BUILDING BRIDGES
New riverfront park, pedestrian bridge coming to Trenton >>
TRENTON » The capital city has hit the lottery for state money.
In the latest of a flurry of cash windfalls for Trenton, Gov. Chris Christie announced Wednesday afternoon in the back courtyard of the Statehouse that a new park will be developed along the Delaware River that will be connected to the downtown by the construction of a pedestrian bridge over Route 29.
“It’s really remarkable that the entire west boundary of Trenton — more than five miles — is bordered by the Delaware River, yet 84,000 Trentonians are completely disconnected from the river and its tremendous potential,” the Republican governor said. “It’s also amazing that at one time, people could walk out of the Statehouse and stroll along the Delaware River.”
Christie called the Delaware River “one of Trenton’s greatest assets.”
The pedestrian bridge will start at the top of the Statehouse parking garage to the 4.5-acre piece of land that will be called Trenton Falls Park.
“It’s going to provide access to a part of the Trenton waterfront separated from the downtown area since the 1950s when Route 29 was developed,” Christie said. “This particular tract of land has been a part of Stacy Park, which still exists north of the downtown area, and included recreation areas in front of the Trenton War Memorial and behind the Statehouse and the Annex, reaching out to the Delaware River.”
Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson, who joined the governor at the press conference, said the bridge will provide an opportunity to advance the city’s economic activity along the riverfront. The ultimate
goal, Jackson said, is to transform the riverfront into a destination like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
“This isn’t just my idea as a mayor but this has been something that has been thought of for years prior to me, is to make the river a destination point, where we have retail, we have some entertainment, where we connect the river as a destination port,” Jackson said after the press conference. “I believe this is a small step to get to that but the longrange plan, our river is our biggest asset and we have to connect more than just the west end of our city to it as a resource.”
The New Jersey Department of Transportation will provide $15 million in Transportation Enhancement funds for its portion of the project and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will use an estimated $3.5 million of Natural Resource Damages funds for the development of the park, Christie said.
The new park will feature planting, paths and lighting and the parcel of land will connect to Stacy Park, Mill Hill Park and the future site of the Assunpink Creek daylighting.
In the past several weeks, the city has been a repeated recipient of goodwill from the state.
Just Tuesday, DEP presented the city with $2.3 million in funding to restore the historic Cadwalader Park, which had fallen in disrepair in recent years. The multi-phase project includes linking the park to the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park and the D&R Canal path, upgrading and relocating the picnic grove area so that each picnic table will be equipped with a grill and installing an enhanced playground. The old picnic grove site is also slated to be transformed into a concert area and handicap-accessible pathways will be erected between sections of the park.
That was preceded by the governor’s announcement in May that Trenton would receive $11.5 million in state funding to demolish 500 vacant properties. The state also pledged $786,000 to install 150 surveillance cameras in Trenton to help police with public safety initiatives and vowed to improve street lighting in the city.
For the first couple years of Jackson’s administration, it appeared not much was getting accomplished.
But with the recent developments, the city is in full-blown revitalization mode.
“When you plant seeds into the ground, whatever you’re planting doesn’t spring up over night,” Jackson said, noting him and the governor vowed to work together from the start. “We both held that up. We’re seeing the fruit of that flourish now with conversations that we’ve had and worked in progress to get to these moments now in year three.”
The first-term mayor hopes to continue that momentum and said he will seek re-election next year to see the progress though.
“With all this going on, this is clearly a working foundation that we’ve got to make sure we keep doing in our future,” Jackson said. “We’re out here making strong foundation for the future of our city and I want to be a part of that leadership to help this continue.”
These types of announcements aren’t expected to die down anytime soon with Christie’s last year in office as well.
“There’s lots of things that can still be done and we’ll have more announcements as we go through the summer and into the fall with more partnerships between the state and the city to get projects rolling and moving so in the years ahead we will continue to enhance what we started here in Trenton,” Christie said. “It is a historically, extraordinary important city in our nation’s history and Trenton needs to be treated that way, not only by the folks who live here, but by the folks who work here and the folks who do business here.”
At the moment, the mayor said these are “some great times for the city.”
“I can’t remember being a Trentonian when we had this much continual momentum in a very long time,” Jackson said. “It doesn’t come as a result of candidly the governor just saying, ‘Let’s do this.’ It came because we established a collaboration and a partnership and a lot of hard work together to get to these moments to make this happen in our city.”