Work in front of Princeton Borough Hall should be completed by Labor Day.
By: Jennifer Potash
The transformation of Monument Drive from a Borough Hall service driveway to a pedestrian mall should be completed by Labor Day.
Monument Drive was fenced off to vehicular traffic last week in anticipation of construction of a new pedestrian walkway.
The reconstruction plan is reminiscent of the original Howard Russell Butler landscape design for Monument Drive from the 1930s. Monument Drive will become a graveled lane with granite pavers along the gutter, said Borough Engineer Carl Peters. Granite bollards will be places at the top of Monument Drive to keep out vehicular traffic. A plaza will be added in front of the Battle Monument, along with new landscaping.
There will be benches lining Monument Drive similar to the wooden benches along Nassau Street.
The new walkway is part of a $1.1 million renovation of the Battle Monument and Monument Drive. A new 85-space parking lot was completed this year behind Borough Hall.
Mayor Marvin Reed said Friday that traffic on the driveway declined once the redesigned parking lot was installed behind Borough Hall and motorists turned into the driveway off Stockton Street.
A concrete plaza with benches between Borough Hall and the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center will be completed by the fall, Mr. Peters said.
The new trees and other landscaping work in the new parking lot will be added during the fall planting season, Mr. Peters said.
Completed last year were the 32-car police lot behind Borough Hall and the driveway from the lot to Bayard Lane. The project also includes sprucing up Chestnut Walk, the historic pathway linking Borough Hall and Morven, the former governor’s mansion.
The Monument Drive project is part of the overall redevelopment of the Borough Hall site. The borough renovated its municipal building in 1998. The borough and Princeton Township plan to renovate the interior of the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center for more multipurpose use in the fall.
The borough received a $300,000 gift from Princeton University in 2000 for the project in addition to a $107,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation.