New Bridges

Communities enbrace Tech Clinic ideas

With the Northampton Street Bridge connecting Easton and Phillipsburg in the background, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell presented grants to help the cities improve their riverfronts.

The Northampton Street Bridge connecting Easton and Phillipsburg

Recommendations made by Technology Clinic students are at the heart of a plan to improve the Easton and Phillipsburg riverfront area and invigorate the business climate using more than $6 million in grants from the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

In a two–semester project, a Tech Clinic team got community officials talking with each other and with the commission and set out recommendations for making the cities more attractive.

“We wanted to get both cities to make better use of the riverfront and emphasize the connection between them,” says Tech Clinic Director Dan Bauer, professor of anthropology and sociology. “Each city has its own assets, and if the two are combined, it’s likely to be a more attractive region and bring people into the downtown areas. Plus, water attracts people, and most agree that the area’s waterfront has been underutilized since the 1955 flood.”

Easton announced plans to improve the intersection of the free bridge with Larry Holmes Drive and Northampton Street; construct trolley stops for a trolley line, subsidized by Phillipsburg, that runs over the bridge; and connect a riverfront bike path to the bridge. It also plans to build a parking garage, with a bus terminal and stores, in the parking lot of the county-owned Governor Wolf Building on North Second St.

“We were able to bring the different stakeholders to the table to discuss their vision. I don’t think that had happened before,” says Inku Subedi ’05. Emily Groves ’05 realized how much her perspectives were valued as she met with officials and business owners. “They were so interested and excited that we were doing something like this, and I enjoyed being a voice for the community. I have more self-confidence to make presentations, to call people up and organize meetings. The whole process was a growing experience for me.”

“I’m ecstatic,” Phillipsburg mayor Harry L. Wyant Jr. told The Morning Call. “We have been working the last few years with the city of Easton toward some common goals. Lafayette said we need to work in concert.”

Other team members were Isaac Esseku ’05, Matt Hokanson ’05, Robin Sanderson ’05, and Amy Spooner ’06.