Ehrlich: Campus Plan has problems

Three already-dangerous intersections would become even more problematic due to an increase in traffic, Ehrlich said. The sites are the intersection of Bayard Lane, Stockton Street, Mercer Street and University Place, the intersection of Alexander Street and Mercer Street and the intersection of Faculty Road and FitzRandolph Road.

The increase around the Fitzrandolph-Faculty intersection, for example, stems from the planned construction of a parking garage along Fitzrandolph Road.

University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 had explained at the meeting that the garage would hold about 1,340 cars.

“If you go to the end of Fitzrandolph, you cannot see cars coming along Faculty Road,” Ehrlich said, “so left turns ... and even right turns in would be a bad idea at that location.”

Faculty Road rises as it curves away from the intersection, Ehrlich explained, exhibiting what is called a “sag vertical curve.”

“Access to the garage should not be routed [through that intersection],” Ehrlich said, adding that increased traffic at the intersection would necessitate “the world’s largest stop ahead sign” to warn drivers on Faculty Road to stop for cars from Fitzrandolph.

On the A-to-F industry standard for rating traffic intersections, the Fitzrandolph-Faculty intersection would move from a B rating to a C rating if the University goes ahead with its plans, Ehrlich said.

Conditions along the Bayard-Stockton-Mercer-University nexus, already an F-rated intersection, would “blow up” with the development, Ehrlich said at the meeting, and also explained in his report that “extreme increases in delays are expected” and that there may also be “diversion through neighborhood streets.”

Traffic conditions at the intersection of Alexander Street and Mercer Street, also currently rated F, would also significantly worsen, he added.

By examining data found on the University website, Ehrlich concluded in his report that roughly 500 new employees would be coming to campus as a result of the development.

Durkee responded to concerns over increased traffic by noting that the relocation of some University employees to locations in West Windsor would result in a net increase of 136, rather than 500, new employees.

University Director of Parking and Transportation Kim Jackson also noted that the University would attempt to reduce overall single-vehicle traffic by 174 vehicles by 2012, through a “transportation demand management” plan that would promote mass transit, carpools and walking.

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Ehrlich, however, said that he doubts Durkee’s claim, noting that employees might travel through Princeton to reach the new locations. The offices “may still be approached by traveling a bit further south on Alexander Street, rather than by using Route 1,” Ehrlich wrote in the report.

Princeton Borough Council and Township Committee members at the meeting also expressed their misgivings about aspects of the plan.

Borough councilwoman Barbara Trelstad said that though the University is planning to expand parking facilities, visitors to the University may decide to park in the Borough rather than in the new parking garage.

“If the University decides they are having a conference and bussing people from the parking lot to the campus, how do you know people are going to comply?” Trelstad asked. “They could just say ‘we could park in that convenient parking garage in the Borough and pay a little extra.’ ”

Township Committee member Victoria Bergman noted that the “expected traffic increase is around 10 percent in the Mercer Road intersection” and urged residents who “don’t think there’s a problem there ... [to] go take a look around that intersection at 8 [a.m.].”