Bypass Articles after July 1, 2001
Bypass forum seeking unity on ground rules Princeton Packet, June 29, 2001
Deadline looms for input on plans for Route 571 Trenton Times, June 19, 2001
Environmental groups testify before bypass mediators Princton Packet, June 8, 2001
University claims neutrality on Millstone Bypass, Princeton Packet, April 13, 2001
University unfazed by bypass, Trenton Times, April 12, 2001
Bypass adviser sees road to compromise, Princeton Packet, March 20, 2001
The state DOT designs a road to compromise, Princeton Packet, March 13, 2001
Bypass foes may come together with new approach, Princeton Packet, March 9, 2001
Residents' views on bypass sought, Trenton Times, March 8, 2001
Getting it right, Trenton Times, November 8, 2000
Whitman orders impact study of Millstone Bypass, Trenton Times, November 3, 2000
Governor Whitman Orders Environmental Impact Study of the Millstone Bypass Project (11/02/00)
Department of Transportation Notice of Intent for EIS, December 28, 2000
Press Release from the Governor's Office
Environmental Assessment (EA) on NJDOT's Website
Bypass forum seeking unity on ground rules
By: David Campbell, Staff Writer June 29, 2001
An attempt to build bridges of trust over the controversial Millstone Bypass.
Members of the fledgling Millstone Bypass forum, which held its second meeting at Princeton Borough Hall on Wednesday night, wrangled with old distrusts as they sought to define the ground rules for the new phase of talks over the notoriously divisive issue.
"All of us are building bridges of trust," said Patrick Lyons of the Washington Road Elms Preservation Trust, one of the many activist, government and merchant groups represented at the roundtable.
The forum, referred to as the Penns Neck Environmental Impact Statement Partners' Roundtable, is the product of a precedent-setting move by state Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein in March to use third-party mediation to solve the 18-year-old problem of the Millstone Bypass, a 2.3-mile-roadway first proposed by the DOT in 1983.
Commissioner Weinstein's announcement followed an unexpected move by then-Gov. Christie Whitman to reject the DOT's environmental assessment of the project, a document which had been under preparation by the agency for years and which recommended the road be built.
Gov. Whitman called for the drafting of an environmental impact statement, a thorough and public review of alternatives, including no-build options.
The three-hour meeting Wednesday zeroed in on the terms that will define the ground rules for these mediated talks, which are expected to take two years or more to complete, involving basic issues such as whether decisions should be made by votes or consensus; what constitutes consensus; whether or not meetings should be taped; and how best to define a problem statement that all roundtable members can agree upon.
Under the careful mediation of Sandy Jaffe of Rutgers University's Center of Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, the group agreed to proceed by consensus rather than with votes, to allow taping of meetings by individuals but to forego an official taped public record and to establish a five-member committee to review and resolve disputes over membership at the roundtable.
The subtext to the discussion on defining the public record seemed to involve the possibility, however unlikely, of litigation at any time during this new and unfamiliar process.
"If we're going to go down there with the 'L' word, we may want to tape it," Mr. Lyons said.
There seemed also to be pervasive fear among some members - notably activists who have fought the Millstone Bypass for years and seem wary of getting burned - over the possibility of interested parties not represented at the table being excluded from the roundtable's consensus.
Martin Robins, director of Rutgers' Transportation Policy Institute, said, "We tried at the beginning to organize this group to keep the numbers controlled. We did not want to make it unwieldy."
There are more than two dozen members of the roundtable group.
Mr. Robins said the selection process sought to ensure that any interested parties not seated at the table would be represented by umbrella groups such as Millstone Bypass Alert, which represents 21 other groups. He said, "No process is perfect, there have been tugs and pulls," but suggested, "There should be a pretty heavy burden of proof on the applicant at this point to gain entry into the group."
Jean Mahoney, representative of Millstone Bypass Alert, argued generally for greater representation, saying, "I believe in equity. Maybe we should look at the constitution of the roundtable. We were assured there would be an opportunity for adjustment."
Candace Preston, a representative of the Harrison Street Neighborhood Association, which represents 250 families but has no official representation at the table, asked Mr. Jaffe if her voice would be as valid to the consensus as officially recognized groups. Mr. Jaffe said it would.
Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand, who does sit at the table, said she hopes all attendees are sensitive to the interests of the groups and individuals represented but not necessarily present at the roundtable.
The next round of meetings is scheduled for August, Mr. Jaffe said. Meetings on Aug. 2 and Aug. 28 will be held at West Windsor's senior center. A meeting on Aug. 16 will be held at Princeton Borough Hall.
The group is expected to review changes suggested by roundtable members Wednesday night to the existing conditions and problem statement, a three-page document outlining major traffic and other concerns that will be used to guide the talks.©The Princeton Packet 2001
Deadline looms for input on plans for Route 571
06/19/01
By JONATHAN RIFKIN
Staff WriterTomorrow is the deadline for the public to provide input on the possibility pf widening part of Route 571.
The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission's is seeking input on its proposal to expand the route, known as Princeton-Hightstown Road.
The DVRPC works with the state and counties within its region to develop a Transportation Improvement Plan that is federally funded. DVRPC makes recommendations, which influence where federal money is spent.
