It may be more than a decade away, but commuters could one day have a direct link from Princeton Junction train station in West Windsor up to Nassau Street, where the French Market is currently located. Implementing this plan would involve converting from the existing trains that run between Princeton Junction and the Princeton rail station to a different technology; most likely light rail. The price tag is upwards of $45 million to install, with annual operating costs of about $1.7 million.
A combination of funding from the municipality, the county, state, and federal government could make this vision of a future Princeton a reality, according to a report from the Alexander and University Place Transit Task Force. Delivered to Princeton Council at its meeting on May 11, the report revealed some recommendations about extending the rail link and easing vehicle traffic, which is destined to become more problematic as development continues on the Princeton University campus, the town, and beyond.
The task force was formed in October 2011 as part of a memorandum of understanding between the former Princeton Borough, Princeton Township and the University. The idea was to study, evaluate, and make recommendations to manage the flow of traffic and transportation. So far, the task force made up of current Council members Lance Liverman and Patrick Simon, former Borough Council member Kevin Wilkes, University transportation director Kim Jackson, University community affairs director Kristin S. Appelget, and professional planner Nat Bottigheimer, has met 22 times.
When the group first formed it was not clear that extending the line to Nassau Street was possible. “But now we know it is,” said Mr. Wilkes, who delivered the findings to Council. “We have some basic understanding of what the conditions would be in order to make that happen,” he said in an interview this week. “So after many years of arguing over moving the train further away from Nassau Street, it’s useful information for us to have to know how to reverse the trend.”
The new technology could incorporate the train station that the University has constructed as part of its Arts & Transit development. A more costly option would be to move the station further south to the location of the Metro North restaurant, but that is least likely to be implemented.
The current heavy rail cars would be traded in for newer, lighter weight vehicles, “These would be much easier for the operator to drive,” Mr. Wilkes said. “They brake more rapidly and have better sightlines. So all of the vehicles would be changed to one streetcar, and we’d still keep the new station.”
Regarding funding, Mr. Wilkes said the federal government has programs for small starts such as this project. “If we had done this eight years ago, the chance of funding then would have been 80 percent federal and 20 percent local match,” he added. “But that’s no longer plausible. Now, we would have to aim more toward 50/50. So obviously, we would have to get the county and state involved, and West Windsor Township, if we want to get this together. We need to sprinkle it out among local stakeholders, including some private organizations that would benefit, such as the University,” he said.
Mr. Wilkes’ personal recommendation would be to charge an impact fee for developers who build in the town’s central business district. “We could let those who would most benefit from having rail arrive at Nassau street to carry some of those costs — in fact, a significant portion,” he said.
On the topic of traffic, a representative from the company AECOM told Council that eliminating left hand turns at Nassau and Mercer streets and getting rid of the left hand turn from Nassau Street onto Bank Street could ease congestion. Closing parts of Mercer and Witherspoon streets could also help. The traffic study suggests that over the next 12 years, vehicle trips along Alexander Street during peak afternoon hours could rise from 948 (in 2012) to almost 2,000. A third of those can be linked to local growth, while the other two thirds are estimated to come from regional growth outside Princeton.
But further study is needed on road closures and street directionals to determine how to develop “a coordinated network to move people and vehicles to, and within, Princeton in ways that reduce congestion and vehicular traffic,” the group states in a summary of its findings so far.