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NJDOT to Princeton officials: New Witherspoon Street entrance must be wider

Bollards will be added to Witherspoon Street to direct vehicles. Design proposals for the bollards have not been presented yet. Above are some possibilities from a slide that was shown on Friday.

Officials at the New Jersey Department of Transportation have blocked the Princeton Council’s plans to narrow the entrance to Witherspoon Street to 13.5 feet, at least if the municipality wants state funding for the project. The entrance must be at least 22 feet wide, state officials said.

The Princeton Council held a special meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Friday to receive an update from Municipal Engineer Deanna Stockton about the design of the intersection of Nassau Street and Witherspoon Street. Nassau Street is a state road, and the NJDOT has jurisdiction over the street and anything that impacts traffic on the street.

Back in March of 2021, the council passed a resolution for changes to Witherspoon Street that included the replacement of the traffic signal at the intersection of Witherspoon and Nassau and a 25-foot-wide entrance to Witherspoon Street. In June of 2021, the council changed the design to 13.5 feet wide. On September 23, Princeton staff members found out that NJDOT officials would not sign off on the 13.5-foot entrance, and instead wanted the entrance to be 22 feet wide so that trucks can make turns from Nassau Street onto Witherspoon Street. Otherwise, Princeton would lose about $1 million in state funding for the project. Previously officials believed the state was on board with the narrower road design.

“The rationale behind the 22-foot entrance is that it does allow all truck movements, and the DOT has indicated to us that to reduce it to anything lower than 22 feet quite possibly will not be approved because it would reduce truck access,” Stockton said. “We came to council, if you recall, on the 27th of September, to get additional support for our 13 and a half foot design, not understanding that the DOT was holding firm on the 22-foot wide entrance. We actually got a clarification on the 30th, three days after the council meeting, that it is a 22-foot wide proposal. They would not consider the 13 and a half foot proposal. So that’s why we’re back here today is to have this discussion, so that you understand what is now on the table.”

Stockton also noted that the kiosk on Nassau Street near the intersection of Witherspoon Street will likely remain. The state’s plan was to remove it and replace it with a large traffic controller box. Stockton said the NJDOT was able to reduce the size of the traffic controller box. It will be similar to the one at the intersection of Nassau Street and Bayard Lane. State officials are working with PSE&G to locate the controller box on the university side of Nassau Street.

Council members were unclear at the Friday meeting about what they were approving, since the state is dictating how wide the entrance has to be. “I’m not sure I understand that we have a choice. If this is what the DOT is saying, and they control Nassau Street, I’m missing something here,” Councilwoman Eve Niedergang said. “If they say it has to be 22 feet and that’s it, end of story, then our only decision is on the bollards, or what did I miss?”

“You got it Eve, that’s it. But it’s nicer to pretend like there’s a decision, so we’re all pretending there’s a decision,” Councilwoman Mia Sacks said.

“Isn’t our decision as to whether we want to let the DOT construct the intersection as they’re willing to do, on their dime, and if we turn it down, we could always go back to them and say, we’ll build it on our dime but we’re going to build it different, is that the real decision point here?” Mayor Mark Freda said.

“But it’s their road,” Niedergang said.

Stockton said the state is willing to replace the traffic signal and improve the intersection because of known pedestrian safety issues at the intersection and is willing to fund the work. Princeton officials could opt to try to address safety issues at the intersection without state support, but the town would still have to apply to the NJDOT for permits to make improvements, and any local proposals could still be rejected by the state.

Bollards, also known as posts, will be used along Witherspoon Street to direct vehicles and prevent vehicles from entering certain areas.

Councilman David Cohen asked where bollards would be permitted to be installed on Witherspoon Street. “Obviously if we put them up right by Nassau Street, then the trucks still can’t turn,” he said, asking if Stockton has a diagram of the potential design and location of bollards that would direct people on Witherspoon Street. Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros said it would be cool if the bollards could be electronic bollards that offer flexibility. Stockton said staff members are still working out the bollard design and locations. On Monday night, officials will also be discussing a presentation by city planner and urban designer Jeff Speck, who visited Princeton recently and gave business owners and officials feedback about the Witherspoon Street proposal. Speck is the author of the book “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.”

