Prevention, treatment or cure for traffic

[Jerry Foster]

Traffic isn't what it used to be - the only way to increase economic activity used to be to improve roads that created an expanding network of places to conduct economic activity like going to work or the mall.

Today improving other infrastructures increases economic activity without additional traffic, for example internet shopping, or video-conferencing to work from home instead of commuting to an office. This trend goes by memes such as peak car, peak oil or decoupling economic growth (GDP) from greenhouse gases (GHG) growth.

So the old paradigm of focusing on moving more cars faster is essentially obsolete, at least from the perspective of where you can get the most economic improvement for the least amount of public (or private) money spent.

So the ill effects of traffic - 32K/yr fatalities, obesity and asthma, global climate change, etc. might be "solved" by treatments like air bags, automatic engine start-stop at traffic lights, better gas mileage, emergency medical on-scene communication with emergency room doctors, etc.

Some are putting significant investments into hopeful cures such as the sharing economy - one vision is for a "transportation subscription" that enables access to car sharing, bike sharing and transit for one monthly fee.  Under this model, private car ownership is obsolete and what are now large car companies like Ford run huge networks of competing and cooperating multi-modal (bike, walk, bus, train, car, etc.) transportation systems.

Preventing traffic requires building dense walk and bike friendly (the most spatially efficient forms of  transportation), mixed use communities, essentially a traditional city like NYC, Philly or Trenton. This type of walkable urban area is where many millenials and retiring boomers want to live, and that is where they/we are moving to.

We heard a lot of talk about "bike lanes to nowhere" at the last few WW Twp Council meetings re the Canal Pte Blvd road diet, but this should be viewed as a temporary situation that only exists until we complete the bikeway network on an incremental basis, not as a reason to keep the bikeway network fragmented and unusable (except for cycling enthusiasts like me).

Jerry Foster

[John Church]

In all this back and forth, one very important fact gets continually glossed over.  Biking is basically impossible here for much of the time due to the weather.  How many bikers were out during the last few days of cold and rain and wind?  To say nothing of winter with its snow and ice.   This means that dedicated bike lanes are a waste of space for a good percentage of the time.

 

I rode my bike in the bike lanes of New Village Road on several occasions when I was doing the fire hydrant survey several years ago.  This was in good weather and I didn’t see even one other bike the whole time.  On top of that, I felt very uncomfortable with cars going by and was happy to get off onto the side streets where it was much safer.  

 

Everyone needs to face the fact that cars dominate here for many good and important reasons and this is not going to change.

 

John

 

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[George Barone]

I am getting tired of hearing about the plan to turn West Windsor into a walking and biking utopia. There is not a large enough segment of the suburban community that wants to abandon their cars under any circumstances regardless of how densely you make the population.   Have you been to Brooklyn, NY lately? They keep doing urban in fills there and the result is wall to wall cars.  

The Burns traffic study suggests that the light at Meadow Road has reduced the accident rate at that intersection. It further suggested that a traffic light was not warranted at the Carnegie/Carillon intersection as the accident rate did not meet the threshold.   So where is the compelling reason for a road diet?

If Utopia is what you are truly advocating than lets go all out and turn Canal Pointe into a bike and pedestrian mall during the lunch hours so all those office workers who can't find the time to exercise can get out and walk or bike to lunch as someone previously suggested. 

I suggested and supported the "no turn on red" sign  at 571/Wallace and I support sidewalks for Cranbury  Road, but I do not see a necessity for a road diet at Canal Pointe. 

What I would like to see is a complete survey of the Canal Pointe residents to determine their true desires. If the vast majority of the residents want a road diet then I say let it happen.  

I've lived in West Windsor since 1989 and my family and I love it here. We feel blessed that we can walk to the train station and the various shops, but moe importantly we enjoy the freedom of getting into our car and partaking in the shopping and entertainment opportunities available in the surrounding communities. 

West Windsor is my gateway to riches of the surrounding communities it is not the center of my universe. 

A number of years ago l submitted my e-mail address to the Princeton Junction Neighborhood Forum, is this that same forum or has my e-mail address somehow been placed on the bicycle and pedestrian forum?  If the latter is the case, then please remove me from the mailing list. 

Thanks. 

George C. Barone

 

[Virginia Manzari]

George, I couldn't have said it better myself.  I wholeheartedly agree.

