Princeton Council’s vote last week to table an ordinance that would replace street parking on Hamilton Avenue with bike lanes on both sides was met with relief by some, particularly residents who do not want their parking privileges taken away. While many of those who spoke out against the ordinance say they have nothing against making the town more bike-friendly, they see removal of on-street parking not only an inconvenience, but an issue of safety.

On the other side of the issue, there is the town’s active and growing community of cyclists. Several testified at the February 24 Council meeting that removing the parking to build bike lanes on both sides of the roadway would, in fact, make the street safer in the long run. While some see the governing body’s decision as a temporary roadblock, others find the action discouraging.

“The thought of cycling on busy Princeton roads is a scary prospect for many local residents, and this vote adds to a long history of failure to make streets safe for everybody,” said Sam Bunting, who is stepping down from the Princeton Pedestrian and Bicycling Advisory Committee (PPBAC) and Traffic Transportation Committee. “What the Council members are trying to call a ‘compromise’ is really yet another cop out. Maybe this is what Princeton wants, but we cannot complain about traffic and parking if we are only willing to do the absolute minimum to facilitate residents who choose other ways of getting around,” he said in an email.

Cyclists say that bike lanes promote safety because a person riding a bike in a designated bike lane is predictable to drivers and does not pose a risk to those walking on sidewalks. This makes bike lanes a help not only to cyclists, but to drivers and pedestrians.

“I think that everybody who got up to speak in favor of the ordinance is a confident enough cyclist so that they were not advocating for the bike lanes for themselves,” said David Cohen, a member of the PPBAC. “I’m trying to help people understand that installing bike lanes is not just for cyclists. It’s for motorists and pedestrians, too. The way it is right now when I ride around town, I get yelled at by motorists if I’m in the auto lane, and I get yelled at by pedestrians if I’m riding on the sidewalk. This is really a way to help all three, a variation on the old saying that good fences make good neighbors. If we all have our own space on the road, we can all get along most cooperatively. And that makes the streets safer.”

Mr. Cohen said he was not surprised by Council’s decision to table the ordinance, a move that was suggested by Councilman Lance Liverman. “I had a little warning in informal conversations leading up to the meeting,” he said. “I had gotten wind that Lance would introduce it.” He added that he thinks Council will eventually approve the ordinance.

Steve Hiltner, who is active in local environmental and sustainability issues, said the idea that bikes are a public good was made clear at the Council meeting, which he watched on television. “The case that needs to be made stronger is the benefits to those living along ‘major collectors’ who will have to sacrifice on-street parking privileges,” he wrote in an email. Among Mr. Hiltner’s suggestions to members of the PPBAC following its monthly meeting February 26 was to look into whether property assessors typically reduce the value of homes along busy streets.

In response to some who have called the targeted stretch of Hamilton Avenue, which lies between Harrison Street and Snowden Lane, a bike lane to nowhere, Mr. Hiltner wrote that the roadway “… is the only way people can bicycle toward town from the Rollingmead Street neighborhood. Once they reach Harrison Street, which would have marked the end of the bike lanes, they can improvise a safer route, such as to bike up through Spruce Circle, through the park, or up Linden Lane and onto Spruce Street, which runs parallel to Hamilton Avenue into town. So it’s not at all a bike lane to nowhere.”

Mike Suber, a chair of the former Princeton Township’s Sidewalk and Bikeway Advisory Committee, reiterated a point he brought up during the public comment period of the Council meeting. “Hamilton Avenue, like all our streets, is not a private parking lot,” he said. “It is a public facility owned by all taxpayers. The right of way is 60 feet. It’s customary for residents to look out their window or walk in their front yards and see what appears to be their lawn or shrubbery, and forget, if they ever knew, that the town owns a lot of what they’re examining. So that’s an issue that is not so well appreciated.”

The ordinance to eliminate parking on Hamilton Avenue and install bike lanes on both sides was first introduced last January. Residents have complained that they were not properly notified about the plan, which they said was left out of information about sidewalk and storm sewer improvements. Parking is currently not permitted on the north side of the street, and sidewalks line both sides of the road.

The town’s Traffic and Transportation Committee unanimously voted for the ordinance last fall after considering five separate options, and then recommended it to Council. Under the terms of the tabling of the ordinance, a bike lane will be added on the side of street where parking is already not allowed, leaving the existing parking on the opposite side. The Council can revisit the idea of adding another bike lane and removing the parking in the future.

Steve Kruse, a member of the PPBAC, said in an email of the decision, “We are basically failing badly, if our mandate does not include making it practical for kids to develop a life-long love affair with bike riding and healthy active transportation.”