Niedergang then asked staff members if they are sure they have an agreement with the NJDOT. “We thought we had their agreement to something for a period of quite some time, and now all of a sudden we’re finding out, no we didn’t have an agreement,” Niedergang said. “So how confident are we that we now really have an agreement, and if we agree to this, that this is it and they’re not going to come back and say what we really meant was…”

Jim Purcell, the town’s land-use engineer, said the municipality has the NJDOT’s terms for the street width in writing, in a letter. The town had nothing in writing from the NJDOT approving 13.5 feet for the width of the entrance of Witherspoon Street. Local officials said a consultant for the state had been working on the 13.5-foot design the council wanted, though.

Resident Tineke Theo of the municipal pedestrian and bicycle advisory committee suggested that the town put bollards at the entrance to Witherspoon Street so that the entrance is 13.5 feet wide, even if the road is 22 feet wide. She also said a third bollard could be placed in the middle of the street to close off the street to create a pedestrian plaza. “If you make the street pedestrian, except for the time of deliveries, then maybe you only need one set of bollards at the beginning of the street, and you don’t need bollards inside the street,” Theo said.

Lisa Serieyssol of the pedestrian and bike committee said Theo’s point about the use of bollards at the top of Witherspoon Street could be an interesting technique to control the speed of drivers entering the rest of Weatherspoon Street.

Freda said the town couldn’t just work around the NJDOT’s plans like that. “We as a town, and especially our engineering staff, could not misrepresent to DOT what’s going to be done, plus DOT is going to do the work,” he said. “So I don’t know that we could agree to take their money to build an intersection, and then do something that short circuits what they just built. I think that would be a large dilemma, mess, and legal problem. DOT would definitely not sit back and accept that if we were to change the intent of the intersection.”

The council will hold a work session at 7 p.m. on Monday night, Oct. 11 via Zoom to discuss design elements of Witherspoon Street in the wake of Speck’s presentations and recommendations.

11 Comments

  1. The walkable bicycle people would have much more credibility if they were able to advocate for their viewpoints while understanding how things works. To advocate for a design that is not in accordance with the law or reality just wastes everyone’s time. Very frustrating as we need advocates who understand how things work and can work together with others not just advocate their pie in the sky hopes and dreams.

  2. Closing the street and making it so narrow does not work. You can feel this when you walk down the street. A cafe goes on a sidewalk, not in the middle of the street. The sidewalks are wide enough o have tables along the restaurants and have people walk by. This is the vibe of cafe seating. The feel of it as it is now .. you just walk down the street and you can feel the design is wrong. The cement barriers to pay $100 for two people to have lunch are odd and not right. The seating in the street and the half open half closed street is not cafe sexting and the parking like with the cafe patrons the stepping out into the street it feels wrong immediately. Put the outdoor seating on the sidewalks in front of the restaurant and allow the thru traffic. Some of the restaurants like Agricola have great alleged indoor patios behind their buildings but they don’t make them democratically available to customers… Some of the alleyways also could be interesting cafes if allowed

  3. Spending taxpayer money is not free. I think the mayor and council should consider how to save taxpayers money. Instead they want to go forward with this wasteful change to Nassau Street what will further add to the traffic congestion on Nassau street and possibly without $1,000,000 ONE MILLION and use taxpayer “dimes?” Are you kidding me?!?!??!

