The problem is the plan for this service to then continue over the current Dinky corridor all the way to Princeton Junction. The project’s possible addition of bus service to the Princeton North shopping center would be a further boon to residents and students without cars. It’s true that there are benefits to the bus rapid transit component: Princeton Station is inconveniently far from Nassau Street, and frequent bus service between them would boost Dinky ridership. The bus rapid transit and light rail components of the project feature even more needless and reckless spending. In fact, such demands could put any future Dinky improvements at risk by making it seem as though the Dinky is too expensive to maintain. It is foolish for NJTransit to request an inflated budget from the state to only marginally improve pedestrian and cyclist access to the canal.

Meanwhile, Alternative 4, maintaining the status quo, is estimated to cost only 37 million dollars in total. A simple modification of the street to add bike lanes or wider sidewalks supported by traffic calming measures would enhance the existing corridor to the canal for far less money. As Wilson notes, this offers safe passage to the canal and over Route 1, but what she and seemingly NJTransit fail to recognize is that the infrastructure to achieve these goals already exists in the form of Alexander Street. Take the proposed bike lanes and a pedestrian corridor on the route, expected to cost 45 million dollars. NJTransit’s touted improvements for Alternative 1 could be achieved with far less spending. The planning process for this boondoggle of a rebuild will at best waste hundreds of millions of dollars at worst, it threatens to doom the Dinky altogether. This is because the project is fundamentally over-engineered compared to the needs of the community. Unfortunately, this analysis leaves out one inconvenient detail: Alternative 1’s shocking estimated construction cost of 190 million dollars. These are moderate but genuinely useful improvements for the community.

Wilson makes a good case for Alternative 1, arguing it would increase service frequency on the Dinky corridor, expand access to University, including for residents of the town, and provide easier access to recreation on the D&R canal’s towpath.

Nj transit