JERSEY CITY – Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy will conduct a grand opening ceremony for “The Junction” project at 11 a.m. on Thursday, November 29th at the intersections of Communipaw, Garfield, Summit, Randolph and Arlington Avenues. The project incorporates many benefits to the local community by enhancing the travel experience, creating new open space, improving pedestrian and bicycle safety, and promoting smart growth.

“The Junction will surely improve the aesthetics and quality of life in the community,” said Mayor Healy. “The improved attractiveness of the Junction will make the area more enticing and will attract more pedestrian traffic and more pedestrian traffic means more business for local merchants.” 

 

The Junction project will provide 3,200 square feet of new, passive recreation and open space and roadway upgrades such as new tree plantings, decorative street lighting, sidewalk, curb and ADA compliant ramps and decorative crosswalks. A JC logo imprint within the roadway intersections serves as an additional identifier for the area. The open space design features brick and concrete pavement materials arranged in a concentric, circular framework that evokes the radial function of the roadway system in and out of the Project area.

 

The Junction project has been selected to receive the Project-of-the-Year award under the construction management category by the New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers. The awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday, December 5th at Noon at the Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

 

The Junction project was funded in part by money from the state’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) Program. Urban business districts can charge 3.5 percent sales tax rather than 7 percent, and can use that money for beautification. The Junction project received $800,000 from the UEZ and $500,000 from the NJDOT.

 

Communipaw Junction, or simply, The Junction, is where Communipaw, Summit Avenue and Garfield Avenue, and Grand Street meet. The Bergen Hill Historic District is centered around Summit Avenue as it ascends from the Junction. The district is not on the National Register of Historic Places, but has a state designation; a prominent landmark being St John’s Church.