Minutes from the July 14th, 2005 Mayor’s Bicycle/Pedestrian Task Force Meeting

 

Meeting Attendees: Roger Alig, Ken Carlson, Susan Conlon, Arnold Kelly, Barry Keppard, Chris Scherer

 

Web site:  http://www.princetonol.com/groups/bikeped/

 

Bicycle/Pedestrian Project Priorities

 

o        The Task Force is focusing on generating a priority listing of bike/ped projects that will be used for the Township’s upcoming Capital Improvement Program process.  The township is beginning to prepare its 2006-2011 Capital Budget.  The Task Force is working towards setting project priorities for bikelane, sidewalk, recreational trails, cross-walk, and large-scale projects.  Once the project priorities are established, we will work with Pat Ward and Chris Marion to get these project priorities translated into Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Requests that will cover the six year budget timeframe.

o        Recreational Trails- Trail projects presented by Roger (and amended by Ken C)

o        Rogers Preserve Trail- This trail on the recently preserved Rogers property near Grovers Mill will be developed this fall and is not anticipated to need initial funding.  Recommended funding source: none projected at this time

o        Duck Pond Run Trail- trail along Duck Pond Run along sewer easement between Penn Lyle Road and Clarksville Road.  Recommended funding source: DEP Recreational Trails Grant or Township Capital Budget

o        D&R Canal Trail- on West Windsor side of Canal between Alexander Road and Princeton Golf course bridge.  Recommended funding source: Bikelanes grant currently under review by the State.  If not awarded, will need to re-apply.

o        Millstone River Trail- Phase II, from Millstone Road west to the Northeast Corridor Train tracks, is dependent on the acquisition of the Castoro property.  Recommended funding source: DEP Recreational Trails Grant. 

o        Zaitz Preserve Woodland Trail: Woodland trail in Zaitz Park.  Recommended funding source: DEP Recreational Trails Grant under review.  If not awarded, will need to reapply.

o        South Post Road Trail- Macadam path along stretch of South Post Road from intersection of South Post and Conover to Lake Mercer.  Will provide access to the Mercer Boat house.  Recommended funding source: Township Capital Budget

o        Connecting Path from Canal Point Boulevard to Nassau Park- Suggested by Barry, this path would provide access to Nassau Park for residents along Canal Pointe Boulevard.  Recommended funding source: Township Capital Budget

 

o        Sidewalks- Ken C and Susan reviewed the sidewalk prioritization process. Ken, Meg, and Susan met the week before the Task Force meeting to work on the prioritization.  The key step in this process is to update the list of generators.   Ken and Susan asked for feedback from the group on the generators.  Once the list of generators is agreed upon, we need to ask Brian Aaronson at the Township to make up new aerial maps that include the sidewalk inventory for us centered on each generator.  The sidewalk group will then meet and re-do the sidewalk scoring based on distance to the generator and condition of the sidewalks.   We will then generate a priority list based on the scoring.  Recommended Funding Source: Township Capital Budget, Safe Routes to Schools Grant.  The list of generators now includes:

o        Schools: High School South, Maurice Hawk, Dutch Neck, Village, High School North/Community MS/Millstone River School (as one generator), and Mercer County College

o        Municipal/Transportation: Train Station, Municipal Complex (including post office, senior center, and library), Princeton Jct. Firehouse (future community arts and cultural center )

o        Parks: Community Park, Arboretum, Van Nest, Mercer County Park, Mercer Boat House, Zaitz Park, D&R Canal-Washington Road, D&R Canal-Alexander Road, Princeton Junction Park, Duck Pond Park, Athletic Fields on Washington Road near Canal

o        Retail: Acme, McCafferys, Windsor Green, Market Fair, Nassau Park, Village Shoppes at Clarskville Road, Ellsworth, Princeton Arms (Old Trenton Road)

 

o        Bikelanes- Chris presented on the progress of the bikelane prioritization subcommittee (Chris, Ken Naglak, and Arnold). The main focus of their effort is to provide bikelane arteries that connect to neighboring towns (e.g., Cranbury, Hightstown, Princeton, Plainsboro, Washington Township, Hamilton).  Barry suggested that we coordinate with neighboring towns and said that he would be able to get copies of the projected bike/ped plans of our neighbors.  Ken C  recommended that we build out from our existing (but small) bikelane network that consists of   New Edinburg Road and most of Village Road and in ’06 will be expanded to include Southfield Road, Edinburg Road, South Mill Road, Lanwyn Boulevard and Rabbit Hill Road  Chris and the group also recommend some routes as shared roadways (such as Cranbury Road from Millstone Road to Route 571), the inclusion of share the road signage for bike routes, and the consideration of bicycle traffic in the transit village development for the train station.  Chris presented maps of some key bikelane routes that include:

o        Cranbury Road from Plainsboro border to Millstone Road

o        Village Road West from N. Post Road to Quaker Bridge Road

o        Clarksville Road from Cranbury Road to North Post Road

o        Carillon Boulevard from Canal Pointe Boulevard to Route 1, and then through Carnegie Center, Roezel Road, Alexander Road and Vaughn Drive to the Train Station.

o        Washington Road from Cranbury Road to Route 1

o        Wallace Road from Route 571 to North Post Road and Clarksville Road

o        Harris Road from Clarksville to Alexander Road

o        Old Trenton Road from Village Road East to Route 571 and beyond to Cranbury Road

 

Misc. Items

 

Bear Brook Trail- Roger and Ken presented Sam Surtees’ concept drawing of the Bear Brook Trail.  Roger and Ken had heard Sam present the trail concept at the last FOWWOS meeting.  Sam’s concept would have a trail that would start near the Millstone River Trail and more or less follow along the course of Bear Brook all the way to the East Windsor border near Village Grande.  The trail is designed to be constructed in phase- one phase is complete (the macadam path through Community Park), some of the phases will be easy, like the existing like the section that will go through the Roger’s property, and other phases will be more complicated.  We will bring the concept trail map to future Task Force meetings for anyone who is interested.

 

Enforcement Issues- Arnold brought up the issue of increased enforcement of existing bike/ped safety laws, such as allowing pedestrians to cross in crosswalks and observing speed limits.  The Task Force did consider recommending a Heed the Speed week.  We will have Arnold present his ideas in a future Bike/ped Task Force meeting. 

 

Action Items:

o        Need blank Capital Improvement Program Request Form- Ken C

o        Obtain bike/ped plans of neighboring towns as they apply to our projects- Barry

o        Obtain copy of plans for Meadow Road re-construction- Ken C

 

Upcoming Meetings/Events:

 

o        August 11th -TASK FORCE MEETING, 7:30 PM.  Bike/Ped Project Priorities for 2006-2011;

o        Topics for Future Meetings: Bike/Ped Safety Enforcement Issues; advocacy for ordinance banning ATV’s from publicly owned land