West Windsor Mayor Carole Carson said the community thinks something must be done to expand the two-lane road, but she and residents of the area balk at the possibility of creating the five-lane highway recommended by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
She said traffic volume dictates the ideal number of lanes a road should have.
"It's our Nassau Street, although not nearly as picturesque," Carson said, comparing Route 571 to Princeton Borough's main drag. "The consensus has been pretty straightforward, that we don't want five lanes, we want three."
Carson also acknowledged that residents fear the widening would jeopardize the township's request to have Princeton Junction designated as a village center.
"In the future we would like a village center with good lighting and nice sidewalks," the mayor said.
"We want it to be surrounded by a people street, not a superhighway."
Charles Dougherty, associate director for transportation planning with the DVRPC, said the current status of Route 571 from Wallace to Clarksville Road is in the study and development phase, which means no final plans are being made.
Rather, he said, it is a time for the township and Mercer County to define how they see the road fitting into their community while working out its desired configuration.
"Until some type of agreement is reached and proper studies of the proposal are conducted, no project is considered," Dougherty said.
Carson said she and County Engineer David Stem have been working to create a three-lane alternative that would ease congestion by adding a turning lane to the existing roadway.
Currently no final plan exists for Route 571's expansion, but proposals can be viewed at www.dvrpc.org, and Dougherty said all comments sent to the DVRPC at its e-mail address, tip-comments@dvrpc.org, will be compiled and considered before action is taken.
Copyright 2001 The Times
Environmental groups testify before bypass mediators
By: David M. Campbell, Staff Writers June 08, 2001Martin Robins, director of Rutgers University's Transportation Policy Institute, leads a mediation session on the proposed Millstone Bypass as Robert von Zumbusch, of the Friends of Princeton open Space, looks on. "The plan you knew as the Millstone Bypass has been set aside and has no stature," representatives are told. Advocates for Princeton open space and the Delaware & Raritan Canal met with Rutgers University-led mediators Tuesday as part of the first phase in a precedent-setting approach to settle
the controversy over the proposed Millstone Bypass.
"The plan you knew as the Millstone Bypass has been set aside, and has no stature," Martin Robins, director of Rutgers' Transportation Policy Institute, told representatives of the Canal Society of New Jersey and D&R Canal Watch at a round-table meeting held at Princeton Borough Hall. "Everything is on the table. We're starting with a clean slate."
Mr. Robins and Bob Goldstein of the New York-based consulting firm Helen Neuhaus & Associates met separately Tuesday with representatives from Friends of Princeton Open Space and the Harrison Street Neighborhood Association as part of preliminary discussions in a new, "community-based" approach to the bypass controversy that is expected to take two years to
complete.
In March, state Department of Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein broke with past practice by initiating the third-party mediation approach to the Millstone Bypass, a 2.3-mile roadway proposed by the DOT that would connect Route 571, near the Princeton Junction train station, to Washington Road, near Carnegie Lake, paralleling the Millstone River and the D&R Canal.
The move by the commissioner followed then-Gov. Christie Whitman's rejection the previous October of the DOT's long-awaited environmental assessment, which had been in preparation by the agency for years. Gov. Whitman ordered the completion of a full environmental impact statement, a thorough and public review of alternatives to the DOT-preferred alignment,
including no-build scenarios.
The DOT, while overseeing the project, will now act as an equal partner in the EIS process with community leaders and residents, a new approach which experts say could set a new standard for how roadway projects are
conducted in New Jersey.
Jean Mahoney, coordinator of Millstone Bypass Alert, an umbrella organization for 21 groups including the ones that met Tuesday, said the consultants also have met with the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, West Windsor Citizens for Transportation Alternatives and others.
"This is a significant step for DOT and we are very pleased the EIS process is moving ahead," Ms. Mahoney said. "We have high hopes that this process will be inclusive and that anyone interested in this issue will get to speak with Neuhaus and Rutgers."
George Hawkins, executive director of the Watershed Association, said following his group's meeting that he was encouraged because the consultants "are aware the decision cannot be isolated from other major issues in the area" such as growth and traffic congestion.
"It certainly has expanded the scope of this decision," Mr. Hawkins said.
Mr. Robins said that Tuesday's meeting is "an acknowledgment that something went terribly wrong with the last environmental assessment and the governor's termination of it." He said the Transportation Policy Institute and the Neuhaus consultants, along with Rutgers' Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, have been given "carte blanch to establish a new model."
Robert von Zumbusch, a vice president of Friends of Princeton Open Space, told consultants Tuesday that the bypass calls for a regional solution and the preservation of the whole canal and Millstone River corridor is of "critical" importance.
"We want to ensure all decisions are made with sound information, analysis and reasonable alternatives," he said.
Robert Barth of the Canal Society of New Jersey said of the canal, "I can only emphasize that it is a very historic asset and we do not want to see it deteriorated."
He said the DOT's proposal to construct landscaped berms to shield the canal from the bypass "would be like putting up a sound wall like you see along the highway. That's not going to be enough."
Barbara Ross of D&R Canal Watch said, "You don't want to make even tiny compromises" when it comes to protecting the canal.
Mr. Robins said this first round of meetings with community members will be used to draft a "problem statement that is agreed upon and that makes sense to the people in the region."
