Planners, developers, and artists are planning a new study that aims to answer the question.
ORANGE -- How have highways divided and defined communities in New Jersey? A new study is looking at the impacts Route 280 has had in urban communities in Essex County to find out.
A $200,000 study funded by ArtsPlace, a national organization supporting art-based community planning, will look at how the 1960s construction of Route 280 through the center of Orange has impacted the community. The study is one of several initiatives that the Urban Essex Coalition for Smart Growth, a local group working to develop plans for transit-oriented developments in Essex County, will discuss at an upcoming daylong forum.
I-280 in Newark. (Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)"The forum is designed to provide information about redevelopment plans for the areas surrounding five commuter rail stations in Newark, East Orange and Orange," said Tom Schulze, the coalition's coordinator.
The ArtsPlace study will use a technique called "reverse archeology" to document the history of the highway through paintings, essays, plays, and other art projects. Multiple collaborators, including the local ValleyArts District and Montclair State University, will help put the project together, Schulze said.
On its website, ArtsPlace calls Route 280 "an infrastructure investment that divided the city."
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The nearly 18-mile long highway that connects I-80 with Newark and the New Jersey Turnpike has long been blamed for many of the city's ills, including a 20th Century loss of business and an exodus of residents. Schulze called the project a way to combat the "divisive impacts" of the highway.
"The primary goal for the ArtPlace Grant is to explore the effects the construction (of) I-280 in 1967 had on the city at that time, and the residual effects (it is) still having (on) life in Orange," ValleyArts Executive Director Candace Gabbard said.
"Art is being used as a medium to educate, collect information and eventually to convey that information to the public."
The project, she said, will include:
- An interactive exhibit at the Orange Public Library depicting I-280 and Orange before and after
- Artifact collection/digital recording from Orange residents
- Interactive website to store archives and gather information
- Orange as a walking museum - plaques with QR codes will be placed around the city. People can either use the QR codes or a phone number and hear oral history about that location
- A "block party" in front of Orange library to connect residents to the project
- A paper of research gathered, conclusions made and possible remediation
A second $200,000 study, Schulze said, also to be outlined at the forum, will look at three NJ Transit stations in Orange and East Orange, and how they relate to the communities surrounding them, to Route 280, and to Freeway Drive, which runs parallel to the highway. The study, being done in connection with the county, aims to create a vision for the several mile stretch along the rail line, Schulze said.
Broad Street Station in Newark. File photo. (Jessica Mazzola | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Once the plan is completed, the coalition will seek state and federal funding to implement it, he said.
The coalition, formed in 2013 as a result of the Together North Jersey planning initiative, focuses on redevelopment opportunities at five Essex train stations along one NJ Transit rail line. The line ties the communities of East Orange and Orange with the state's largest city at the Broad Street Station in Newark.
NJIT President Joel Bloom will speak at the forum about the way an ongoing expansion at the school can combine with the potential developments surrounding the station.
The end result of the initiatives being discussed at the forum, he said, will be a greater connection between some of these previously separated areas, which could bring a jolt to their local economies.
"We're excited about the plan for the Broad Street Station because it creates a needed corridor connection from University Heights to downtown Newark," Bloom said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.
"NJIT has more than 11,000 students plus faculty and staff, so creating an attractive, safe and technology-embedded corridor will be helpful and bring that spending power to downtown Newark."
The forum discussion is happening Thursday, Dec. 10.
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
