On February 1, WWBPA trustees met with Plainsboro residents, a township official and interested WWBPA members at the Plainsboro Library to discuss the issues. Topics included biking on the road vs. paths, the upcoming closings of the Rt 1 circle at Washington and the jughandle at Harrison, bike commuters to the Forrestal campus, biking and walking connections to West Windsor on the PSE&G right of way and Cranbury Road, biking and walking to school and many others. Various ideas were presented on how best to encourage biking and walking, including a having a bike rodeo at the annual Founders Day event and organizing a community bike ride.

On February 6 at the Hopewell Borough Council meeting, a resident advocate invited bicyclists from the area to support bike lanes on CR 518. A dozen bicyclists, including a WWBPA trustee and 2 members, showed up to support  the bike lanes as well as a Complete Streets resolution for the borough and for Mercer County. Representatives from New Jersey Bike Walk Coalition,  Princeton Free Wheelers, Lawrence Hopewell Trail, New Jersey Bike Exchange and the Battle Against Hunger Ride also spoke in support. We hope to see Hopewell Borough adopt the next Complete Streets resolution in Mercer County!

“When selecting a community, nearly half of the public (47%) would prefer to live in a city (19%) or a suburban neighborhood with a mix of houses, shops, and businesses (28%). Another four in ten (40%) would prefer a rural area (22%) or a small town (18%). Only one in ten (12%) say they would prefer a suburban neighborhood with houses only.

The public’s attitudes toward traffic solutions have remained consistent over the last seven years. Improving public transportation is viewed as the best answer to traffic congestion by half of the country (50%). Three in ten (30%) prefer building communities where fewer people need to drive long distances to work and shop. Far fewer want to see more roads (18%).

Top Community Characteristics:

• Privacy from neighbors (87%, important; 45%, very);
• Being within a 30-minute commute to work (78%; 36%);
• Sidewalks and places to take walks (77%; 31%); and
• High quality public schools (75%; 44%).

Americans are particularly interested in being within an easy walk of grocery stores (75%, important), pharmacies (65%), hospitals (61%), restaurants (60%), and cultural resources like libraries or theaters (59%). At least half of the public also considers being able to walk to schools (55%), doctors’ offices (55%), and public transportation by bus (50%) important in deciding where to live. Walking to recreational facilities (47%), places of worship (47%), or public transportation by rail (42%) are slightly less important.”

What can we do to make West Windsor more walkable, and therefore more desirable? A grocery store to replace the former Acme would be a huge improvement, as well as the planned sidewalks along Rt 571, as well as the planned rapid flashing beacon will be installed at the crosswalk at Sherbrooke Drive. Slower travel speed and additional pedestrian-friendly crossings will help realize our redevelopment plan’s vision to make Rt 571 “a desirable mix of pedestrian-friendly, village scale development.”

Tickets are free for members, $5 for nonmembers, and admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Members can help with set up starting at 6:30pm, and the box office opens at  7 p.m. The film starts at 7:30 p.m. Free parking is available a short walk away at the Wallace Road lot by the station.

Please join us for discussion and light refreshments afterward. And yeah, we’d really appreciate your help cleaning up.

The West Windsor Arts Center is located in the historic Princeton Junction Fire House at 952 Alexander Road, at Scott Avenue.

This is a great time to renew your membership, if you haven’t done so already. Hope to see you there!

We heard it, as did some Plainsboro residents. So please join us and your neighbors at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 1 at the Plainsboro Library to discuss your ideas for better biking and walking in the community.

Where do you and your family want to ride or bike, and what would make it easier? The WWBPA wants to partner with people who live, work, or even go to school in Plainsboro. Together we’ll explore some ways to make Plainsboro a more bicycle and pedestrian friendly community.

Please help us spread the word to your friends and neighbors. Hope to see you there!

This intersection is particularly important, since it may be the most heavily used route by pedestrians and bicyclists going to and from the train station. On September 14, 2011 from 5-7pm, we counted 87 bicyclists and pedestrians passing nearby Scott and Alexander, all of whom must have crossed this intersection at Wallace first.

Thanks again for all the work that went into making these improvements!

The subject of a previous post a few weeks ago, the crossing features a rapid flashing beacon (flashing strobe lights), high visibility crosswalk paint (the thickness of the stripes makes it easy to see) and a pedestrian-activated signal button for easy crossing.

One thing bicyclists in the bike lanes on South Mill Rd should keep in mind: If someone is crossing, the bicyclist must stop before the crosswalk, just as the cars must stop.  Enjoy the new trail;  now it’s easier than ever to get between Rabbit Hill Road and Penn Lyle Road on the Trolley Line Trail, including access to Community Park.

Jerry teaches a cyclist how to true his wheels.

Whether you’ve just  received (or given) a bike or have resolved to ride the one you already have more frequently, proper maintenance will help make cycling more enjoyable.

