Route 21 Viaduct Over Amtrak NE Corridor

Lighting design is one of the many elements of a successful transportation project.  The Route 21 Viaduct located in Newark, New Jersey is just north of Newark International Airport.  With a total project cost of approximately $250 million, it represented the largest urban bridge reconstruction project ever undertaken by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

As part of the Michael Baker Jr., Inc. design team, Arora was charged with developing a complete lighting program to complement the project’s architectural features through NJDOT’s newly adopted principles of “Context Sensitive Design.”  Context Sensitive Design (CSD) is a community- based approach to planning and designing transportation projects based on active and early partnerships with communities.  It encourages collaboration with community stakeholders, which results in consensus building and community participation throughout project design and development. 

As a result, the project lighting criteria was developed for three distinct project specific zones.  For the southern zone, bounded by Route I-78, Routes US 1 & 9 and US 22, high tower mast lighting was selected based on initial and life-cycle costs.  The central zone, essentially the elevated viaduct which crossed Route I-78, Conrail’s Waverly Yards and Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, conventional cobrahead lighting was selected.  The principal defining criteria were cost and maintainability.

The northern zone along Route 21, known locally as the McCarter Highway, bounded on the east by Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and Newark’s “Ironbound District” and on the west by Broad Street, was the zone where the principles of Context Sensitive Design came into play.  Not only was this project reconstructing multiple city blocks, but subsequent contracts would reconstruct McCarter Highway to the newly opened New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the centerpiece of Newark’s Renaissance.

As the “first on the block,” Arora coordinated the selection of architectural luminaries with the local community, the City of Newark, Public Service Electric & Gas, and NJDOT’s electrical engineering staff and maintenance forces.  The luminaires selected are being used throughout the corridor as part of the overall architectural “Gateway to Newark” theme.

Existing underground utilities also proved to be a complicating factor in the design of the lighting facilities.  A subsurface exploration (SUE) program was utilized to identify potential conflicts between pole and conduit runs and existing subsurface utilities.  Arora designed lighting to avoid conflicts and, when not possible, minimize conflict and reduce utility relocations.

Arora prepared a comprehensive highway lighting design report including lighting warrants, photometric analyses and lighting plans.  A state-of-the-art Computer Aided Lighting Program, “CALAPro,” was used to perform the photometric analyses.  Arora’s design services included complete highway lighting design, construction plans and specifications showing conduit runs, load centers and wiring diagrams.

The project is an excellent example of working together with the local community, state and local officials to enhance the quality of life through the principles of “Context Sensitive Design.”