Tunneling for parkland: a New Jersey highway project turns a traffic jam into an open space plan for neighboring residents.

The long-time residents of historic Lamberton Street in downtown Trenton, N.J., live in 100-year-old brick row houses that are surrounded by mature trees. But this roughly one-mile stretch connects State Route 29, primarily a four- to six-lane freeway running along the Delaware River, with Interstate 295. This caused the residents of Lamberton Street, during the morning and evening rush hours, to be inundated with traffic that literally shook their homes. In the mid-1990s, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) recognized that the situation was unacceptable from the traffic, environmental and human perspective, and undertook the Route 29 tunnel and its companion deck park project to ensure efficient traffic operations and improve the quality of life in the area.

The South Riverwalk Park was the solution--it's a $10 million park built on top of the new Route 29 tunnel. The park complements and enhances the recently completed three-year roadway tunnel project, mitigates its impacts and improves the neighboring community and its city as a whole. It makes the restored Delaware River waterfront more accessible, and provides streetscape improvements to adjacent local streets.

Rejuvenating Trenton's Waterfront

The Route 29 South Riverwalk Park, which has become the focal point of the Trenton waterfront, was constructed on the roof of a cut-and-cover tunnel section of Route 29. Recently completed, this 6.5-acre regional park facility includes a bikeway/pedestrian walkway, lawn areas, pavilions, children's playgrounds, an historic interpretive area and a complete urban streetscape plan for adjacent Lamberton Street.

The historic interpretive area was born out of the community's interests. This area, which illustrates the history of Trenton, is subdivided roughly into five, 100-year segments so that the park visitor can break down what could otherwise become an overwhelming amount of information. Landscape architects developed a series of arched structures, each designed to be evocative of the century it represents, and located in an octagonal area representing that century. As these arches line up and visitors pass through each one, visitors begin to get a sense of a "passage through time" as they proceed into the next sequence.

Further augmenting the time-passage effect, a pathway containing 110 granite date markers, each inscribed with a date and historical fact, leads the visitor through the historic interpretive area's century octagons. Additionally, in each of the century areas, four large bronze reliefs set into the pavement of the octagon detail noteworthy happenings of the period. Both the city and the county anticipate that the historic interpretive section of the park will become an outdoor classroom, drawing visitors from throughout the northeast region.

All the waterfront facilities are linked by a continuous bikeway/pedestrian walkway located along the waterfront. The bikeway/walkway includes a passive recreation area with lawn areas, landscaping, benches and a scenic overlook for viewing the historic Trenton Falls and the historic interpretive area.

In addition to NJDOT's Route 29 park, Trenton is performing planning, design and coordination services for a number of interrelated park projects along the Delaware River waterfront. These include a one-mile pedestrian path and bikeway, and reconstruction of an existing fishing wharf and park. Ultimately these facilities will join with the existing Riverfront Stadium minor league ballpark and the Mercer County floating docks and boat launching facility, to create a comprehensive linear waterfront park extending two and one-half miles.

Partnering for Progress

Coordination between NJDOT, Mercer County, the administration of the city of Trenton and the various community stakeholder groups began in earnest from the inception of the Riverwalk Park project. The state realized that detailed input from both Mercer County (the eventual owner and operator of the park) and the local area residents (the eventual users of the park) was necessary to ultimately provide a park facility that could be embraced by both entities. A Community Partnering Team (CPT) was formed to act as the sounding board for all the issues that needed to be resolved regarding the park's programming, aesthetics and maintenance elements.

Mercer County's Director of Planning Donna Lewis and Andrew Carten, director of planning for Trenton, were a driving force in spearheading the CPT's multi-year effort. From early concept models to the opening day ribbon cutting, the CPT representatives made sure that all decisions regarding the park were scrutinized through the lens of the original project goals and objectives. David Byers, manager of the Bureau of Landscape and Urban Design for the NJDOT, says, "The community was brought into the process very early on and their input was crucial to the success of this project."

Lewis notes, "Working with the community not only improved the park design, it also ensured that we would have long-term partners in the operation and maintenance of the park." Though built by the state and located in the city of Trenton, Mercer County will handle the operations and maintenance of the park.

Preserving the Past

As an additional benefit to the obvious transportation improvements, the project provided an increased body of knowledge regarding the area's past. Even before the park construction began, the tunnel portion of the project contained a comprehensive archaeological recovery component. In complying with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the project went through a phased sequence of cultural resource management actions involving identifying, evaluating, avoiding and treating the significant historic and archaeological properties lying along the highway.

Emphasis was placed during the project on communicating the findings to the CPT and the community. While fieldwork was taking place, site tours and public open days were arranged, the project team hosted visits from local elementary schools and Boy Scout troops, press releases and media coverage accompanied key discoveries, and several brochures and leaflets were issued. A five-volume series of technical reports was completed at the end of 2002, six popular booklets on project-related history and archaeology topics were issued in 2003, and a video documentary was created.

In addition to the community, environmental and historical benefits of the project, streetscaping along Lamberton Street was factored into the budget for the entire length of the project's limits. This included new historically referenced sidewalks, curbs, trees, lighting, benches, bollards and traffic-calming measures intended to return the street to its quiet past.

The park project has given the residents of Lamberton Street their neighborhood back, while still providing much needed traffic flow to the metropolitan area. But the project would not have been successful without the willingness of NJDOT to think outside the box, listen to the key stakeholders, establish mutually agreeable goals, accept the recommendations of the community and implement them forthrightly. It enhances the transportation solution and promotes community cohesion by incorporating innovative mitigation and improvement measures with public involvement, the formation and involvement of the CPT, and the realization of a non-traditional solution for a roadway project's impact.