Here are two area classes that will help you learn to do just that:

Mercer County Community College’s continuing education program offers a three-session class starting Jan. 18 at Bernie’s Bicycle Shop in Hamilton. Cost is $59, plus a repair manual (approximately $20). You’ll learn how to clean, lubricate and adjust/repair major components. Look here, then turn to page 54.

If you just want a 45-minute class on how to fix a flat tire and lubricate it, Knapps has a class every month for $10.

According to the report, “taxes and fees paid by drivers (the most significant of which is the gas tax) make up a smaller share of total highway funding than at any point since the creation of the Interstate Highway System in 1957.”

In our previous post, Who Pays for Our Roads, we looked at the components of New Jersey’s state roadway funding (consumer gas taxes, oil industry taxes and general sales tax), and noted that property taxes fund local and county roads. We also reported that New Jersey’s gas taxes only pay the interest on past roadway improvements, and improvements are 99% paid with borrowed money.

Adjusted for roadway construction costs, the ITEP report notes that New Jersey’s gas and diesel taxes have lost 40% of their purchasing power since they were last adjusted, a loss totaling $505million annually.

The report recommends solutions: “The best structural reform possible is to link, or ‘index,’ the gas tax rate to some official measure of transportation construction cost growth.” An increase of 11.8 cents per gallon of diesel and 9.8 cents per gallon of gasoline would restore purchasing parity.

How about it? We’ve seen NJTransit fares increase 25% – it now costs almost $30 for a round trip train ticket between Princeton Junction and New York. We’ve seen toll increases on the turnpike, tunnels and bridges, and more are coming. When the Scudder Falls bridge on I-95 gets expanded to 6 lanes, a toll will be charged for the first time. Our transportation network is very expensive, but so far we’ve been unwilling to pay to maintain it, preferring to borrow instead – it’s not a sustainable solution. What do you think?

A student advisor at a "Learn to Bike" class

It’s once again time to apply to become a student advisor to the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance. Student advisors will work with its trustees over the next 12 months to help make our community even friendlier for bicyclists and pedestrians. Applicants must attend West Windsor-Plainsboro schools or live in West Windsor and attend other schools in the area or be home-schooled. The deadline for applications is February 20.

Serving as a student advisor is an excellent way for students to make a difference in their community while developing organizational skills, helping to plan and publicize events, and learning to advocate before local government for improvements. This year’s student advisors organized our community bike ride and helped promote our bike drive and “learn to bike” classes. As for coming year? Students have considerable freedom to come up with a project that interests them.

It’s a great way for any student considering a college major in environmental sciences, engineering or political science, among other areas, to gain some hands-on experience in their general area of interest.

You can learn more about what’s involved and see the application form here.

It’s not enough that the Transit Village will “make it possible for people to get out of their cars and walk, bike, and take the train to their destinations.” We must be able to safely walk and bike to and from the Transit Village.

It’s not enough to have compact development – we need a grocery store within walking distance, like the Acme that used to be in downtown West Windsor. Land use law and/or policies must require diverse uses – we need more than banks and real estate offices downtown, so that people have a variety of walkable destinations.

It’s not enough that compact development could be environmentally beneficial – we need specific open space preservation tied to specific dense developments like the Transit Village. It’s irrelevant that other space in New Jersey is already preserved.

It’s not enough to have Smart Growth policies for land use – transportation policy must support land use policy, by implementing the flexible standards in the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s (NJDOT) Smart Transportation Guidebook.

It’s not enough that NJDOT and West Windsor Township adopted Complete Streets policies – Mercer County must also adopt the policy, which requires roadway improvements to support walking and biking. Otherwise major roads like CR 571 in downtown West Windsor are subject to expensive but counter-productive “improvements” that don’t meet the the township’s goal for “pedestrian-friendly, village scale development.” There’s nothing pedestrian-friendly about a wider road with 30% more cars going 45mph, with no place to safely wait in the middle when crossing.

The Rt 1 Regional Growth Strategy is not enough, since it doesn’t sufficiently support redevelopment in Trenton and New Brunswick, the two already-compact but underutilized “developments” anchoring the region. With the right policies, much of the region’s growth could fit into Trenton and New Brunswick with far less environmental and traffic impact. Without supporting our cities, the strategy’s Bus Rapid Transit system will effectively encourage sprawl in outlying areas, contrary to its stated goal.

Respectfully, it’s wrong to promise reduced congestion by implementing Smart Growth, even with Smart Transportation and the Bus Rapid Transit system. Like water, the transportation network balances itself as people choose to walk, bike, drive, or take the bus or train, depending on the cost and convenience of each. If there is less congestion, people will switch to driving until there is enough congestion to make it better to take another way.

The Transit Village is a good start, but doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We need complementary supporting policies to achieve the benefits of Smart Growth. If Smart Growth just means new and denser development, then it has already failed to achieve its goals.