A summer-long streetscape project in downtown Red Bank neared completion this week. But it will take one last, extended disruption to get there, says Red Bank RiverCenter.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
Emanuel Court, a narrow lane that links English Plaza to West Front Street, boasts a new mural and paving bricks and is now closed to vehicle traffic. Below, a schematic of the plan. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RiverCenter, the downtown business promotion agency, said in a tweet Wednesday afternoon that its streetscape project covering all of English Plaza and a portion of White Street should be finished in coming days, with the laying of new asphalt.
Weather permitting, final paving will go down Thursday and Friday, the agency reported. “Top coat of pavement requires 48 hrs to cure. So, White St, from #EnglishPlz to #BroadSt, will be closed though the weekend,” its tweet read.
Work on the $1.53 million project, funded in part by a $500,000 zero-interest loan to RiverCenter by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, began in May. It was carried out in stages to preserve pedestrian access to all adjoining businesses, RiverCenter executive director Jim Scavone has said.
The project included the creation of 10 additional parking spaces in the English Plaza lot, a portion of which can be used for small events, such weekend farm markets.
It also included new brick sidewalks with traffic-calming bump-outs on White Street as well as fresh landscaping. A new pedestrian path links Riverside Gardens Park on West Front Street through the White Street municipal lot to Monmouth Street, via the mews alongside the Dublin House Pub.
With the changes, the borough has also ended vehicular use of Emanuel Court, a narrow alley that connects the parking lot with West Front Street.
