Plainfield Avenue underpass opens to traffic as NJT finishes work

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Sometime in the early part of January 2006, without any fanfare, New Jersey Transit finished up the work on the Plainfield Avenue underpass.

Tarps, tools and barricades were removed and the street was swept and left open for traffic.

Most people had gotten in the habit of not going down Plainfield Avenue to try and get from one side to the other side of the tracks. So it took a few days for the word to percolate around that the underpass was indeed open, even though the 'Detour' signs were still visible on Front Street for a few days.



View of the refurbished underpass, facing North

The yearlong project may be the last that Plainfield sees for some time, as word has it that NJT's capital budget has run nearly dry.

With fourteen underpasses and one overpass [Terrill Road], Plainfield has more crossings than any other community on NJT's Raritan Valley Line.

A number of years ago, NJT did work on the Leland Avenue and Watchung and Park Avenue underpasses, in conjunction with work on the Main and Netherwood train stations.

Community activist Rasheed Abdul-Haqq was pleased with the investment NJT had made and with how attractive they were -- with their signage welcoming passersby by to the Queen City.

But, he wondered, what about the rest of the crossings, especially those in the West End. So he went out and inspected them, taking photographs to show their deteriorating condition.

He approached me about writing an extended letter to the editor for the Courier News about the issue. I suggested that perhaps he would have better luck if he made a presentation directly to the NJT Board of Directors.

Since their meetings are public, Rasheed made plans to attend their next public meeting and present the case for Plainfield's underpasses. He was allowed to speak to the Board and with the encouragement of stories in the Courier and Ledger, NJT soon agreed to a long-term plan of repairing and refurbishing Plainfield's underpasses.

Jersey Central logo , from one of the historic
predecessors of the Raritan Valley Line,
decorates the refurbished overpass

The work turned out to be quite extensive, taking about a year for each underpass that was done. The dislocation this caused for local businesses that depended on through traffic for customers was considerable, but merchants soldiered on resolutely and all seem to have recovered.

The worry, of course, is that drivers who are used to using a particular street may adjust to a new travel pattern and not come back at all once the obstacle is removed. Though I am not aware of any traffic studies being done subsequently, the impression is that traffic has picked back up to pre-repair levels.

So here we are in 2006 and the following underpasses have been completed: Rock, Clinton, Grant and Plainfield Avenues. Along with Terrill Road, Leland, Watchung and Park Avenues, which were done earlier, a total of eight crossings have been refurbished.

This leaves seven to be done: Berckman, Richmond, New, and Liberty Streets; Roosevelt, Madison and Central Avenues.

I'll follow up with another piece looking at conditions of these remaining underpasses in a future post.

-- Dan Damon

Keywords: NJT, Capital Improvements
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