As for what the neighbors along Canal Pointe Boulevard have to say about the road diet, a resident presented some interesting information at the last council meeting.  Because the mayor's survey only reached 43 people (did he just send it to the Bike and Ped Alliance??), this gentleman took it upon himself to knock on the doors of his neighbors in Canal Pointe and Princeton Greens, and people were overwhelmingly against the road diet.  But you don't have to take his word for it:  he submitted a petition against the road diet to the township clerk, so there is written proof of their opinions.  Here are the results of his survey:

Princeton Greens:  Out of 142 total homes, he rang 130 doorbells (92%).  72 doors opened for conversation. Of those, 70 residents (97%) opposed the road diet!  (Wow!)  Two residents (3%) did not sign the petition.

Canal Pointe:  Out of 122 doorbells rung, 72 answered (59%).  Of those, 59 residents (82%) opposed the road diet and signed the petition.  5 residents (7%) supported it, and 8 people (11%) wanted more information before they signed.

I believe the people have spoken.  Now let's see if the mayor actually listens.  Or cares.

I also am annoyed that this forum is being used as a mouthpiece for a pro-biking agenda.  I am a member of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, and I care about safe travels around town and have fought for sidewalks on Cranbury Road among other things.  But this group was created by Hemi Nae, if I'm not mistaken, who attended township meetings and reported back THE FACTS of what happened at those meetings - on any number of issues - without serving his own agenda.  I'd like to see this forum go back to that way of doing things.

V.  

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[Pattie Janus Reslan]

To Whom it may concern:

I agree with my neighbors George and Virginia.  This is no longer information mailing, this is just a chat a thon and I wish my name to removed since this is not what I signed up for.

Sincerely,

 

Pattie Janus Reslan

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[Sandra Shapiro]

While Hemi originally set up this group, it seems that one may unsubscribe by following the directions at the bottom of each email:

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I understood that the original purpose of the group was to disseminate the “facts” or information and then open the forum to civil discussion (title of the group is WW Community Discussion).

Sandy

[Hemi Nae]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for participating in the discussion. You may have noticed that I have not participated in the discussion for a while. I am still serving as the moderator, making sure that the rules of the group (see below) are being followed. The bottom line is that everybody is welcome to participate and everybody may post whatever opinion they have (unless it is spam or nasty). If I notice a spam it is deleted immediately. If somebody takes advantage of our policy and does not follow the rules, they get a warning and generally, my policy is "three strikes - you are out".  Actually, it is a good sign that people express their views and discuss issues that are important to the community. Unfortunately, with the many social networks available to people to discuss issues and concerns, with a big turnover of residents and lack of issues that galvanize the community, like the redevelopment, the solar project at MCCC, Route 1 traffic, etc., our group has been mostly dormant.

The group started by residents who were concerned about the redevelopment near the Princeton Junction train station when people from nine neighborhoods formed the Princeton Junction Neighborhoods' Coalition. You may still revisit the PJNC website at http://www.princetonol.com/groups/pjnc/

Susan Conlon and Meg and Giuliano Chicco made sure that everybody who was interested in getting the information would get it, using e-mail messages. We then started the West Windsor Community Discussion Group as a Google Group to provide a stage for everybody to, well, discuss issues of concern to the community. For a while, I tried to report on every important meeting related to the community in West Windsor and beyond but a few years ago I stopped to go to meetings.

As far as CPB is concerned, I was surprised that it generated such a lively debate. I was surprised to learn how many in Canal Pointe and Princeton Green are against the "diet". There is also a question whether the "authorities" in Mercer/Trenton would agree to the "diet". I drove on CPB on Friday and Saturday. It's a disgrace. It needs to be paved yesterday, no matter how they decide to stripe it. I got a kick out of the Township's crew who were working diligently to fill a 2" x 2" pothole in the middle of the road...CPB should have been taken care a long time ago and the timing of the project seems questionable to me.

FYI, in my very first post to the group (introduction) I wrote:

"Following suggestions from several residents I started this discussion group to provide a forum to identify the issues, suggest ideas and discuss ways to improve the quality of life in West Windsor Township. The goal is to work together and exchange information and ideas as we look for a better future for West Windsor residents.

Membership is open for everybody who wishes to participate but you have to be registered in order to post a message. Please use your full name as your ID. Please be nice and constructive. Please post short messages and talk about the issues and suggested solutions, not about individuals. If you post information, please provide a link to the source. I look forward to a productive exchange of information and ideas."

Again, thank you all for contributing to the discussion.

Best regards,

Hemi