By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission will be on hand at the Feb. 11 Township Council meeting to present the findings of a vision study that makes recommendations for future traffic transportation improvements to one of West Windsor’s busiest roadways, Clarksville Road.
The study drew on the expertise of the planning commission and the other groups that were part of the study’s advisory board to put together a package of solutions to the roadway’s current problems, according to Kevin Murphy, the senior transportation planner at the DVRPC.
The basis of the recommendations were the roadway’s current characteristics, starting with varying widths, unclear lanes, constant speed limit changes, and features that are generally unfriendly for anyone except motorists.
The study concluded that intersection improvements, lane demarcations and the addition of crosswalks, bike lanes, and traffic-calming features like medians are in order for Clarksville Road to turn it into a true community roadway. It could then provide people living and traveling in West Windsor with a sense of place, according to DVRPC officials.
”It is a very collaborative process, and we draw from a toolbox of improvements and techniques,” said Mr. Murphy. “We allow the group to work together to identify the problems.”
Along with the planning commission, a group of area stakeholders helped to examine the road’s current conditions, identify both problems and goals and then draw on professionals to assemble a package of improvements that would help make Clarksville Road a safer and more pedestrian-friendly roadway.
For example, the study says that at the busy intersection with North Post Road, roadway lanes should be realigned with one lane each way designated as a left-turn only lane, while five-foot bike lanes should be installed on each side.
Also, the entire intersection’s geometry should be realigned to reduce the length of crosswalks, which should also be better marked and highlighted with a textured road treatment.
”We would love to see it come to fruition,” said Ken Carlson, president of the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, referring to the study. “In our minds Clarksville Road is the heart of West Windsor. It goes by two schools, it goes basically past the train station, and it could be a fantastic commuting route for cyclists and pedestrians.”
Currently, the roadway is impassable for cyclists and pedestrians, according to Mr. Carlson, who said the bridge over the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks was particularly treacherous.
Organizations providing input on the study included Mercer County, NJ Transit, the West Windsor Police Department, the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, the township’s Community Development division, and of course the West Windsor Bicycle Pedestrian Alliance.
While the completed study identifies solutions and makes recommendations to improve Clarksville Road, it will be up to the county and local government to find funding and implement the study.
But the vision study does provide some guidance, if not direct funding.
Listed in the study are recommended funding sources where a township like West Windsor could go to get some of the moneys needed to change Clarksville Road and make it more pedestrian-friendly, for its entire length.
”There is major work that needs to be done to make it safer,” Mr. Carlson said.
The study was one of two that the DVRPC takes part in annually, with each project examining a transportation area within the DVRPC’s nine-county area.
The hope is that the township will move to begin implementing some of the recommendations, according to Mr. Carlson, who said Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh has already provided his support to the study.
The study can be accessed at www.dvrpc.org/asp/pubs/reports/07054.pdf.