This first phase is expected to take six months to complete, according to the DOT.
Mr. Robins said the current talks could "be a process that gets things started" in addressing traffic problems on a regional scale.
"There could be some momentum that evolves out of this," he said. "This process could ignite something on a regional scale."©The Princeton Packet 2001
University claims neutrality on Millstone Bypass
By: David M. Campbell, Staff Writer
April 13, 2001
Princeton official says there are many miconceptions regarding the university's position.
Princeton University neither opposes nor advocates the controversial Millstone Bypass, but says the roadway supports long-term plans by the university to expand its campus onto 340 acres along Washington Road in West Windsor, a top university official said Wednesday night.
Robert Durkee, vice president for public affairs at Princeton, told a gathering at the Nassau Club sponsored by the Republican Association of Princeton that he was there to dispel misconceptions about the university's position on the bypass throughout the nearly two-decade-long controversy, and to set the record straight.
"I'm not advocating any road project, I'm just explaining the university's position throughout all this," he said. "The university's view from the beginning, and remains to be, is not that a road ought to be constructed, but that if there is to be a new road, it should meet three conditions."
The roadway alignment should respect the environment; it should improve traffic flow along Route 1 and in the surrounding region; and it should preserve the integrity of the university lands to the east of Route 1 between Washington Road and Harrison Street, slated for future academic and research facilities expansion, Mr. Durkee said.
The state Department of Transportation's proposed alignment "doesn't meet any of these criteria perfectly," he continued. "We care enormously about the (Delaware & Raritan) canal and the surrounding region. We care enormously about the quality of life in the region."
Mr. Durkee said there were certain popular misconceptions about the university's position in the past which have one thing in common: "They're all untrue."
Among them, he said, is the misconception that the university proposed and has pressed for the bypass to be built; that the university proposed the bypass as a means to close the Washington Road entrance to the campus; that the university saw the roadway as a way to divert traffic to Harrison Street, away from campus; and that Princeton is planning commercial development on its land holdings between Route 1 and the canal, north of Washington Road.
Last October, the DOT released its long-awaited environmental assessment, a document that had been in preparation by the agency for years. It made a case for its proposed 2.3-mile roadway alignment that would connect Route 571, near the Princeton Junction train station, to Washington Road, near Lake Carnegie, paralleling the Millstone River and Delaware & Raritan Canal. The environmental assessment concluded that the bypass posed no significant environmental impact.
The DOT first proposed building the roadway in 1983, following discussions going back to 1979. The stated purpose was to remove three traffic lights from Route 1 to improve traffic flow.
Two weeks after the environmental assessment's release, then-Gov. Christie Whitman ordered the DOT to undertake a full environmental impact statement, a thorough and public review of alternatives to the agency's preferred alignment, including no-build scenarios.
In March, DOT Commissioner James Weinstein announced that his agency will employ specialists from Rutgers University's Transportation Policy Institute and the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution to act as third-party mediators throughout the new review process, which is expected to take two years to complete.
Mr. Durkee said the university embraces the new review process. As for its view on alternatives, he said, "We will keep saying the same things we've been saying from the beginning." Whichever alternative the community arrives at, it must meet the three criteria, he said.
Meanwhile, the university has no current plans to develop its 340 acres along Route 1, he continued.
"But we want to make sure we have space to grow into in the next 100, 200 years," he said.
Dr. David Holmes, president and chief executive officer of the Eden
Institute, said the university can afford to wait, but Eden cannot."We're literally in a holding pattern, and we have been for a long time,"
Dr. Holmes said.Eden, a nonprofit organization serving autistic children and adults, was promised by Princeton University a new and expanded facility when the bypass is completed. Eden's current facility on Logan Drive is in disrepair, but the institute cannot do anything - make repairs, relocate, even raise funds - until the bypass is settled, Dr. Holmes said.
©The Princeton Packet 2001
University unfazed by bypass
04/12/01
By ROBERT STERN
Staff WriterPRINCETON BOROUGH -- Princeton University plans to expand its campus onto 340 acres along Washington Road, whether or not the state ever builds the controversial Millstone Bypass, a top administrator said yesterday.
"What we would expect over there over time is some mix of research and teaching facilities, residential facilities (for students or faculty) of some kind, open space and athletic space," said Robert Durkee, Princeton's vice president for public affairs.
"How that would be designed and when that might happen and in what kind of configuration is, as far as we know at this point, well in the future," he said.
Not that the university opposes the state's most recent design for the proposed bypass, a portion of which would sit on the university's West Windsor property.
In fact, that design, which former Gov. Christie Whitman put on hold in November, suits the university's interests just fine, Durkee said. That's because it meets the university's three criteria in evaluating its position on the project, he said.
It must be an effective way to move traffic while protecting the environment and respecting the "integrity of the university's lands," said Durkee, speaking on the subject during a meeting at The Nassau Club sponsored by the Republican Association of Princeton. Durkee said it is unlikely any configuration will fully satisfy each of those interests. But the design the state presented last year before Whitman intervened "comes as close as possible to meeting those three goals."
Because it would not cut through the heart of the 340 university-owned acres in West Windsor, the proposed alignment also gives the university trustees a high level of flexibility to use the property for campus expansion at an undetermined date, he said.
