(rshsdepot) Art in NJ Transit's Camden-Trenton Light Rail Stations

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Public art in transit


Monday, June 09, 2003


By TOM HESTER JR. - The Times (Trenton, NJ)


In Trenton, a lunging baseball player reaches for a soaring ball.

In Bordentown City, a John Bull steam engine chugs past wild tiger lilies.

In Roebling, the old steel mill is back, and in Burlington City, John
Fitch's steamboat churns.

All along the way, egrets keep a watchful eye.

The past hasn't returned, nor have Delaware River birds accepted security
jobs.

Rather, it's all part of the flavor being melded into the stops along the
upcoming Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit system.

"We wanted to embrace the community," said Sheila McKoy, project manager for
NJ Transit's art program.

The light-rail system will be a sleek, modern addition to the riverside
landscape from Trenton to Camden, but it also will be bringing pieces of the
past to its 20 stops.

Each station will feature unique, colorful artwork built into railings and
columns, with each column designed especially for the locale.

"The tile columns reflect each township's past and present," McKoy said.

The agency is spending $525,000 on the artwork at the stops in Mercer,
Burlington and Camden counties, she said.

A plaque reading "River Rail Revival" adorns columns at each stop.

Former Trenton State College art professor Hiroshi Murata of Frenchtown,
Katherine Hackl of Lambertville and Marilyn Keating of Gloucester City were
chosen with help from the New Jersey Council on the Arts to create the
rail-line artwork, McKoy said.

The artists worked as a team, using river and rail designs as their theme,
McKoy said. They researched history and attended town meetings to hear
public opinion as they devised the art, she said.

According to NJ Transit's Transit Arts Program, "Their concept was to create
a visually interactive environment that provokes thought and a sense of
delight. They wanted to give riders a sense of familiarity and connection to
the environment. The goal was that the art would complement the stations'
function."-- -- -- Heckl said the artists have been pleased with the
results. "One of the most satisfying things is actually seeing it happen
because we designed it so long ago," she said.

Meeting with the communities, Heckl said, was a big part of the process.

"We wanted to incorporate some local history, local fauna, local character,"
Heckl said. "Each one has its own identity."

While each station will be unique, NJ Transit spokesman Ken Miller said
consistent designs, such as the color and the tiles, will be incorporated
into every stop to give a uniform identity.

"Each station's tile work is pretty much the same," Miller said.

He said two egret sculptures will be placed atop each station.

Egrets, wading birds known for their long, drooping plumage, were chosen
because they're native to the Delaware River and may even be seen by riders
as they travel the line, Miller said.

NJ Transit started its transit art program in 1994, and the South Jersey
light-rail artwork is in the same vein as that used on the Hudson-Bergen
light-rail system.

"That project was very successful," McKoy said.

Transit art has been around for years but has received more attention in
recent years as transit agencies try to attract new riders. According to the
Federal Transit Administration, in a 1995 publication "Art in Transit . . .
Making it Happen," passengers "must feel comfortable and secure in our
facilities - and they will if the design is attractive."

"While transit plays a critical role in making communities more livable, it
has not always been welcomed by those it seeks to serve," wrote then-FTA
Administrator Gordon J. Linton.

"Transit services must be a positive force in neighborhoods if they are to
be accepted. It is no surprise, then, that transit operators are
increasingly concerned about the quality of the stations, bus stops, trains
and buses where people spend their time either waiting or riding.

"Artists can play a unique role in this search for quality. . . . Artists
can add value to mass transit's primary goal of building ridership."

Jaddette Sadik-Khan, associate FTA administrator, when the publication was
released, wrote: "Art projects do much more than add an essential human
dimension to transit - they assuage community concerns about the disruptions
of transit construction, improve passenger comfort and safety and reinforce
the spirit and identity of cities and towns."-- -- -- Here's a brief look at
what the light-rail stations, some of which are still being built, will
offer, according to NJ Transit:

- -- The Trenton Train Station will feature abstract tile work and a
19-foot-tall obelisk made of unpainted steel and internally lit at the
station entrance.

- -- Hamilton Avenue will honor Trenton's history, with artwork of bridges,
scissors, pottery, a clock and the State House.

- -- Cass Street, the stop nearest to Mercer County Waterfront Park, will
feature a baseball player, the Trenton Thunder and that old-time ballpark
favorite, peanuts.

- -- Bordentown City will spotlight the John Bull steam train, wild tiger
lilies and a sail rail.

The John Bull was the first steam engine in New Jersey, starting in 1832 on
the Camden & Amboy Railroad. The sail rail was an unsuccessful experiment
that involved hooking a sail to a car on train tracks.

The stop also will have directional signs featuring Lucy the Margate
elephant, to honor the Jersey Shore to the east; a fish, to honor the Camden
aquarium to the south; the "Trenton Makes the World Takes" Bridge, to honor
the capital city to the north; and a chicken, honoring the agricultural area
to the southwest.

- -- Roebling will have a phoenix and the steel factory.

- -- Florence's stop at the William C. Haines Industrial Center site will
honor agricultural history and wildlife, with column images of urban and
nature scenes.

- -- Burlington Town Centre will feature a vase with goldfish, grass and local
bird species.

- -- Burlington South will honor the John Fitch steamboat.

- -- Beverly's stop will spotlight the town's symbol - the bee - with beehives
and flowers. Artwork of knots is also planned to honor a historic rope
factory in the city.

- -- Delanco will feature doves, a baseball field in night and winter scenes.

- -- Riverside will have commercial boats traveling back and forth, the
Philadelphia skyline and a sail rail.

- -- Riverton will portray shad and sail boats.

- -- Palmyra will pay homage to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, along with a huge
rose and an old house.

- -- Route 73 will showcase an archeological layering of the earth
transforming into wetlands.

- -- The Walter Rand Transportation Center will feature another directional
beacon.

- -- The Rutgers University stop in Camden will highlight the Harleigh
Cemetery with Walt Whitman's mausoleum.

- -- The state aquarium stop will feature swimming mackerel in the artwork,
along with fish sculptures and other sea life images.

- -- The Tweeter Center in Camden, much like the Trenton Train Station, will
have abstract tile work and a 19-foot-tall obelisk made of unpainted steel
and internally lit at the station's entrance.-- -- -- The 34-mile light
rail, featuring diesel, trolley-like train cars, will operate from 6 a.m. to
10 p.m., with freight trains using the rail line the other eight hours.

The project was initially projected to cost $603 million but has now
ballooned to $813 million, not including $140 million in additional expenses
sought by the contractor, the Southern New Jersey Rail Group.

Once financing costs are included, it is expected to cost more than $1
billion.

In September, state transportation officials said the project will cost the
state $73 million annually and would never have been approved by the
McGreevey administration. They said the money that will be spent on the
system could have been spent on other transportation needs.

Initial projections had the line attracting about 9,000 riders each day, but
last year state officials downgraded that number to about 6,000 riders per
day, or 3,000 round-trip passengers.




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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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