Twelve rubber speed cushions will be installed on Edgehill Street and Hibben Road – popular short cuts between Stockton Street/Route 206 and Mercer Street – in hopes to slow down traffic, according to Princeton officials.
The Princeton Council approved the purchase of eight rubber speed cushions from vendor Traffic Logix for $13,728 at its July 25 meeting. The town already owns four speed cushions.
Speed cushions, which are removable, are similar to speed humps or speed bumps, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. They are placed in the lane of travel. They are wide enough to slow down a car, but not wide enough to interfere with an ambulance or fire truck.
The town had planned to install traffic calming measures on 10 streets but shelved the plans at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Edgehill Street and Hibben Road are at the top of the list of the streets identified for those measures, officials said.
Residents on the streets have complained that drivers use their streets as “a short cut between Stockton Street and Mercer Street.” Trucks that weigh more than four tons are banned from using the two streets.
Princeton Councilwoman Eve Niedergang said she supported the plan to install speed cushions on the two streets.
“I am really glad to see this as a first step. We will see how this works. The key thing is to change drivers’ behavior,” Niedergang said, adding the town needs to also start addressing the other streets on the “top 10” list.
Land Use Engineer James Purcell said the speed cushions are temporary, but if they are effective, “we will do something more permanent.”
“We will monitor the situation. We will conduct traffic counts and speed monitoring,” Purcell said.
Princeton Councilman David Cohen said there are other techniques that could be used to slow down traffic if the speed cushions are not effective.
“This is the beginning of the process to solve the problem, not the end,” Cohen said.