To the Editor:

The Princeton Bicycle Advisory committee and councilman Tim Quinn have decided we need to experiment with bicycle lanes on a half-mile stretch of Wiggins Street/Hamilton Avenue between May 19-29. The committee thinks five-foot wide lanes for bicyclists in each direction would be a good idea leaving “about 10-foot wide lanes for vehicular traffic,” according to the May 4 Princeton Packet. The experimental phase will end only two days before Princeton reunions and would necessitate police duty time, volunteers and the elimination of 35 parking spaces on Wiggins and Hamilton.

I would recommend the committee consider the the lane width actually needed for trucks and cars. The average truck needs approximately a 10-foot wide lane. The average SUV is 6’7” wide. This leaves no room on either side for trucks (Princeton does have garbage trucks, etc.) and very little space on either side of an automobile. What will drivers do? Use the bike lanes to avoid colliding with oncoming traffic?

This narrow two-lane street is the only other east/west thoroughfare in Princeton besides Nassau Street for business and resident traffic accessing the downtown area. Pedestrian use is high. As a New Yorker familiar with the pedestrian/cyclist right-of-way conundrum, I know cyclists run red lights, cycle in the wrong direction, travel at high speeds, and do not stop for pedestrians. Cyclists are hit by cars, hit cars, and pedestrians are hit by cyclists. Cyclists are not accountable or liable for their recklessness.

Disasters are just waiting to happen with installation of bicycle lanes in Princeton. And policing at the taxpayers’ expense is another issue. I believe taxpayer dollars would be more appropriately used to fix our potholes/roads/sidewalks and replace downed trees before spending time and money on “experimental” ideas.

Finally, why would students need these bicycle lanes to get to school in a very small section of Princeton? How many cyclists were seen on the salted roads last winter and early spring? And what lanes would be available to students and others in the other 18 plus-square miles of Princeton?

Nancy Woelk, Maybury Hill

Snowden Lane