Find Out on Wednesday What’s Planned for Newark’s Tubman Square Streets

NEWARK — Details of a plan to improve street safety around Harriet Tubman Square are expected to be revealed on Wednesday night.

City officials announced that “Mayor Baraka’s Safe Street Project Community Meeting” will be at 6 p.m. at the Newark Public Library, 5 Washington St.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

“This meeting will inform the stakeholders and the community of the upcoming project that will happen in the Downtown Tubman Square Area,” the announcement from Newark People’s Assembly said. The announcement discusses "traffic-calming" measures and lane reductions on Broad and Essex streets.

It follows the Newark City Council’s award of a $560,000 contract to rePLACE Urban Studio Architects PC last week to provide engineering consulting services for the project.

The city has been awarded a $6.5 million grant for pedestrian safety improvements around Harriet Tubman Square and Audible’s offices in that area, according to the resolution.

Among the projects listed on rePLACE Urban Studio Architects' website is the “Tubman Square Neighborhood Plan,” which the urban design firm says it partnered with Audible for.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

“Proposals ranged from small-scale infill developments to large infrastructure projects,” the firm says.

In 2022, city officials renamed Washington Park on Broad Street as Harriet Tubman Square after the heroic abolitionist and trailblazer, who made Newark an important stop on the Underground Railroad.

In 2023, officials unveiled the Harriet Tubman monument at the park, replacing a statue of Christopher Columbus, which the city government ousted from the park in 2020 in what Mayor Ras J. Baraka said was in keeping with a movement to remove symbols of oppression and White supremacy.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net