Commission Thwarts Dissembling DOT in Hightstown
In spite of NJ DOT's attempts to neutralize community opposition to the Hightstown Bypass, East Windsor, West Windsor, and Cranbury citizens' efforts to prevent construction of the four-mile, four-lane roadway advanced yesterday. The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), the metropolitan planning organization responsible for the Hightstown area, ruled that NJ DOT must release its Bypass plans and relevant traffic study data to the public before it sends the project out for bid. NJ DOT has proposed the $75 million roadway to connect Routes 571 and 33, diverting east-west car and truck traffic away from Hightstown's center. Residents from surrounding communities say DOT's plan will send 18-wheelers barreling down an already overburdened residential corridor and have organized the Alliance of Bypass Communities. Local activists say DOT has repeatedly promised and then failed to deliver key information and permit meaningful pulbic input regarding the project. Although DOT called the freeway was "a done deal" at a Sept. informational meeting, the DVRPC's decision could thwart DOT plans DOT to send out the design/build contract for bid in December. A DVRPC spokesperson explained the vote intends "to ensure that NJ DOT provides all the needed information to township residents."
