Corrections or additions?

This article by Kathleen McGinn Spring was prepared for the

September 19, 2001 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights

reserved.

Taming Trucks on 206

Trucks are going from New England to

Florida through Lawrenceville," says Lawrence Mayor Pam

Mount.

Increasingly alarmed by the traffic, which, she says, is shaking apart

homes that have stood within yards of Route 206 since the American

Revolution, Mount has called a regional meeting to address the

problem.

A panel discussion on Route 206 Traffic Conditions takes place on

Wednesday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. at Lawrence Town Hall. In

addition

to Mount, panelists include the mayors of Princeton Township and

Borough,

and representatives from the N.J. Department of Transportation, the

Regional Planning Partnership, the State Police, and the Hopewell

Task Force on Traffic.

Elsewhere in the area, volume is the major traffic complaint, but

while Mount says there are indeed more cars coming down Route 206,

it is the trucks that are the biggest problem. She says Hopewell

Township

has had some success in controlling truck traffic on Route 31, another

road that attracts lots of 18-wheelers. That township, Mount says,

has hired three police officers specifically to monitor traffic on

that route. While she is eager to hear Hopewell’s traffic calming

suggestions, she says neither Lawrence nor the towns around it are

likely to be able to spare that kind of manpower to control Route

206 traffic.

Mount says trucks are using Route 206 as a way to avoid Turnpike

tolls.

She believes this is the case because trucks going through Lawrence

"turn right onto Route 95, and head south." These are not

trucks making local deliveries, in her opinion, but rather long

distance

trucks. She says they belong on the Turnpike, and she has some ideas

for keeping them there. "How about lowering tolls, especially

at night," she suggests. During the day, she has observed that

trucks appear to be dissuaded by the volume of traffic on the road.

But come nightfall, they come barreling through.

Route 206 from Highland Park through Franklin Corner Road in Lawrence

was named an historic highway last year by both the state and the

federal government, Mount says. Many of its oldest homes sit within

10 yards of the road. The trucks’ speed and size are imperiling not

only the citizens who live along the road, but also those houses.

The public is encouraged to attend the traffic meeting — and to

come with ideas. There will be a question and (hopefully) answer

period

afterward.

Corrections or additions?

— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.