WEST WINDSOR — Motorists who rely on busy Route 1 to connect them to key roads into Princeton will have to tweak their driving routines starting Friday, when the state Department of Transportation begins shutting down several major jughandles in the township for a 12-week trial period.

Citing an attempt to reduce congestion on the notoriously traffic-filled highway, the DOT will reduce access to intersections at Washington Road and Harrison Street on Friday evening, and some turns will be completely cut off starting Saturday.

The trial closures will make the jughandles at Washington and Harrison inaccessible from the north lanes of Route 1. Northbound drivers wishing to turn onto Washington Road and head into Princeton will be directed to continue north on Route 1 and make a U-turn at the Scudders Mill interchange, proceed south on Route 1 and make a right turn at Washington Road.

Motorists traveling south on Route 1 will be prevented from making a left-hand turn onto Washington Road as well.

The DOT has suggested those motorists instead use the interchange at Alexander Road to reverse direction, then proceed north along Route 1, then turn right onto Washington Road toward West Windsor.

Southbound drivers seeking to make a U-turn will be able to do so at Fisher Place or Alexander Road.

However, the trial will include turn restrictions at the Route 1 intersections of Varsity Avenue and Fisher Place.

Those limitations came from the suggestions of concerned residents who worried that Fisher Place would become a de facto jughandle by motorists speeding through those otherwise quiet neighborhoods in order to get to Washington Road.

Throughout the trial, the DOT will test if the changes speed up the flow of traffic or reduce travel time along the Route 1 corridor in West Windsor.

In the past, DOT spokesman Joe Dee has said that the department will use a range of research methods, from people physically counting cars at certain intersections, to tubes imbedded in the road used to track cars, to satellite technology that can track cell phones in cars along the corridor to test travel times.

Once the trial is over, the DOT will analyze the information and share it with local business leaders, stakeholders and residents. If the trial is deemed a success, the changes will become permanent.

If it is deemed a failure, the jughandles will be opened up once more. More details of the changes, along with pictures, are on the state DOT’s website.

Contact Bridget Clerkin at (609) 989-5680 orbclerkin@njtimes.com

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