TOMORROW: Bike To Lunch! –– Saturday: Bike Rally

There are two bike events in Princeton this week:

TOMORROW: #BikeToLunchPrinceton

This week is Bike To Work Week 2020, and you are encouraged, where possible, to get to your workplace on foot or on bike.

Right now, that workplace may well be at home – but we all still need lunch! This Wednesday, September 23, walk, scoot, or bike to lunch at your favorite Princeton eatery. You'd support our town's businesses, and the weather is perfect for an al fresco lunch.

This is a "self-organized" event: it's you, perhaps with your favorite person, or with a few co-workers, going out to lunch at any of our town's eateries. Post a picture with the hashtag #BikeToLunchPrinceton.

On your way, please wear your helmet *and* your mask.

PBAC will be on Hinds Plaza, 11.30 am - 1.30 pm. Get your copy of our new, updated Princeton Bicycle Map!

Then, this weekend join us for a fun ride:

Bike, Skate, Wheel, Walk, Run RALLY

Date: Saturday, September 26th

Time: 4pm 

Location: Meet at Hinds Plaza / Princeton Public Library

You must wear your helmet. Please also wear a mask.

This is a 1.8 mile ride, family friendly!! Meet back up at Halo Pub Ice Cream

These events are co-organized by PBAC and Garden State Organic - Princeton: Be Clean, Be Green ~ Go Home, Go Local

Send your questions or comments to pjpbac@gmail.com.

Car Free Week 2020

This past spring few people went to a physical workplace, so Bike To Work Week has been moved, to this coming week. 21-27 September is:

Bike To Work Week 2020,

Car Free Week 2020, and

Climate Week 2020.

As in every year, 22 September is World Car Free day.

If you commute to your workplace outside the home, choose to walk or bike this week if you can, for your health and the health of the planet.

Pledge to do this at least once this week with the Greater Mercer TMA's Car Free / Car Lite event, and enter to win cool prizes!

If you're on social media, show the world you did your bit: Snap a picture and share it, using the hashtag #CarFreeNJ

For any week of the year, those affiliated with Princeton University are offered incentives for leaving the car at home, through the Revise Your Ride program.

Stay tuned for info on Walk & Bike to School events around October 7.

Opinion Survey: Witherspoon Street

In case you missed the public meeting on the Witherspoon Street re-design earlier this week, the concept designs are in this PDF file, or accessible via this page on the town's website.

Would you like to see it remain in its current one-way layout? Return to its pre-COVID layout? Or become a pedestrian zone? These and other possibilities are on the table.

Cast your vote for your favorite street layout via this one-question survey.

You can also send your comment to engineering@princetonnj.gov.

PSST - Free Parking!

The town has installed extra parking on Witherspoon Street: You can park as long as you need to, and it's free!

It's bike parking, of course.

The usual bike racks around the library are still there, as is the bike parking inside the Spring Street garage. Extra bike racks are indicated by the blue boxes in the above map of Witherspoon "Streat".

When you get downtown, look for the yellow signs:

As a reminder, Witherspoon Street is now one-way, for cars and bicycle riders alike! Please do not ride your bike in counterflow, and please walk your wheels on the sidewalk. Wear a mask, and as always, wear your helmet.

Princeton Bike Loops

This summer, try riding these bike loops around town, whether on your own, with a friend, or with your family.

Thanks to Jerry Foster for designing and mapping the bike loops! They follow quieter roads and range from the leisurely "Town and Gown Loop" (4.5 miles) to the "Fitness Loop" (16.6 miles) that goes out to Kingston in the north to the Quaker Bridge Road south of Princeton.

Explore the "Schools Loop" (7.7 miles) with your kids and see if they can bike to school in the fall. Physical activity boosts academic performance!

Enjoy Princeton's residential areas on the "Neighborhood Loop" (10.3 miles) – and of course you can choose to ride parts of the loops or use the map to invent your own loops!

Make the loop of your choice appear on the map by toggling its button in the navigation bar on the left.

Witherspoon Street Makeover

Witherspoon Street has had a makeover between Nassau and Spring Streets, and entering it instantly gives you that feeling like you're on vacation. Where there were four car lanes before (two travel lanes and two parking lanes), more space is now dedicated to people picking up orders and enjoying al fresco dining, even in the pandemic.

With the cautious re-opening of New Jersey, restaurants are allowed outside dining only, with proper physical distancing. Inside dining will be allowed, at 25% capacity, starting next week.

Much of the street space on Nassau street is now occupied by tables, umbrellas, and planters that give the place a festive air even before the lights come on.

Witherspoon Street is currently one-way from Nassau St to Spring St, with one extra lane for curbside pickup. It is one-way for bike riders and car drivers alike! please do not ride your bike against traffic. The sidewalks remain as they were: for pedestrians, so please walk your wheels there.

As part of the Streets For People initiative, the town has installed additional bike parking, at the Spring Street and Nassau Street intersections. Of course, bike parking is free.

So bike downtown (wear your mask and your helmet) and check it out!

Bike Boulevards, Slow Streets

We have exciting news!

This week, Princeton is introducing a Streets For People initiative. The initiative helps encourage fitness and health for all residents and supports sustainable transportation.

As part of the initiative, bike boulevards are being installed in the next few days.

Extra bike racks are already waiting for your bike to be parked when you visit the establishment on the re-designed Witherspoon Street and at the Franklin Avenue Farmers Market. We encourage you to take your bike into town to eat and shop.

Slow Streets will be installed in selected neighborhoods in the next two weeks. Slow Streets are designed to prevent overcrowding on sidewalks, and facilitate physical distancing in line with public health orders. The use of the street allows neighbors to maintain social distance while jogging, walking, and biking.

Design by Sue Bannon of the Arts Council of Princeton

The town will install traffic calming devices at the entrances to the Slow Streets, with signs asking car drivers to drive slowly and to give priority to pedestrians and people-powered wheels.

Curious? Find detailed information at bit.ly/Streets-For-People.

Slow Streets have had coverage in the Mayor's newsletter (if you are not receiving it, you can sign up here), in an article at Planet Princeton, and an article in the Princeton Packet.

You can express your support by completing a feedback form. A survey will be available once the Slow Streets open.