Princeton Makes Changes To Witherspoon Street Redesign Project

PRINCETON, NJ —If you’re registered to receive Nixle alerts from the Princeton Police Department, you already know it’s been a busy few weeks as far as road constructions and closures go.

The municipality is trying to get some construction work completed before cold weather sets in. Municipal engineer Deanna Stockton recently gave an update on the construction work at Witherspoon Street.

For the past few weeks, the engineering department was working at updating the Witherspoon Street Plan based on suggestions from Urbanist Jeff Speck, who had visited Princeton in September.

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The plan has now been updated to show the 22-foot-wide entrance with raised crosswalk and a controller box in place of a kiosk. Read More Here: NJDOT Tells Princeton That Witherspoon St Entrance Must Be Wider

The department was earlier working with PSE&G to locate the controller box on the University side of the street. But the New Jersey Department of Transportation determined that the controller box cannot be located there, so it will now replace the kiosk, Stockton said.

NJDOT’s design team and the municipal engineers are still working to design a raised crosswalk at the head of Witherspoon Street.

The curb extensions have now been eliminated completely from the design. Instead, it is being replaced with a raised crosswalk. “So you have less of an issue if in the future there was a desire to change travel on this section of Witherspoon Street,” Stockton said.

If the Municipality gets the go-ahead from NJDOT on the raised crosswalk on Witherspoon, the engineering department will consider putting in a rectangular rapid flashing beacon at the mid-block crosswalk at South Tulane Yard, Stockton said.

Stockton clarified that they are not replacing the flashing beacon that currently exists on Hulfish “because of the reconfiguration that has been designed in this project.”

The new design also includes a stop sign that has been proposed for northbound Witherspoon Street traffic. “Currently there is a southbound crosswalk and the proposal is to make it into a ‘fully stopped’ intersection to improve pedestrian safety,” Stockton said.

The previous green infrastructure has also been replaced by rows of trees on both sides of the street, with each tree positioned in a 6x10 foot planted area, Stockton said. Other areas of the former green infrastructure will now be replaced by previous pavers to help with stormwater management and allow pedestrian movement.

Council members were happy with the department's changes to the design. “I think in a year and a half, we’ll all walk up and down the street and say hey, how great is this,” Mayor Mark Freda said.

In October, it was announced that Princeton would receive $650,000 in municipal aid grants for road improvement projects. The grant money is earmarked for improvements to Witherspoon Street.

Read Related:

New Witherspoon St. Plan Advances Despite Princeton Biz Pushback

Decision Deferred On Princeton's Witherspoon St. Kiosk Removal

Princeton May Allow More Dining Space On Witherspoon Street

Here Are The Latest Updates On Princeton's Witherspoon St Plan

Princeton To Get $650K For Witherspoon Street Project

Princeton Could Make Minor Changes To Witherspoon Street Redesign

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