That flexibility also exists if the state opts to build nothing, Durkee said. Under pressure from environmental groups and area residents and municipal leaders, Whitman refused to allow the Millstone Bypass project to advance beyond the design phase.
Instead, she ordered an environmental impact statement -- a process that could take about two years and cost about $1 million -- after a less stringent environmental assessment failed to bring consensus on the project, which has been in the works for 20 years.
West Windsor residents are largely in favor of the proposed 2.6-mile, two-lane road, believing it will ease traffic in the Penns Neck area. But Princeton Borough and Township residents fear it will increase traffic on three key roads leading to downtown Princeton -- Alexander and Washington roads and Harrison Street.
The road would originate on Route 571 and flow northwest along the Millstone River, cross Route 1 south of Harrison Street and continue along the Delaware & Raritan Canal before rejoining Route 571 (Washington Road) near the Princeton Township border. A spur of the road would extend to Harrison Street.
A critical element of that design, from the state's standpoint, is to eliminate traffic lights along Route 1 at Fisher Place, Harrison Street and Washington Road to ease traffic backups in that area.
Whatever the outcome of the environmental impact statement is on the project -- which state officials have renamed the Penns Neck Area project -- Durkee sought to dispel what he tagged as widespread misconceptions about it.
For example, the university neither proposed nor pressed for construction of the Millstone Bypass, he said. Nor does the university want the road so it can put commercial development on the 340 acres it owns in the region bounded by Lake Carnegie, Harrison Street, Route 1 and Alexander Road.
"Absolutely not. We're not planning commercial development on the West
Windsor lands," he said.The only type of commercial development Princeton University officials might propose, on a very limited basis, for that property, would be for things like a branch of the university store that is on its main campus in downtown Princeton Borough, Durkee said.
Copyright 2001 The Times
Bypass adviser sees road to compromise
By: David M. Campbell, Staff Writer March 20, 2001
A firm brought in as an adviser to the third-party mediators in the Millstone Bypass dispute has seen this kind of problem before.
At the state Department of Transportation's recent press conference on the Millstone Bypass, Helen Newhouse called the rebuilding of the West Side Highway, currently under construction in Manhattan as the newly named Route 9A, "the project they said never would get built."
Like the Millstone Bypass - a DOT-proposed 2.3-mile roadway in West Windsor that would join Route 571 to Washington Road and run parallel to the Millstone River and Delaware & Raritan Canal - the West Side Highway project resulted in contentiousness among communities, government agencies and environmentalist groups, which ultimately led to stalemate.
The fight over the road, in an earlier version called Westway, dragged on for years and ultimately ended in the courts in 1985, where it was killed because of the environmental damage it would have caused.
But a roadway design finally was agreed upon, in part because of the work of Ms. Newhouse's [sic] Manhattan-based consulting firm, Helen Newhouse and Associates, which was brought in a year after Westway died in court and which specializes in helping divided communities build consensus.
The result was a new design based on input from thousands of people - from local elected officials to neighborhood civic groups to cultural and historic preservation groups - one which Ms. Newhouse [sic] describes as "a very magnificent urban boulevard" which "reflects the history of the waterfront area" and also encouraged its revitalization.
Now, Ms. Newhouse's [sic] firm will join specialists from Rutgers University's Transportation Policy Institute and the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, hired by the DOT to act as third-party mediators in its environmental impact statement of the bypass, to work a similar miracle in the Penns Neck area of West Windsor.
"I don't think this will be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I think we can work something out," Ms. Newhouse [sic] said Monday of the process, expected to take two years to complete. "I'm very encouraged."
Like the West Side Highway, the Millstone Bypass has a history of contentiousness. The DOT first proposed building the bypass in 1983, following discussions going back to 1979.
Last October, the DOT released its long-awaited environmental assessment, a document that had been in preparation by the agency for years. It made a case for the roadway alignment, concluding that the bypass posed no significant environmental impact. Two weeks following its release, however, then-Gov. Christie Whitman rejected the DOT's findings and ordered the completion of a full environmental impact statement, a thorough and public review of alternatives to the DOT-preferred alignment, including no-build scenarios.
Recently, DOT Commissioner James Weinstein announced plans by his agency to employ the Rutgers specialists and Ms. Newhouse's firm in the EIS process in order to finally settle the conflict over the roadway project, newly named the "Penns Neck Area EIS."
Sandy Jaffe of Rutgers' Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution has said the move by the DOT could set a new precedent for how development issues are resolved in the state.
In an interview last week, Mr. Jaffe and Linda Stamato, also of the center, said the new process will require a real change of mind-set on the part of opponents of the roadway as well as by the DOT.
Mr. Jaffe said the mediated approach is intended to turn a traditionally adversarial process - one in which the DOT proposes a roadway alignment and the public reacts (and often the reaction is negative) - into a "more facilitative, collaborative process where people can work together to arrive at a mutual solution."
Mr. Jaffe said projects by government agencies, like court disputes, are often predicated on an "adversarial culture." Over the past 10 years, he continued, organizations like the ones at Rutgers have been working to change these processes, the result being an increase in the number of mediation systems in the courts and processes like the one being undertaken by the DOT.]
