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Court Street Historic Redesign, City of Hoboken, New Jersey
Client: CITY OF HOBOKEN
Court Street was laid out in 1804 by Colonel John Stevens as part of the original city plan and was paved with stone setts from local quarries in the late 1800s. The 200+ year old roadway still remains in its original condition. Court Street is a 7.5 block “cobblestone” street that runs parallel to Washington Street, the City’s one-mile commercial corridor, and commences mid-block between Observer Highway and Newark Street, two high intensity County Roads, and extends to 7th Street. Court Street from Observer Highway north to 4th Street is located within the Central Business District and Washington Street Historic District, a locally landmarked historic district of the City of Hoboken (City Code, Article IV, Section 42-18). Court Street for its entire length is located within the New Jersey and National Register-eligible Hoboken Historic District. The New Jersey Historic Preservation Office (NJHPO) issued an opinion of eligibility for the district, including the street as a contributing resource, on December 11, 2016. The street is paved with squared blocks of stone or “setts”, which have sometimes been referred to as cobblestone.
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ENGenuity was hired by the city to rehabilitate the entire roadway. Our scope included Planning, Cultural Resource Screening, Geotechnical Investigations, GPR, Survey, Final Design, Advertising, Bidding, and Construction Administration. ENGenuity was the Prime Consultant on the Project. ENGenuity first conducted a robust listening phase where we met with local stakeholders including historians in the city. ENGenuity hired Hunter Research as a subconsultant to perform a Cultural Resources Screening to collect necessary historical and archaeological data for review from the Hoboken Historic Preservation Commission and the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office. This screening consisted of historical background data, identification of contributing character-defining historical features of the streetscapes, a screening memorandum with recommendations, and input on application of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation. Using this data and information obtained through public outreach we developed several concepts for public comment and historical review. Geotechnical data was obtained and reviewed by Hunter research to determine the base layers of the 200-year-old roadway and how that could be recreated for current vehicular loading, turning templates, and proper spacing of setts. ENGenuity performed calculations to compare current loss of original setts from road openings in the past 200 years, and how many setts would be needed to recreate original character and proper spacing for historical and durability purposes. ENGenuity was able to locate additional setts elsewhere in the city that would be used for reconstruction. ENGenuity then conducted survey and ground penetrating radar (GPR) to determine if any basements encroached under the roadway, and topographic survey to regrade the roadway that restored its original character and enabled runoff to flow without introducing infrastructure that did not align with the historic character of the roadway. ENGenuity designed an inverted crown roadway design, where runoff was directed to the middle of the roadway instead of along the gutter line. This directed flow away from old basements and doorways and avoided installing inlets and piping along gutters. The project completed final design in 2024, and is awaiting authorization to advertise the project for bid. It is anticipated that the project will be constructed in two (2) phases Newark-4th Street, and 4th through 7th Street.