To the Editor:

I’m writing to express my support for Princeton opening Witherspoon Street to walkers and shoppers to create a distinctive and vibrant place that benefits merchants and local residents alike. I offer two thoughts for Princetonians to consider about this.

First, other communities in New Jersey have overcome their nervousness to create just such places, and have learned that direct experience is the best teacher.

Just before Thanksgiving, I spoke with the town administrator of Red Bank, New Jersey, about his experience converting two full blocks of Broad Street to a fully pedestrian-focused plaza through the summer and fall.

Red Bank’s first steps pedestrianizing Broad Street were tentative, experimental, and time-limited, and all town communications emphasized this. But as merchants and residents gained direct experience, positive reviews came thick and fast.

Now Red Bank is gearing up to make even more pedestrian-supporting changes. Next year, the town plans to expand the pedestrian plaza one block more, and will also make physical improvements to calm traffic and create a better pedestrian environment on nearby streets. Direct experience, and learning from that, has been the most important factor in making progress.

Second, beware of “traffic studies.” A family that improves a kitchen or bathroom in their home does so because of the benefits they expect and the enjoyment they will experience. They know there will be costs over time — just as they know there will be disruption during construction. But they also know the cost and disruption are part of the process.

Think of traffic studies as the precise quantification of disruption; and as the elevation of disruption as the most important issue to consider, rather than the creation of desirable places to live, shop, and recreate. Traffic studies turn our reasoning upside down, making us ask if we can we get the benefits we want without any disruption to the experience of one narrow slice of people, those who drive cars through our downtown.

The reason Princeton is contemplating a pedestrian zone for Witherspoon Street is to create a safe, desirable, distinctive place for residents, visitors, and local merchants to thrive. A traffic study of pedestrianizing Witherspoon Street will almost certainly show that drivers will be slowed down somewhat, and there will be precise measurements of that slowing down. But what there won’t be is any measurement of the pleasure that residents will get in exchange, the business that merchants will get, or any of the myriad other benefits.

Direct experience for ourselves is what we need to move forward; confidence gained from the experience of others who have made the same journey; and firmness to reject the nervousness that traffic studies dignify with quantitative, but narrow, analysis.

Nat Bottigheimer
White Pine Lane