According to Ms. Stamato, opposition groups "bring assumptions to the table," just as government agencies do, and this will have to change if the mediation process is to succeed.
"There is a sense of this being an adversarial thing," Ms. Stamato said. Like the DOT has done, she said, "Opponents have to change their attitude as well. They have to change their outlook and assumptions, as well. If at least we make it possible for there to be significant and meaningful participation, and the processes we set in motion are perceived as legitimate and workable, then we have a shot at making something of this."
Local activists say they welcome the new process, but have expressed caution about whether the DOT will live up to its offer, and therefore about letting their own guard down.
Mary Penney, chairwoman of the Central New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club, one of the groups that has fought the Millstone Bypass over the years, said she welcomes the new process. But she added, "I don't think that we (the opponents) have to change our strategy or our attitude."
Ms. Penney added, "I feel that for too long the DOT has been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole."
George Hawkins, executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, indicated that past history with the DOT has put activists on the defensive.
"That's not a good place for anybody to be" going into this new round of public discussions, he said.
"What we want to know is that this change of heart on the part of DOT is, in fact, true," Mr. Hawkins said. "But I believe we need to go in with an open mind."
According to Ms. Newhouse [sic], similar attitudes prevailed among opponents who had fought long and hard to stop the Westway project, which she said "was a mega-concept to fill in parts of the Hudson River and build a roadway on top of it." Like the bypass, she said, "It divided the communities because many communities were affected by it," from Battery Park to Greenwich Village to Chelsea. "Many communities with many different faces, needs and personalities - and also many very serious environmental concerns," she pointed out.
The result of mediation, she said, was a pedestrian-friendly roadway with "an almost European feel to it." The design the communities and government agencies arrived at extended far beyond a simple roadway alignment. The 5-mile link between Battery Park and 59th Street in Manhattan includes a planted center median, two parks, sports fields, bike paths and even a play
area for dogs."The communities have been involved every step of the way," Ms. Newhouse [sic] said. "and if the look (of the new design) is cool, it's the result of all that input."
©The Princeton Packet 2001
The state DOT designs a road to compromise
By: Packet Editorial March 13, 2001PACKET EDITORIAL, March 13
What's in a name change?
Maybe nothing. Maybe a lot.
Last week, state Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein studiously avoided using a term that evokes passionate responses from folks in central New Jersey - the "Millstone Bypass" - and started calling the process that will be used to analyze the proposal to eliminate three traffic lights along Route 1 in West Windsor the "Penns Neck Area EIS." (EIS stands for
environmental impact statement, a thorough review of the project that is about to be undertaken by the DOT.)A cosmetic change? A public-relations ploy? An empty gesture, putting a misleading new name to the same old controversial project? Maybe.
But we suspect it is more. Much more. And we are heartened by what the commissioner had to say.
For one thing, the "Millstone Bypass" referred to a very specific construction project advanced by the DOT, a proposal to redirect traffic from Washington Road and Harrison Street (and remove the traffic lights at their respective intersections with Route 1) onto a two-lane roadway that would run roughly from the Princeton Junction train station through the Sarnoff Corp. property and hook up with Washington Road just to the east of Carnegie Lake. Shifting the emphasis from this particular roadway alignment to a wider-ranging study of the "Penns Neck Area" suggests that many options, including alternatives to a bypass road of any kind, might be
considered.Commissioner Weinstein dropped some much broader hints that the DOT's resolve to build the 2.3-mile roadway to which it has long been wedded may, in fact, be on the wane. "The New Jersey Department of Transportation is committed to taking an entirely fresh look at this project," he declared at a press conference. "We determined that basically the process we were
following wasn't working."This admission by the commissioner of a state agency not known for self-effacement is astonishing enough in and of itself. But it was followed by an even more stunning announcement: The DOT is effectively turning over the process for resolving its long-standing dispute with public officials in the Princetons, as well as a number of environmental and ad-hoc opposition groups, to a third party - Rutgers University's widely respected Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. Together with the university's Transportation Policy Institute, the Rutgers mediators will launch what Mr. Weinstein called "a new, community-based approach," seeking to bring all interested parties together to find some common ground on what has been, to this point, a battleground.
This is quite a refreshing change from the usual process, which goes something like this: The DOT proposes a project, conducts its own environmental review of the project, listens very politely to the public outcry that invariably greets the project and then goes ahead and builds the
project pretty much as planned.Commissioner Weinstein is quite correct in his observation that this process - at least in the case of the Millstone Bypass/Penns Neck Area EIS - wasn't working. What should have been, and could still be, a collaborative process to find practical ways of resolving traffic problems along the Route1 corridor had instead become a nasty confrontation between obstinate
proponents and opponents of the DOT's preferred solution.Now comes an opportunity to take a fresh look at the problem. It's the kind of opportunity that doesn't come along very often, and it's one that the DOT's most vocal critics - in particular the environmental groups and other organized opponents of the Millstone Bypass proposal - would be foolish not to seize. The DOT has taken an unprecedented step in embracing the community-based approach that will be overseen by the Rutgers mediators. The agency deserves praise for its action, and the new process that is about to unfold deserves not only the active participation but the enthusiastic support of all interested parties.
