Village Square Businesses Suffer as Clarksville Bridge Closure Continues

Store owners at the Village Square shopping center on Clarksville Road told the West Windsor Town Council at the January 15, 2026 Town Council meeting that their businesses are suffering due to the closure of the bridge over the Amtrak train tracks. The closure of the bridge prevents motorists coming from Quakerbridge Road and Meadow Road from reaching Village Square through Clarksville Road adding precious time to their commute to the stores.

The bridge was closed on Nov 2 after a NJ Department of Transportation (DOT) inspection found “severe corrosion on several structural elements of the bridge which crosses over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail line” as reported in the December edition of the West Windsor & Plainsboro news. The bridge closed Clarksville Road to east-west traffic forcing motorists to use Village Road or Route 1 as alternates.

Mayor Marathe reported at the same meeting that he is not able to give a date for when the bridge will be reopened because the (DOT) needs to first inspect the bridge to determine how to fix it. The DOT needs a permit from Amtrak in order to do the inspection. The town has had several meetings with the DOT, Mercer County, and Amtrak and is working with Senator Andy Kim to get Amtrak to provide the permit but it has not been granted.

At the meeting Mayor Marathe, who on Jan 29 said he was working on an update for the public, was optimistic that Amtrak would be issuing the permit shortly after the meeting but no update was available at press time.

Village Square shopping center has a total of 15 stores and restaurants. Some owners who spoke at the meeting included Tim Steenstrup, owner of the Little Gym of West Windsor, Steve Philips of the NJ TaeKwonDo Kickboxing Academy, Sangita Warier owner of The Pottery Place Ruchi Vyas, owner of the Kumon Math and Reading Center and Nestor Gonzalez, owner of Capuanos. Mr. Steenstrup said that his business at this point has “lost 30% - 35% of his members”. He went on to say “Something needs to be done to get that bridge somehow re-opened…. We are in trouble. There is no way that we are going to survive this at the current state unless something is done to help us”.

All of the owners said that they lost a significant amount of business because of the extra time it takes customers to drive to their stores using the detour.

Marathe said that the town is giving the owners some aid. The town’s tax assessor is giving Clark Plaza LLC, the owner of Village Square shopping center property tax credits that can be passed to the businesses. In addition the town is providing information from the Small Business Administration on how to apply for grants.

The town has also suspended signage restrictions to allow Village Square shops to advertise that they are open. A picture of one of the signs accompanies this article.

Other than waiting for Amtrak to grant the permit for the inspection to be done, Mayor Marathe said that the County Engineer is working on a temporary fix for the bridge. The town is also requesting that the State declare the bridge closure to be a State of Emergency. Once the Emergency is declared, the businesses would be eligible for aid from the State.