
   Saturday was initially planned as a second protest day, like the one the previous Saturday where Mr. Simpson came to break the happy news to residents.
   ”I thought he was a really good sport about it,” said Ms. Parris.
   The state Department of Transportation thought by closing the jughandles traffic would improve along Route 1 north.
   Started in August, the trial experiment was criticized almost immediately. Whatever improvements there might have been on Route 1 were dwarfed by the problems created for Mr. Payne and neighbors.
   Northbound motorists were making illegal turns along Washington Road to reverse direction to get into Princeton rather than use one of the alternate routes. It led residents like Mr. Payne to put garbage cans in front of their driveways to prevent drivers from making the maneuvers.
   ”It was terrible,” said Ms. Parris. “You had to kind of see it to believe it, what people would do.”
   Residents lobbied politicians, collected signatures on a petition urging the state to end the experiment and used social media to spread their message. Appreciative that the state listened, residents and local officials have turned their attention to finding a solution to the traffic woes.
   They said three improvements are needed: a Harrison Street overpass to allow motorists to get across Route 1; the widening of a narrow county bridge on Alexander Street over the Stony Brook in Princeton; and the Vonn Drive connector road to connect Alexander Road with Washington Road. Last week, Mr. Simpson and his management team met with the township.
   ”I view this only as the beginning of the solution,” West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said Saturday.