Lawrence Township officials have applied for a state grant to pay for streetscape improvements to a section of Brunswick Pike between Whitehead Road and the Brunswick Circle.
Officials are seeking a $400,000 state grant through the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program, which requires a 30 percent match from the township. The total, to include the township’s match, would be $575,000.
The streetscape design is under way and is being paid for with a $60,000 grant from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, under its Transportation and Community Development Initiative program.
The streetscape plan includes landscaping, hardscaping and gateway elements for Brunswick Pike that acknowledges the historic transportation corridor which linked New York City and Philadelphia. Brunswick Pike is also known as Alternate U.S. Route 1.
The streetscape project will help link the residential and commercial uses along Brunswick Pike, municipal officials said.
The goal is to make the Brunswick Pike corridor more pedestrian friendly – especially for senior citizens who live in the Heritage Village at Lawrenceville apartment building on Brunswick Pike.
Township officials are hoping the streetscape project will spur economic development, including commercial development. The grants, along with funding from the township, will make an important contribution to the revitalization of the neighborhood, they said.
Municipal officials have been focused on redeveloping Brunswick Pike between Whitehead Road and the Brunswick Circle for more than 20 years, beginning with a Master Plan amendment in 1995 to designate the area as a redevelopment zone.
Roadwork design plans for Brunswick Pike were completed by the state Department of Transportation (DOT), which has jurisdiction over the road, in 2015.
The DOT moved ahead with the construction of the Whitehead Road roundabout. The department also constructed a grass median between the roundabout and the Brunswick Circle. Brunswick Pike continues to have two lanes of travel in each direction.
Once the Brunswick Pike project has been completed, the DOT will turn over control of that section of Brunswick Pike to Lawrence Township.
