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Phase: Local Concept Development 

Description: In partnership with the City of Trenton, Mercer County is reassessing the concept of converting New Jersey State Highway Route 29 through downtown Trenton from a limited access highway into a multimodal urban boulevard, in conjunction with economic development on underutilized surface parking lots for New Jersey State office buildings.  The concepts being reassessed were developed by the New Jersey Department of Transportation in the early 2000s and abandoned for a variety of reasons.  Reassessment is necessary in response to new Delaware River flood data and new flood hazard area rules proposed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.  Reassessment is timely because the 2022 US Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act enabled local governments to recommend to State and Federal agencies improvements that would mitigate harm to communities separated by historic infrastructure projects. 

Background: Starting in the 1950s, the State of New Jersey joined the nation in constructing limited access highways to facilitate access to and through city centers.  New Jersey Route 29 through the City of Trenton was largely built over the canal that delivered water-power to Trenton’s early industry.  Doing so cut City residents off from an expansive park below the Statehouse along the riverfront.  Complemented by the urban renewal program from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, a diverse historic neighborhood was also cleared for high-rise government buildings and surface parking to adapt to the automobile age.  Objections were raised at the time but were formalized in 1989 in a report from the State-sponsored Capital City Redevelopment Corporation (CCRC) recommending the boulevard conversion and mixed-use development on underutilized surface parking lots in the heart of downtown Trenton. 

In 2005 the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) completed a concept development study to convert the NJ 29 freeway to an urban boulevard in compliance with the CCRC vision. Each alternative considered converting the government parking areas into an urban street grid, tied into the existing city grid, and created developable parcels providing opportunities for mixed use development (residential, retail, office, & structured parking). Two final alternatives converted Route 29 to an urban boulevard with two lanes in each direction, parking lanes, a center turn lane, signalized intersections, sidewalks, and streetscape and landscaping features. One alternative maintained the Route 29 boulevard in its current location along the Delaware River, with a minor shift to the east to provide room for a riverfront park. The other alternative moved the Route 29 boulevard further inland, thereby providing more space for a larger riverfront park, with a local street adjacent to the park providing access to choice riverfront development parcels.  The inland alternative was preferred because it provided better public access to the river and could be constructed with the existing highway still in operation. 

In 2009 NJDOT concluded a subsequent Feasibility Assessment (which today we would call the Preliminary Engineering phase) for the preferred, inland, alternative. The FA included more in-depth traffic, environmental, engineering, and economic analyses, along with continued public outreach.  The funding scheme proposed in FA was the effort’s major downfall.  A master developer would be found to make the infrastructure improvements with expected revenue from the mixed-use development.  Neither the City nor the State made a serious effort to find such a generous financier. 

In 2022, the Bilateral Infrastructure Law (BIL) or Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act (IIJA) included a Reconnecting Communities Program that enabled local governments to propose remedies to harms created by historic State and Federal infrastructure projects.  The City of Trenton developed a grant proposal, submitted and sponsored by Mercer County in 2023, with letters of support from NJDOT, which owns Route 29, and the NJ Treasury Department, which owns the parking lots.  Unsuccessful with the discretionary grant, Mercer County and the City, as members of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission Board of Directors, moved to fund a new Local Concept Development study with 2024 Surface Transportation Block Grant Program funds, allocated by formula to the Trenton Urbanized Area. 

Proposal: The goal of this Local Concept Development Study (LCD) is to develop a well-defined and justified Purpose and Need Statement to evaluate whether either of the two concepts developed in 2005 and 2009 are feasible under current conditions, and to propose a Preliminary Preferred Alternative to advance to the Preliminary Engineering phase.  All Concept Development studies must consider a ‘no-build’ alternative as effectively fulfilling the purpose and need but, without substantial infrastructure improvements, the existing condition enables neither public access to the river nor unleashing the economic potential of development on the surface parking lots, which have been the driving forces for the project since the 1980s. 

This LCD study will include community outreach, data collection, evaluation of the previous Concept Development (CD) and Feasibility Assessment (FA) alternatives.  If warranted by new conditions, this study may refine prudent and feasible conceptual alternatives. The study will also include determination of the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) classification, preparation of a Concept Development Report (CDR), and a Preliminary Engineering (PE) Scope Statement. In reaching its conclusion, the CDR, augmenting the data from the previous CD and FA reports, should address the project’s feasibility not only in terms of engineering, but also floodplain management, resiliency, riverfront access, and the economic development benefits of converting of Route 29 to an urban boulevard. 

Anticipated Project Schedule: The Local Concept Development phase of this project will be substantially complete within 18-months of commencement, or about December 2025, plus six-months to enable interagency review and finalization. The first Public Information Center Meeting was held April 3rd, 2025. The second Public Information Center Meeting, where the project alternatives will be introduced and the Preliminary Preferred Alternative selected, is anticipated in late 2025. 

Information: For further information, please contact: 

Matthew Lawson, Assistant Director of Planning, Mercer County 

mlawson@mercercounty.org

RT. 29 LCD Purpose and Need Statement 

Local Concept Development Public Presentations (2025) 

Existing Conditions Report (2025)

Rediscovering the Bloomsbury Neighborhood: A Snapshot in Time of Trenton's Downtown in the 20th Century 

Prior Studies and Documents 

Temple University NJ 29 Park Concepts