  4. Maybe this is an opportunity to rethink the whole plan to make that first block of Witherspoon one-way. I’m sure I’m not the only person to have noticed the traffic backing up at the other streets exiting town – the corner of Chambers and Nassau, and Washington/Vandeventer and Nassau. The Chambers Street corner is an accident waiting to happen, as Sakrid Coffee’s success leads to more and more careless pedestrians stepping into the crosswalk without checking traffic first. It is only going to get worse when construction starts on the hotel.
    The outdoor seating was a smart temporary move during the worst of the pandemic. Traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and it’s time for Witherspoon Street to return to normal, too.
    (P.S. I bike or walk to get around town, but like most of us, I need to drive out of town, too.)

  5. Who in NJDOT signed that letter? Name the person’s name and publish that name here for all to read. My experience with NJDOT is that the Traffic Engineering department has been most uncooperative about pedestrian safety in general. It prefers to have the maximum possible amount of traffic moving at the maximum possible speed, everywhere. They also have copped an attitude about Princeton in the past.

  6. Let’s be honest, the plan of one way has not been working. The idea seemed decent but the reality is it doesn’t work well. I now avoid town completely meaning it’s doing the opposite of what was desired. Yesterday I made the mistake of driving to close to the congestion of downtown & got caught in traffic. Just wait till there is construction of the hotel or any of the other building, Personally I feel Witherspoon should remain the same two way traffic plus 15 min parking. With one the exception of adding gates at the top and bottom. Allowing for the street to be closed at intervals. It could be closed say on weekend (Fri,Sat,Sun) evenings till 2 am, then be back to a regular traffic pattern rest of the time. or something similar. make the street cobble stone and flush curb if you want to make something more olde time feeling. But the idea of no traffic or one way traffic seems impractical for the realities of our town. The town members making decisions seem to be deaf to the fact that there plan has only been mildly received. and the fact professional city planers didn’t endorse it 100%. I say it’s time to put on the breaks and find a more flexible plan which complete closer or even one way is not.

  7. Princeton council feels the need to be progressive on every issue. Electric bollards for Witherspoon? Sounds like an expensive construction jproposal just because wouldn’t it be cool to have. Do we really want to promote only people who can walk to town supporting local business or do we want to encourage people who drive here, including tourists and families of university students to spend in the retail shops and restaurants? The walking public demanding free bus, retail pot shops, free medical care. Do you think that this consumer will be the person keeping retail in Princeton afloat? $110 for 1/8 ounce of pot or a couple of pot-laced gummy bears and that will be their only purchase. Think about the retailers repeatedly stating that narrowing Witherspoon has been detrimental to their bottom line and they agreed to outdoor dining to help the restaurants during indoor restrictions. Let’s get back to life, save the taxpayers money by leaving Witherspoon unchanged and let the business thrive.

  8. I love the idea of making Witherspoon more pedestrian and bicycle friendly and of creating more of an outdoor cafe culture in Princeton. Change takes time. Let’s not toss out a great idea just because there is red tape that creates headaches.

  9. George, given the copious amounts of parking in the various garages around town, I am not sure why you would avoid coming to town, if that is what you want to do. My understanding is that there are always spaces available in Chambers and Hulfish garages. As for avoiding driving through downtown, I would hope that everyone who is not going to town would avoid going through town. I know that I do.

    As for the idea of electric bollards that allow the street to be closed off at certain times, this is fantastic and exactly what the town needs. It seems like the best compromise by far since we started having this conversation all those months ago. It feels like the win:win:win that we need.

  10. Has anyone asked NJDOT how many trucks turn from Nassau into Witherspoon? In particular, how many large semi’s, which is what this seems to be aimed at.

  11. Will a long fire truck be able to tun onto a narrower street? Electric bollards rising from the street do not sound like a cost effective solution at a price tag of $7,000 or more each not including installation. But wouldn’t it be fun to have since we can spend money without any thought of a sensible budget. Hey, the Princeton taxpayers will just keep paying for these wasteful and unnecessary projects and we will even start paying one task force after another as honorariums to study the next pet pork project. Maybe Princeton University can pay it’s fair share of taxes instead of paying off tax paying residents. That would be really cool and progressive.

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