By Donald Gilpin

Experimental bike lanes on Wiggins Street from the Princeton Public Library along Hamilton Avenue to Walnut Lane and Chestnut Street have provoked a range of responses, mostly positive, from cyclists and others.

The lanes will remain on the road through June 12, as road data continue to be collected. “A report analyzing the data will be presented at the June 25th Council meeting,” said Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert, “ and at that same meeting, Council will discuss next steps.”

The town is collecting feedback from a survey that can be found on the municipal website princetonnj.gov under “featured announcements,” and residents have also weighed in on social media, in Town Topics (see this week’s Mailbox on page 9), and in other local publications.

“Add me to the giant list of townsfolk who LOVE the #BetaBikeLane,” tweeted Shelley Krause. “The feeling of security and ease it offers is just wonderful.”

Lempert noted, “We’ve received over a dozen comments from residents, including high school students and downtown employees. Overall, I thought the demonstration project was a success, and hope we can replicate it in other areas where improvements are being considered.”

She added that experiencing the proposed changes before making a decision on the bike lanes will be helpful in allowing “everyone to see more clearly the benefits, and also to identify any issues that arise and to try to come up with solutions.”

Tim Quinn, council liaison to the Princeton Bicycle Advisory Committee (PBAC) and one of the architects and a careful monitor of this project, described positive results of the bike lanes. “I’ve heard from dozens of residents who have ridden in the bike lanes, driven along Wiggins/Hamilton during the beta, and watched the project with interest. The overwhelming majority of the responses have been positive.”

He continued, “During installation, one of the residents along the route came out to me and said ‘When you came out here last week to notify us of the lanes, I was apprehensive about the project. But now that I see it, I think it will narrow the car lanes and slow down traffic. Other residents have noticed fewer bikes on the sidewalk during the beta.”

The stretch of Wiggins/Hamilton is a crosstown route that connects many neighborhoods, the high school, and the middle school with the library and the central business district. Most criticism of the experimental bike lanes seems to focus on the loss of a number of parking spaces replaced by bike lanes.

One Facebook response suggested that a compromise “more fair” solution might retain the bike lanes west of Jefferson but not east of Jefferson, and that the bike lanes “be seasonal somehow, with the space reverting to parking in the colder months.”

The PBAC acknowledged that there had been “some pushback from a few residents” and urged supporters to make their voices heard through social media, completing the survey, polling neighbors, writing a letter to the editor, and coming to the Council meeting on June 25.