Lawrence Township has been awarded a $370,000 state grant to install a bicycle path on the west side of Keefe Road, between the Lawrenceville-Pennington Road and Yeger Drive.
The 2019 Bikeway program grant, which was awarded to the township by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, also calls for striping a designated bicycle lane on Yeger Drive, between Keefe Road and Bergen Street.
The bicycle path on Keefe Road and the striped bicycle lane on Yeger Drive will fill in the missing link between the bicycle lanes on Federal City Road – on the other side of the Lawrenceville-Pennington Road – and Bergen Street.
Bicyclists who live along Federal City Road will be able to ride their bicycles to Village Park, using the new bicycle path on Keefe Road and the bicycle lane on Yeger Drive. Village Park, which is a Lawrence Township park, is off Yeger Drive.
Once inside Village Park, bicyclists can ride their bicycles on the segment of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail that runs through the park, and across Keefe Road into Mercer Meadows Park. The park is part of the Mercer County park system.
Connecting Federal City Road to Mercer Meadows Park and Village Park also will provide access for more residents on the western side of Lawrence Township to use the Lawrence Hopewell Trail system, according to the grant application.
The Lawrence Hopewell Trail is a 22-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail that connects municipal and county parks, the Educational Testing Service and The Lawrenceville School.
It also connects the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s campuses in Lawrence and Hopewell townships, and the Watershed Institute property in Hopewell Township.
The Keefe Road bicycle path and the Yeger Drive bicycle lane will provide access to the Twin Pines Aiport recreation site, once Mercer County builds a bicycle lane on the Lawrenceville-Pennington Road. The Twin Pines recreation site is located off the Lawrenceville-Pennington Road.