Route 1 is sometimes referred to as the economic engine of central New Jersey. The corridor’s prominence makes it very attractive for business, and many prestigious local, national and international corporations have facilities in the corridor. While the economic growth associated with the Route 1 corridor has had many benefits, the pace of highway-oriented development, particularly office space, generates large amounts of traffic. In fact, the area is expected to experience a staggering 50 percent increase in the number of auto trips from development projects either under construction that already have local planning board approval. At that point, the area surrounding Penns Neck will attract virtually as many workers each morning as are destined for downtown Newark, New Jersey. Surprisingly, some 40 percent of the workers in the Penns Neck are originate in Bucks County, PA.

As the primary toll-free, north-south artery in central New Jersey, Route 1 accommodates a mix of regional and local traffic, both auto and truck, through three travel lanes in each direction. While some spillover traffic uses secondary roads that parallel Route 1 in the Penns Neck area, they are not continuous, and many bisect residential neighborhoods. Since the early 1980’s, NJDOT has sustained a program of substantial investments on Route 1, designed to facilitate regional mobility by removing traffic lights, building overpasses and adding travel lanes at a number of locations, both north and south of Penns Neck.

In the Penns Neck area, with its three traffic lights at Washington Road, Fisher Place and Harrison Street, traffic congestion limits mobility for both north-south and east-west travelers. In the vicinity immediately surrounding Penns Neck, Route 1 and the surrounding roadway network have been especially burdened, since roadway improvements have not been made concurrent with nearby development. To compound existing roadway problems, the Route 1 bridge crossing the Millstone River, located just north of the Harrison Street intersection, has significant structural deficiencies and is in need of near-term replacement.

The spine of the east-west roadway network is Washington Road (County Route 571), which crosses the Northeast Corridor rail line west of Clarksville Road on a bridge that is presently striped to carry one lane of traffic in each direction but that could accommodate a total of four travel lanes. After crossing the Northeast Corridor Rail line, Washington Road turns sharply and carries one lane of traffic in each direction to its intersection with Route 1. Washington Road crosses Route 1 at an at-grade signal controlled traffic circle, crosses the D&R Canal and Carnegie Lake, and passes through Princeton University’s campus, where there is heavy pedestrian traffic to its intersection with Nassau Street. Harrison Street is a two lane roadway that connects Route 1 to Nassau Street and then Route 206 north of Princeton via Ewing Street. It passes through a residential neighborhood in West Windsor Township, crosses the D&R Canal and Carnegie Lake and traverses through several residential neighborhoods in Princeton Township and Princeton Borough. Harrison Street intersects Route 1 at an at-grade signal controlled intersection opposite the driveway that serves as the main entrance to the Sarnoff Corporation campus. Finally, Fisher Place provides access to a portion of the Penns Neck neighborhood and the Sarnoff Corporation campus and intersects Route 1 at an at-grade signal controlled jug-handle.

Alexander Road, immediately south of Washington Road connects Princeton Junction and the Berrien City neighborhood in West Windsor Township to Princeton Township and Borough to the west. Alexander Road crosses the Northeast Corridor Rail line via an antiquated bridge, passes by the Carnegie Center office park, crosses Route 1 on a recently constructed overpass, crosses the D&R Canal on a narrow two-lane bridge and enters the western edge of the Princeton University campus. After crossing a busy intersection with University Place, it becomes a narrow two-lane street connecting to Mercer Road. Alexander Road is two to four lanes wide depending on the location.

The most important non-auto transportation resource in the area is the Princeton Junction train station on the Northeast Corridor rail line, which serves as a distribution point for workers and visitors arriving in the area from a number of origins, including New York City, Newark, and Philadelphia. The distribution is performed by a number of operations, including the Dinky rail connection to Princeton Borough, several privately-sponsored shuttle services and taxi-cabs. The Princeton Junction train station also attracts several thousand daily commuters traveling to a variety of regional destinations. Pedestrian and bicycle linkages in the area are inadequate and employer-initiated transportation demand management programs are limited.

Traffic congestion in the Route 1 corridor between Lawrence Township in Mercer County and South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County has dramatically increased over the past several decades. The congestion impacts north-south travel on Route 1 as well as east-west travel on arterial and local roads accessing and crossing Route 1. Much of the increase in traffic can be attributed to conversion of open land to auto-oriented residential and commercial land uses throughout the central New Jersey region. This land development pattern has intensified in recent years and is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Consequently, congested conditions are expected to worsen over the next two decades.

Existing congestion is acute in the vicinity of Route 1 and the intersections of Washington Road, Fisher Place and Harrison Street, where the following conditions exist:

• three closely-placed traffic signals constrain traffic flow north-south and east-west;
• Route 1 narrows to three travel lanes in each direction with no shoulders; and
• local east-west arterials carry one lane of traffic in each direction.

In addition, pedestrian and bicycle linkages are inadequate, and public transit services are limited. These conditions have resulted in:

• unacceptable levels of peak hour congestion in both directions on Route 1, that negatively affects local and regional automobile travelers and the movement of goods;
• unacceptable levels of peak hour congestion traveling east-west along Washington Road and Harrison Street, that negatively affects residential neighborhoods and quality of life in the project area;
• undesirable diversion of non-local traffic onto parallel local roadways;
• potentially dangerous delays in response times for emergency vehicles that must travel through the area and those trying to access Princeton Medical Center located west of Route 1 in Princeton Borough; and
• a disproportionate number of traffic accidents on Route 1 and local roads accessing Route 1 in this area.

The project area contains many unique and valuable natural, historic and cultural resources. Any solution(s) designed to address the aforementioned problems will need to respect the integrity of these resources and the character of neighborhoods in the project area.