Jagtig

  • Delaware And Raritan Canal Towpath Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton

    There has been a "dredging machine" operating in Lake Carnegie in front of the boathouse for some weeks, now. It isn't moving, and doesn't appear to be actually dredging. What it seems to be doing is pumping water up to a site near Route One and then the return flow is allowed to flow back into Lake Carnegie.

    However, the return flow is whitish in color, smells like petroleum distillates, possibly fracking fluid, and bubbles and froths with "gas," exactly what you would expect with fracking discharge.

    The jurisdiction of the lake is Princeton, however the Engineering Department could easily get a response from the state if it is determined that a covert fracking operation is underway in neighboring West Windsor.

    The area is the site of three major artesian wells supplying the area with drinking water, and many, many private wells in the neighborhoods between Route One and Princeton Junction.

  • Pothole Archivado
    221 Elm Rd Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    12" x 12" x 6" pothole has just formed, apparently through the new surfacing down the hill a few yards from the traffic light at Cleveland Land. Also, there is a pile of hardened asphalt in the gutter a hundred yards down, from that.
  • 15 Wiggins St Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton

    Hello; Several years ago, I informed you that the dilapidated, obsolete and antiquated electrical substation posed a life hazard. I described how a blast of blue lightning had set a number of girls standing in the library near me screaming, and how we had gathered in anticipation of this event, and were looking in that direction, the static charge being so palpable.

    My tip resulted in action by Public Service, but much of this was cosmetic, with a new fence being installed.

    Now, last week (Wednesday evening), another event occurred, this on Hinds Plaza. I didn't stay to see the outcome, but a family had gathered just after a rain shower at the tables I was moving in preparation for the weekly Farmer's Market, and since they couldn't speak any English, at all, I gave up right away trying to tell them of the danger of a lightning strike due to the proximity of the electrical substation, the light rain and the metal tables all gathered together, as they must be to hold the Market.

    It was whispered the next day that something had happened to the family, but I could never get any confirmation or clear description of what had occurred, a blue-lightning strike, or what.

    Now, I would like to suggest that a heavy-as-possible soft copper conduit pipe be placed under Wiggins Street from the substation to Princeton Cemetery, and then a hole drilled about thirty feet deep to accommodate the copper pipe and conduct lightning strikes to the water table.

    Then, braided copper wiring, of the kind used for tree and house lightning rods, should be led to every high, outside corner of the substation. Six or eight rods should be used, at minimum.
    The hole under Wiggins Street could be done with a https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/486796 Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) machine, and the machine could be set up in the graveyard.

    I hope that you can readily persuade PSE&G to take the measures suggested, or some version of them that can be depended upon to remedy the defects described. I'd rather not continue because of the terrible memories, but I was hit by a blue-lightning strike that I believe originated at the station, and suspect that methane accumulating in the sewers and drains played a part. It wasn't nearby, but where electrical currents are concerned, even long distances can be very short. The substation ran the trolley all the way to Trenton, for example.

  • Pothole Archivado
    129 Hodge Rd Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    Another culvert washout, with collapsing on one side.
  • 403 Alexander St Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton

    The university-owned lot that lays between Basin Road and Lawrence Apartments appears to be undergoing some sort of development on the footprint of the house that was torn down some years, ago.

    Someone may be trying to build a house on the lot that was "folded into" the adjoining property. The property was litigated for some years, before being torn down, and for years it was a toxic waste clean-up site, as well. Definitely a problem developing, here.

  • 237 Elm Rd Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    The Belle Meade Trap Rock Quarry is running six-wheeler, heavy dump trucks up Elm Road (and Great Road) at all hours of the day and night. This morning, it started before 4:00 a.m., but a few days ago, it was at 2:30 a.m..
    The trucks are harmful in several ways.
    First, it is impossible to sleep through a passing truck, even in the early morning, because of the vibration and the noise of the exhaust pipes which are not muffled sufficiently.
    Then, the acrid smell of the diesel exhaust lingers and doesn't dissipate.
    The question of the damage they do to the municipal roadway should be considered, as well.
    They have the option of using Carter Road, which is a County Highway, and undeveloped, for the most part, but they choose to "roar into Princeton."
    The company that runs this show (the Belle Meade Quarry) has been bought out of Kingston by South Brunswick, and paid not to get started in Bay of Fundy, Canada, by the Canadian Government. I suspect that they have lawyers on the line who are telling them to be just as loud and obnoxious as they want, since they are thereby increasing their chances of another buyout at their Belle Meade location. They have several quarries in the Mid-Atlantic region, and Belle Meade is probably the closest to heavy residential development while affecting nearby Princeton, as well. It's a natural for a buyout.
    I would like to pursue the possibility of banning trucks of the kind used by the Belle Meade Quarry from Princeton's residential neighborhoods, including Elm Road. The trucks could reach Carter Road and Route 206 by either turning west on Cherry Valley Road and traveling a mile to where it intersects with Carter Road, or by going into Hopewell (not recommended), and turning onto Carter Road where it starts, there. Again, Carter Road is a County highway.
  • Pothole Archivado
    Elm Rd Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    The storm grate has a pothole developing. It is just south of the entrance to Elm Court.
  • Pothole Archivado
    1-3 Lafayette Rd Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    Two deep potholes, one right after another, on Hodge Road where it bends around and meets Library Place.
  • Pothole Archivado
    98 Bayard Ln Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    Potholes at beginning of Wescott Road. Also, potholes on Linden Lane between Spruce Street and Nassau Street.
  • Pothole Archivado
    400-598 General Johnson Rd Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    Hello, I would like to report two potholes, one on Edgerstoune Road opposite number 80, where the pavement is collapsing into the drainage culvert. Also, there is one in the middle of the road on the road leading to Johnson Park School. It is getting worse, every year. I saw this product https://www.facebook.com/interestingengineering/videos/440562496519068/ and thought it might be of use to you.
  • 2 Shirley Ct Princeton, NJ, 08542, USA - Princeton

    Hello;
    Concerning the new foundation that was just placed at the south corner of Shirley Court and Witherspoon Street, I'm not sure if it 2 Shirley Court, but that is close.

    I spoke with the builder and he appeared to be unfamiliar with the water issues we have around here. I told him how I had dug a hole only seven feet deep and a spring had appeared, bubbling water up from who knows where.

    Then, upon completion of the pit or foundation hole, and without pouring a slab, they set the foundation on gravel and broken shale, shale that they had broken up with a tractor-mounted jackhammer. Immediately, water rose in the pit and they scooped out a couple of depressions which are now sump pump openings in the concrete they poured after the foundation was set on the gravel.

    Okay, what's the problem? The problem is that the water rising in the pit is actually seepage from coffins that were interred decades and centuries before coffin liners were available. It smells terribly of decomposition (human remains), and it is the water itself that carries the smell, so that if it was routed into the storm sewer by a permanent line it would still be a terrible detriment to Shirley Court.

    I believe they should finish pouring the floor and then coat the cement floor up to the walls with hot tar. They should then pour another two to four inches of concrete, and when this is sealed with silicon, painted or otherwise covered, then and only then will the smell not penetrate the concrete floor of the basement in years to come.

    The walls appear to be okay, and coated with silicon sealant on the outside, so it is only the basement floor that could cause a problem in the coming decades. Of course, the sump pump might be a problem as well, so perhaps a French drain might be constructed somewhere, even on the graveyard grounds, and the water that will rise every year in the broken shale could be pumped there. Of course, the graveyard owners would have to approve, and they would have to be paid, as well.

  • 135 Mountain Ave Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA - Princeton
    Mountain between Elm and Rt 206 need new striping including bike lanes.