©The Princeton Packet 2001
Bypass foes may come together with new approach
By: David M. Campbell, Staff Writer March 09, 2001State Department of Tranportation Commissioner James Weinstein wants tosettle the Millstone Bypass dispute through mediation by Rutgers University.
In a significant break with past practice, the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation said this week that his agency wants to settle the controversy over the Millstone Bypass through third-party mediation by Rutgers University - a precedent-setting move that could put area community leaders on equal footing with the DOT.
At a press conference Wednesday, DOT Commissioner James Weinstein announced that his agency will undertake what he called "a new, community-based approach" as the department embarks upon its environmental impact statement of the Millstone Bypass.
"The New Jersey Department of Transportation is committed to taking an entirely fresh look at this project," the commissioner said.
The agency plans to employ specialists from Rutgers University's Transportation Policy Institute and the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution to act as third-party mediators throughout the review process, which is expected to take two years to complete.
Sandy Jaffe of Rutgers' Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution said the approach could set a new precedent for how land-use, development and infrastructure issues are resolved in the state.
"This may prove to be a new model," he said.
Linda Stamato, also of the center, said, "The DOT has now cast itself as a stakeholder, not the driver."
The commissioner's move represents a change from past DOT practice of presenting a proposal and then asking for community input. With the newly planned approach, the DOT will still oversee the project, but it will act as an equal partner in the EIS review process alongside leaders and residents in the Princetons and West Windsor Township, as well as advocacy groups such as the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association and Sensible Transportation Options Partnership.
"We determined that basically the process we were following wasn't working," Commissioner Weinstein said Wednesday. "The face of this thing now is really going to be Rutgers University."
The commissioner said the review process could cost as much as $1 million to complete.
Last October, the DOT released its long-awaited environmental assessment, a document that had been in preparation by the agency for years. It made a case for its proposed 2.3-mile roadway alignment that would connect Route 571, near the Princeton Junction train station, to Washington Road, near Carnegie Lake, paralleling the Millstone River and Delaware & Raritan Canal.
The environmental assessment concluded that the bypass posed no significant environmental impact.
But two weeks following its release, then-Gov. Christie Whitman rejected DOT's findings and ordered the completion of a full environmental impact statement, a thorough and public review of alternatives to the DOT-preferred alignment, including no-build scenarios.
On Wednesday morning, the commissioner met with the mayors of Princeton Borough, Princeton Township and West Windsor to discuss his proposal.
Following that meeting, Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed said, "What he outlined to us looked not only fresh but thorough."
Mayor Reed said the fact that the DOT now refers to the project as the "Penns Neck Area EIS" rather than the "Millstone Bypass" reflects a real change in the DOT's approach.
"He's no longer saying it's to remove three traffic lights on Route 1, but that we have a much bigger problem on our hands," he said.
Mayor Reed said he hoped it would also mark a change for the better in the way the municipalities seek to resolve the problem.
"I think we have to recognize that Route 1 shouldn't be a dividing line between us. We should consider it the linkage and not the boundary," he said.
Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand said of DOT's move, "They have entered the 22nd century in a major way," and added that the towns can now be confident "that their opinions will definitely be taken into consideration."
West Windsor Mayor Carole Carson said of the new approach, "I think it's certainly worth a try" - but she expressed frustration with delays in getting the project under way to address the area's traffic problems and West Windsor's need for improved access for emergency services vehicles throughout the township, which the mayor said the bypass would provide.
"Before the EIS is even complete, we will be in total gridlock, and that's without addressing the Sarnoff issue," Mayor Carson said.
Sarnoff Corp.'s proposal to build a 2.17 million-square-foot office and research campus in Penns Neck recently met with opposition from area residents worried about traffic impacts.
Said Mayor Carson, "I'm very frustrated by the fact that this process has taken 20 years to complete." She said she has welcomed input from the Princetons "from the beginning," but said that, to date, they have not provided any viable solutions to the DOT-proposed alignment.
The mayor also said it has been the "inflammatory rhetoric" from groups like the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association and Sensible Transportation Options Partnership - not the mayors - that has promoted divisiveness over the bypass in the past.
"They stab holes in other people's solutions," Mayor Carson said. "They're part of the problem. They're definitely not part of the solution."
George Hawkins, executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, called Mayor Carson's comments "surprising," given that, with the commissioner's announcement Wednesday, "the DOT has adopted the solutions we've advocated for all these years, which is proof that we are part of the solution."
Mr. Hawkins, who attended the commissioner's press conference, said the agency's third-party approach with Rutgers is unique for the state, and called it "a significant and wonderful step."
©The Princeton Packet 2001
Residents' views on bypass sought
03/08/01
By KAREN AYRES
Staff WriterEWING -- Princetonians and West Windsor residents at odds over the proposed Millstone Bypass will be able to contribute to the environmental impact statement that will likely determine the fate of the project, Department of Transportation officials said yesterday.
The Penns Neck Area statement will include information gathered from about 75 interviews and several community forums, said Commissioner of Transportation James Weinstein. Transportation and conflict resolution experts from Rutgers University will help conduct the process.
Work on the statement has already begun and will be in full swing in about a month, he said. Completion is about two years away.
"It's going to be an intense transportation and public involvement process," Weinstein said yesterday at DOT's headquarters in Ewing.
