A
dangerous crossing but disagreement on how to solve the
problem
WEST
WINDSOR — By the time NJ Transit Bus 976 from the Princeton
Junction at West Windsor train station makes its 6:16 p.m.
stop at Avalon Watch, a steady stream of rush-hour traffic is
speeding along Clarksville Road at about 50 miles per
hour.
Three people stepped off the bus
into the pouring rain Monday night and stood on the westbound
side of the road, nearly invisible in the darkness, waiting
for a break in traffic to dash across the street into the
housing complex.
"In the summer, it's
daylight, it's still OK, but in the winter, it's a worse
situation," said Kiran Patel, once he made it safely across
Clarksville Road. He has lived at Avalon Watch since July, and
makes the dangerous crossing every night when he comes home
from work.
Members of the Mayor's Bicycle
and Pedestrian Task Force identified this location as one of
the most dangerous in the township. But although Mayor
Shing-Fu Hsueh said he supports installing a crosswalk at this
location, the township has not received county approval to put
a crosswalk across Clarksville Road, a county
road.
Questions about the need for a
crosswalk across Clarksville Road were raised at a recent
Planning Board meeting, where the board approved amendments to
the circulation elements of the Master Plan, affirming the
township's commitment to build a safe pedestrian-and-bikeway
system. The recent circulation-plan amendments promote the
idea of integrating Clarksville Road into the township's
network of bike-and pedestrian-friendly paths and
roadways.
"I think the interested parties
need to come together and find a solution," said Ken Carlson,
former co-chairman of the Mayor's Bicycle and Pedestrian Task
Force. "I don't want a fatality to be the reason for doing
something at Avalon Watch."
Mr. Patel and
many of his neighbors cross the busy road not only to take the
bus, but also to get to the Village Square shopping center to
eat out, do some shopping or take their children to the
daycare center.
However, in addition to
being subject to county approval, the crosswalk — which would
be a mid-block crosswalk, meaning it is not located at an
intersection — requires special state Department of
Transportation approval. For now at least, the township's
hands are tied.
"Unfortunately, even if
we have the money, we cannot do it," Mayor Hsueh
said.
Back in 1991, when the Village
Square application was first submitted to the township,
Planning Board members recognized the need for a sidewalk. The
approval granted in December 1991 stipulated that the
developer must put a crosswalk between the shopping center and
the housing development, then known as Steward's
Watch.
However, Mercer County traffic
engineers concluded, based on traffic studies, that the
traffic conditions did not warrant a crosswalk, and the
Planning Board application had to be amended in
1995.
The county said no to a crosswalk
then — but it might not say no today.
"I
wouldn't rule it out," Mercer County traffic engineer George
Fallat said. "If people are using it and crossing at that
location, there needs to be
protection."
At the same time, he pointed
out that it is important to recognize that the speed limit is
45 miles per hour, and simply putting in a crosswalk won't
necessarily solve a dangerous
situation.
"If motorists are unable to
see and unable to stop, you're actually making it less safe,"
he said, by giving pedestrians a false sense of security. He
said he has not seen a recent, formal request from the
township asking the county to review the possibility of adding
a crosswalk.
Mayor Hsueh says he will not
give up on the crosswalk. "We have already requested this many
times, and we are going to continue to request it," the mayor
said.
Meanwhile, the Mayor's Bicycle and
Pedestrian Task Force has been disbanded, following the
conclusion of its work on the circulation plan amendments. But
members say they are planning to regroup independent of the
township, to continue to identify and remedy dangerous
crossings throughout West Windsor.
"You
look around town and you want people to feel comfortable
walking across the street to buy a gallon of milk," Mr.
Carlson said.
|
Business 
.gif){kind=spacer}
