North Harrison Street Improvements Set To Begin Between Nassau St and Franklin Ave, With Bicycle Improvements To Follow

A new buffered bike lane on Harrison Street in Princeton next to ‘The Alice’ apartment development

Princeton Council heard a presentation at their meeting on November 12 from consultants hired to study safety improvements to Harrison Street. Harrison St runs almost the entire length of the town from north to south (map), making for a very lengthy and detailed report. A previous report in ‘Town Topics’ discussed the consultants’ concepts for new roundabouts at the intersections of Harrison St with Prospect Ave, Valley Road, Terhune Road and Bunn Drive. The Mayor and several members of Council expressed surprise and trepidation at the scale of the report, which they had not had much time to read. Mayor Freda suggested that there would need to be multiple work sessions to discuss the potential improvements, which would be phased over a period of years. But improvements are likely to start more quickly on the section of Harrison St between Nassau St and Franklin Ave.

Municipal engineer Deanna Stockton advised Council that the Engineering Department had applied to the state for a grant to fund improvements between Nassau St and Franklin Ave. ‘Town Topics’ reported this week that the grant, with a value of $818,256, has now been awarded, meaning that the town is well placed to move ahead with the work. So what exactly might that entail?

Example of a ‘median island’ on Mercer Street in western Princeton

Based on the consultants’ recommendations, Harrison Street would get “mountable medians” similar to those that already exist on Hodge Road and Mercer Street (see image above). Two of these medians would be installed, subject to public input, on North Harrison St on either side of Mershon Drive (map). Painted lines on either side of the street would also limit the width of travel lanes on North Harrison St in this section to 11-ft. Sidewalks would be expanded and improved, with ADA-compliant curb cuts fitted at intersections. Lighting would be improved at the intersection of North Harrison Str and Hamilton Ave, and right-turns-on-red would be banned at this intersection.

These improvements are seen as relatively uncontroversial, which is why they were the subject of the Engineering Department’s first grant application. On the other hand, it is notable that once again, the town is redesigning a major thoroughfare with no safe bicycle facilities. This follows the recent reconstruction of Witherspoon Street without any dedicated bicycle facilities (Report: Town of Princeton Advances Plan for Cyclists to Share Sidewalks with Pedestrians on Witherspoon Street). Although Princeton prides itself as a “Complete Streets” community, it is becoming a pattern for the town to design streets with no accommodations for people on bikes. Instead, the town’s consultant suggested that cyclists should detour to other streets instead of using this section of North Harrison St.

The news for Princeton cyclists might be better on other parts of North Harrison St. At the wide four-lane section of the street in front of the Princeton Shopping Center mall, the town’s consultants suggest a reduction to just one travel lane in each direction. This would free up space that could be used for high-quality bicycle facilities. In fact, a ‘buffered bike lane’ – the town’s first – has already been installed on North Harrison St close to Terhune Road (map), adjacent to the new “The Alice” apartment community (see image at top). This work was done by the developer of the apartments, and will hopefully eventually link up to whatever bike facilities the town puts next to the Princeton Shopping Center.

The question is how long local cyclists will have to wait for new bicycle facilities to be built? As the engineers are currently focusing on North Harrison St between Nassau St and Franklin Ave, it could be years before permanent changes are made in the area around the Princeton Shopping Center. Whatever changes are made would also be dependent on discussions involving Prineton Council and neighboring residents. In the past, the outcome of such discussions has been that the town has done nothing for cyclists. For example, a plan to add bike lanes on Hamilton Ave was canceled in 2015 (Report: Princeton Quietly Cancels Hamilton Avenue Bike Lane Plan).

Existing (top) and proposed ‘interim’ layouts of North Harrison St by Princeton Shopping Center

In the case of North Harrison St, however, the town’s consultants suggested that an ‘interim design’, with high-quality bicycle facilites, could be created fairly quickly next to Princeton Shopping Center (see image above). By reducing the road from two lanes in each direction to just one lane in each direction, the town would be able to create protected bike lanes on either side of the street, and, for the first time, a sidewalk on the west side. Such a layout could be created at low cost, mostly using just paint, and could therefore be implemented as soon as next year. The exact design would be determined by municipal staff and police, who would also get input from the town’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee.

Related links: (via princetonnj.gov)