Former Gov. Christie Whitman ordered the statement in November after a less stringent environmental assessment failed to bring a consensus on the project that has been in the works for 20 years.
West Windsor residents are largely in favor of the proposed two-lane road because they believe it would ease traffic in the Penns Neck area.
Princeton residents believe the road would increase traffic on the three roads -- Alexander, Harrison and Washington -- that flow into downtown Princeton.
"There are differences of opinion and we need to get that out on the table," said Martin Robins, the director of Rutgers Transportation Policy Institute.
The proposed bypass would originate on Route 571 and would flow northwest along the Millstone River, cross Route 1 south of Harrison Street and run along the Delaware & Raritan Canal before rejoining Route 571 (Washington Road) east of Princeton Borough.
A critical part of the plan would achieve the state's highest goal: eliminating four traffic lights on Route 1 -- one at Fisher Place, one at Harrison Street and two at Washington Road.
According to Weinstein, the study will evaluate plans for the proposed bypass and many alternative proposals to reduce congestion on Route 1.
"They want to be as thorough as they can," said Princeton Borough Mayor Marvin Reed.
Officials also will consider the option of not building a road at all.
"The process, to me, is enlightening," said Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand. "Hopefully it will be good because all alternatives will be considered."
Weinstein said much of the work will be completed by the staff from Rutgers University.
"We recognize we have some credibility problems and that is why Rutgers is here," he said. "Rutgers brings to this an objectivity and reliability."
It will take about six months to complete the community outreach part of the project and another 18 months to complete the rest of the assessment, which will include traffic studies and environmental testing, Weinstein said.
"Let's hope this one works," said West Windsor Mayor Carole Carson. "It's unfortunate that we've spent so much of the taxpayers' dollars to do the environmental assessment and the traffic studies and basically we still have no project."
The final cost of the statement is unclear, Weinstein said.
"If it approached $1 million, I wouldn't be surprised," he said.
The results of the study will be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration, which will then decide how to move forward.
Copyright 2001 The Times
11/08/00
By EDITORIAL
Gov. Whitman has ordered the state Department of Transportation to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) before construction of the proposed Millstone Bypass begins. The action will mean further delay of the project, which is designed to relieve the congestion that plagues Route 1 and tributary roads in the Penns Neck area. Nevertheless, it's the right move. Too much is at stake for DOT and the Federal Highway Administration to push ahead before all feasible alternatives have been thoroughly examined, with full input from the public -- things that an EIS will include.
The Millstone Bypass, as planned by DOT, would originate near the Princeton Junction train station West Windsor, cross Route 1 just south of Harrison Street and run along the Delaware & Raritan Canal to Washington Road. According to an environmental assessment -- which is less comprehensive than an EIS -- released last month by DOT, it would uproot about 10 elm trees from the historic allee along Washington Road. It also would have an "adverse effect" on other locations, including the Delaware & Raritan Canal historic district, Covenhoven-Silvers-Logan House and three archaeological sites where Native American artifacts may lie. Wetlands would be affected, and strollers along the canal towpath and Lake Carnegie would be exposed to the sights, sounds and smells of nearby traffic, despite DOT's promise to plant screening vegetation.
The municipalities involved are divided over the plan: West Windsor favors it, while Princeton Borough and Township are opposed. The Princetons and other opponents, such as the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, asked for the EIS that Gov. Whitman now has ordered. As the governor said, reducing traffic congestion and attendant air pollution is very important, but it's also important to ensure that the state not create more harm to the environment than it's trying to eliminate. "Before we consider taking action that would so permanently change this Princeton landmark , we must convince ourselves that we are taking the route that least affects the area's environment and character," the governor declared.
West Windsor Councilman Shing-Fu Hsueh expressed disappointment in the governor's action, saying: "This will mean we have to take another couple years and look at different options." Well, yes; but concrete, once poured, lasts a long, long time. Done wrong, this project could be a real millstone -- a millstone around the region's neck. It's in everyone's interest that it be done right.
Copyright 2000 The Times
Whitman orders impact study of Millstone Bypass
11/03/00
By KRYSTAL KNAPP
Staff WriterWEST WINDSOR -- Gov. Christie Whitman yesterday ordered an environmental impact statement to be prepared before construction of the proposed Millstone Bypass begins, a decision that could delay the controversial project for two years.
"Reducing traffic congestion on Route 1 is a very important goal, as is reducing the air pollution caused by the congestion," Whitman said in a written statement yesterday.
"We must ensure, however, that we are not creating more harm to the environment than we are trying to eliminate.
"I am calling for the completion of the environmental impact statement (EIS) so we can have the most comprehensive assessment possible of the project, as well as the full participation of the public in this process."
The EIS will be supervised by the state Department of Transportation, which will contract with an expert consultant.
The process could begin early next year and take about one to two years to complete. The final EIS will be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration, which then would have to decide whether the project would move forward.
Whitman also expressed concern yesterday about bypass plans that would include the removal of a number of trees along the historic Elm Allee on Washington Road.
"Before we consider taking action that would so permanently change this Princeton (area) landmark, we must convince ourselves that we are taking the route that least affects the area's environment and character," Whitman said.
