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
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?
This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com
— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
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