Concept plans for streetscape improvements to a section of Brunswick Pike between Lake Drive and the Brunswick Circle will be rolled out for public comment at a special public information session to be held March 11.
The public information session, set for 5-7 p.m., will be held in the social hall at the Slackwood Volunteer Fire Company, 21 Slack Ave., Lawrence Township.
Lawrence Township and Clarke Caton Hintz, the township’s planning consultant, have been working for the past year to conduct site assessments, assemble information about existing conditions and develop conceptual improvement plans for the area.
Now, municipal officials are seeking feedback and input on those concept plans from members of the public. Representatives of the consultant and township staff will be on hand to explain the concept plans and answer questions.
A similar roll-out of the plan was held at the Lawrence Township Growth and Redevelopment Committee’s Feb. 11 meeting.
Lawrence Township received a $60,000 grant from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission under its Transportation and Community Development Initiative program to conduct the study.
The streetscape plan will include landscaping, hardscape and gateway elements for Brunswick Pike that acknowledge the historic transportation corridor that linked New York City and Philadelphia. This section of Brunswick Pike is also known as Alternate U.S. Route 1.
While the grant covers the cost of designing the streetscape improvement program, it will not pay for the costs to install the landscaping and other improvements.
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 Lawrence apartment building on Brunswick Pike.
Municipal officials also hope the streetscape project will spur economic development, including commercial development, on Brunswick Pike. The grant, along with funding from the township, will make an important contribution to the revitalization of the area, officials said.
Lawrence Township officials have been focused on redeveloping Brunswick Pike between Whitehead Road and the Brunswick Circle for 25 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 New Jersey Department of Transportation (DOT) in 2015. The state agency has jurisdiction over Brunswick Pike.
The DOT moved ahead with the construction of the Whitehead Road roundabout and also constructed a grass median on Brunswick Pike 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.