The EIS will provide a greater opportunity than a simple environmental assessment (EA) to ensure that any environmental, social, historical and economic effects are minimized. It also will require a more detailed analysis of alternative road alignments, Whitman said.
The DOT recently completed an environmental assessment of the project.
The bypass would originate in West Windsor where Route 571 crosses over the Princeton Junction train tracks. It would then swing northwest along the Millstone River, cross Route 1 just South of Harrison Street and run along the Delaware & Raritan Canal before rejoining Route 571 (Washington Road) east of Princeton Borough.
As proposed, it would eliminate four traffic lights on Route 1 -- one at Fisher Place, one at Harrison Street and two at Washington Road. A bridge over the Millstone River would be replaced, and a section of Route 1 would be widened to provide shoulders.
Members of the Millstone Bypass Alert Coalition, which includes 17 groups that oppose the bypass, were both surprised and excited about yesterday's announcement.
The coalition has been calling for a full environmental impact study and more public input in the process for the past four years. Members said they felt yesterday's announcement was the result of collaborative efforts to raise awareness in the governor's office about the environmental issues.
"The governor's actions are courageous," said George Hawkins, executive director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association. "But they are also legally appropriate, under federal guidelines. It's the right step and I applaud her for it.
"It has been our position from the beginning that alternatives need to be fairly considered. It's hard to imagine a road that would have more environmental impact, with (the area's) wetlands and beautiful upland forest."
"It would be irresponsible for the DOT to do anything else but an environmental impact study," said Jennifer Jaroski, New Jersey coordinator of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which opposes the bypass.
"We didn't expect the governor to speak up, but we're glad she did. Someone needed to stand up."
Whitman stressed the degree of public involvement in an EIS compared to an EA. While the EA is subject to public comment at its completion, the EIS provides a more formal public comment process as the report is being developed.
"The environmental assessment is severely flawed," said Princeton township resident Alan Goodheart, a member of STOP. "With the EIS, at least we feel we have more chances of a reasonable process with this news."
STOP founder Jean Mahoney had been gearing up for a public hearing next month on the environmental assessment.
"We are trying to protect our environmental, cultural and historical treasures," Mahoney said. "This is just a very good decision. It's the proper thing to do. Now we have a lot of hard work ahead of us."
Members of the West Windsor Township Council were disappointed by the governor's announcement yesterday.
"I'm surprised a decision was made so early, before the environmental assessment hearing," said Councilman Shing-Fu Hsueh. "This will mean we have to take another couple years and look at different options."
The public hearing next month regarding the environmental assessment has been canceled. Instead, the DOT will hold an information session from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 11 at the David Sarnoff Research Center to explain to the public how the environmental impact process works.
"We are going to carry out the study as quickly as possible," said John Dourgarian, spokesman for the DOT. "We're going to give it our best effort and do everything to ensure that the environmental impact statement on this project is a thorough and outstanding document."
Federal Highway Administration
Environmental Impact Statement: Mercer and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey
AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), USDOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared for changes being considered to Route 1 and intersecting roadways in the greater Penn's Neck Area to improve transportation service.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin Schroeder, Program Operations
Director or Amy Fox, Environmental Coordinator, Federal Highway Administration, 840 Bear Tavern Road, Suite 310, West Trenton, NJ 08628.SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 771, Environmental Impact and Related Procedures, the FHWA, in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), will prepare an environmental impact statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), on alternatives for modifications to Route 1 and intersecting roadways in the Penn's Neck Area, to improve transportation service. Generally, the section of Route 1 under evaluation extends from Alexander Road Interchange in West Windsor Township in Mercer County to Scudders Mill Road Interchange in Middlesex County. The EIS will evaluate the No-Action and Build Alternatives to determine potential impacts and costs associated with each.
An Environmental Assessment (EA)/Section 4(F) Evaluation of some alternative solutions for mobility and congestion problems in the Penn's Neck area of Route 1 was developed by FHWA and NJDOT and made available to the public and review agencies during October 2000. Subsequently, a decision was made by Governor Christine Todd Whitman to prepare an EIS to allow broader public participation in the process and a fuller evaluation of alternatives and impacts. After publication of this Notice, the FHWA in cooperation with NJDOT will continue the scoping process begun during the preparation of the EA to evaluate alternatives already under review and to identify additional possible alternatives. This process will also identify significant issues to be addressed in the EIS.
To ensure that issues involving this proposed action are addressed fully and significant concerns are identified, written comments, suggestions or questions should be directed to the FHWA at the address provided above or directed to: Mr. Andras Fekete, Manager, Bureau of
Environmental Services, New Jersey Department of Transportation, 1035 Parkway Avenue, Trenton, NJ 08625-0600, Telephone: 609-530-2824.The public will receive notices on location and time of future opportunities for participation at meetings and public hearings through newspaper advertisements and other means. If you wish to be placed on the mailing list to receive further information as the project develops, contact Mr. Andras Fekete at the address above.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 20.205, Highway Research, Planning and Construction. The regulations implementing Executive Order 12372 regarding intergovernmental consultation of Federal programs and activities apply to this program)
Issued on: December 28, 2000.
Robin Schroeder,
Program Operations Director, FHWA--New Jersey Division, Trenton.
[FR Doc. 01-406 Filed 1-5-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-M
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