Preliminary Design Begins For Phase III Of Witherspoon Street Project

PRINCETON, NJ — Phase II of the Witherspoon Street Improvement Project will begin next month, but municipal engineers have already begun planning for Phase III of the project.

Phase III project work is from Leigh Avenue to Valley Road. Assistant Municipal Engineer Jim Purcell gave a presentation on the third phase of the plan during the last council meeting.

Preliminary design work has already begun and will continue through June. The final design is expected to be completed in September, after which the project will go out to bid, Purcell said.

“We have to award a construction contract by Oct. 21 because we are using New Jersey DOT Municipal Aid funds and they’ve set a deadline for Oct. 21 for us to encumber those funds,” Purcell said.

“We are also using our own capital improvement funds and financing it through the transportation infrastructure bank.”

In February a project walkthrough was held with a number of stakeholders including the school district, fire department, emergency management personnel, Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Board.

The plan proposes to reduce the width of travel lanes from 12 to 11 feet. There are plans to increase safety for bicycling and walking. Other traffic calming measures like bump-outs and raised crosswalks will also be included.

“This project design is for school buses and fire apparatus and not large trucks,” Purcell said.

Councilwoman Eve Niedergang asked Purcell to speak about the implications of narrowing the roadway.

“It’s been demonstrated that even narrowing a roadway just by bringing the stripes in, without narrowing the pavement creates a little bit of friction for the motorists. They feel less comfortable speeding,” Purcell said.

Some street trees will be replaced, and the Municipality plans to add more.

The sidewalk on the west will be widened to allow students from Community Park Elementary School to share the sidewalk with pedestrians. There is a proposal to construct raised crosswalks at Guyot Avenue and Henry Avenue.

There are also plans to install stormwater management, green infrastructure, and investigate improvements at the bus drop-off at the elementary school. On-street parking spaces will also be reduced.

Other improvements include sewer repairs and replacement, powerline upgrades, drainage improvements and gas system modernization.

To see the presentation, click here.

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