The proposed Lawrence Station Road connector trail, which would link the Liberty Green and the Eaves at Lawrenceville developments to Avalon Way, is moving ahead.
Lawrence Township officials have signed a project funding agreement for $177,328 with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for preliminary design engineering for the trail.
The township had already received a grant from the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives program for construction of the trail.
The proposed 10-foot-wide trail would begin at Fountayne Lane in the Liberty Green development and end at Avalon Way.
The connector trail would be built through open fields. It would be constructed of porous pavement, which would allow rainwater to seep into the ground. A boardwalk would be constructed over the environmentally sensitive areas along Lawrence Station Road, such as wetlands and wetland buffers, officials said.
When it is completed, the Lawrence Station Road connector trail will link the Liberty Green single-family-home development and the Eaves at Lawrenceville apartment development with the businesses on Avalon Way and Quakerbridge Road.
The new trail would encourage residents to walk or ride their bicycles to the nearby commercial and retail areas, both for work and for shopping. The two developments comprise more than 1,260 dwelling units.
Township officials said they had received many requests from residents in the Liberty Green development for safe, off-road access to the shopping areas on Avalon Way and Quakerbridge Road.
The Liberty Green residents must drive to the businesses because Lawrence Station Road, which has a speed limit of 40 miles per hour, is not safe for pedestrians or bicyclists. It is a heavily traveled road with no room on its shoulders for bicycle riders.
The connector trail would also connect the north and south sections of the Eaves at Lawrenceville apartment complex. It is bisected by a tributary to Shipetaukin Creek. Amenities, such as the clubhouse and swimming pool, are on the north side of the stream and reachable by a narrow walkway.
