Officials move to update plans for a more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly town
By: Courtney Gross
Almost a third of elementary and middle school students in Princeton walk to school a mode of transportation also preferred by their parents, according to a survey conducted by Princeton Township’s Sidewalk and Bikeway Advisory Committee.
The survey, which reviewed transportation habits of students at all of the Princeton Regional School District’s six schools, was conducted in October 2005 and some of its results were presented to the Circulation Subcommittee of the Regional Planning Board of Princeton at its meeting Tuesday morning.
The Planning Board’s subcommittee, as well as Township Engineer Robert Kiser and Princeton’s Planning Director Lee Solow, said they will continue to work with the bike and sidewalk committee to update township maps with the area’s current crosswalks and pathways.
In hopes of bringing plans up to date, subcommittee members said they could move to include changes and improvements within the Princeton Community Master Plan and eventually revise ordinances that regulate bike and pedestrian activity in both Princeton Borough and Princeton Township.
The subcommittee also plans to bring community volunteers, police, parents and Sidewalk and Bikeway Advisory Committee members together to revise Princeton’s maps and to discuss missing links in sidewalks and pathways that could give better access to Princeton’s student population.
The overall study results, the sidewalk and bicycle committee Chairman Ron Lessard said, reveal that if certain encumbrances were removed including speeding vehicles, dangerous intersections, the abundance of motor-vehicle traffic and long distances between residences and schools parents would encourage their children to walk or bike more often.
Dressed head to toe in biking gear, Mr. Lessard, a bicycle commuter from Princeton to Trenton, said he would like to see more bicycling outfits on Princeton’s streets.
"Just as I am out of place in this room in this clothing," Mr. Lessard said at the Tuesday morning meeting, "I am out of place on Princeton’s roadways."
The survey asked parents and students about their normal transportation methods to and from school, what barriers inhibit children from walking or biking to school, bus use, the parents’ preferable mode of transportation and if parents would encourage their children to bike or walk if certain barriers were removed.
Overall, 64 percent of respondents said if barriers, such as speeding traffic, were eliminated, they would encourage their children to bike to school more often, Mr. Lessard said.
Janet Heroux, a community volunteer who contributed to the compiling of the survey, said the Sidewalk and Bikeway Advisory Committee has already seen extensive cooperation and input from the school district, but to move forward everyone needs to be involved.
"It’s going to be a community effort if we ever want to address some of these barriers for children to walk to school," Ms. Heroux said.
In addition to parental preferences, the survey asked what the benefits of biking or walking to school were. The top four benefits were providing a healthy lifestyle, allowing children to be independent, encouraging children to act responsibly and being environmentally beneficial.
Both walking and traveling by bus tied for the most preferable mode of transportation by parents at 36 percent, followed by 33 percent for biking and 11 percent for traveling by car.
It cannot be determined by the survey whether students or their parents answered questions, because some completed the questionnaire at home and others did so at school, advisory committee members said.
Results presented to the Planning Board’s subcommittee Tuesday did not include figures from Princeton High School because those have not yet been tabulated. The overall response rate for the district’s four elementary schools was 62 percent, while John Witherspoon Middle School’s response rate was 36 percent.

