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WW escalates fight over stalled bridge repairs Clarksville Road bridge closure drags into its fourth month By Bill Sanservino
West Windsor officials are stepping up pressure on state and federal leaders to declare a State of Emergency over the prolonged closure of the Clarksville Road bridge. The Township Council on Feb. 24 adopted a resolution formally petitioning Gov. Mikie Sherrill to issue an executive Roger Kang (left), Flint Lane and Andre Liu are co-owners of Alexander Road-based Princeton Pong. order declaring a State of EmerLane and Liu are also investors in the Princeton Revolution Major League Table Tennis team. gency for the Clarksville Road corridor. The bridge, which carries Clarksville Road over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail line, was taken out of service Nov. 2 after inspections found severe corrosion in several structural eleP E D I A T R I Cments. D E N TThe I S Troad R Y remains closed By George Point Notably absent from that list is sia ranks at the bottom (Source: between Meadow Road and table tennis. Despite being one of sfsquad.com). Everett Drive. Pop quiz! What are the most the world’s most popular sports, Software entrepreneur and A timer on the township’s popular professional sports in the with an estimated 300 million play- table tennis enthusiast Flint Lane website counts down the USA? According to sports data ers (Source: pingsunday.com), the and his business partners are months, days, hours and minweb site statscore.com, they’re USA is completely absent from working to change that. In 2023, utes that the bridge has been American football (NFL), basket- the list of top countries where Lane launched MajorG rLeague out. and O pening ball (NBA), baseball (MLB), ice table tennis is played the most. Table Tennis (MLTT), the first Mayor Hemant Marathe has See TABLE TENNIS, Page 8 hockey (NHL), and soccer (MLS). China leads that list, while Ruscriticized Amtrak for delays in
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issuing a required permit allowing the state Department of Transportation to inspect the bridge, a step needed before repair options and timelines can be finalized. “Unfortunately due to slow responses by Amtrak to NJ DOT there has not been much progress,” Marathe said. “I have been actively at work with both NJDOT and Amtrak, as well as the County, to make everyone understand the urgency of moving this project forward.” The council resolution states that the bridge carries some 15,000 vehicles daily and serves as a critical artery for access to the Princeton Junction train station, residential neighborhoods, businesses and emergency routes. According to the resolution, emergency response times for West Windsor fire, EMS and county hazmat teams have been extended up to four times their normal length. Police have reported double the normal rate of traffic accidents on detour routes. More than 1,200 residents are directly isolated by the closure, according to the resolution, while more than 30,000 West Windsor residents and 25,000 See BRIDGE, Page 5