To the Editor:

I suspect that a number of folks who live on the Princeton side of the Canal have parking permits at Princeton Junction and would welcome an opportunity to swap those permits for ones at the Princeton station during the Alexander Road closing. And there are at least as many residents of West Windsor and East who would love to use those Junction permits and the Dinky to get to work in Princeton rather than get snarled in the impeding traffic mess. Especially if the Dinky ride was free … paid for as just another appropriate cost of replacing the bridges. Have our elected officials, the University, NJ Transit, the Merchant Association, and/or … made any effort to investigate this opportunity that would remove (not just divert to create misery elsewhere) two cars from the congested roadways for each swap?

Also, if the Dinky was owned and operated by a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) dedicated to improving the quality of life in Princeton, that entity would be collaborating with Princeton University to create a temporary parking area east of the canal, accessible only from Alexander Road, and a temporary “whistler stop” for the Dinky to serve folks going to and or from. Each user of this parking area would also be removing (not just diverting) two cars from the congested roadways (once coming in and once going out). Isn’t it time for us to begin to embrace this incredible asset that history has given us?

Alain Kornhauser & Elizabeth Monroe
Cleveland Lane