Weequahic Park Entrances to Get Facelift

Weequahic Park is getting beautified.

Four entrances to the Essex County park, located in Newark's South Ward, will become safer and more aesthetically pleasing in the coming months, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced Thursday.

"This park here is a very, very special park and a lot of work has been done over the years …" said DiVincenzo. "But the eyesore of this park have been the four entrances."

Entrances on Meeker Avenue, Frelinghuysen Avenue, Dayton Street and Elizabeth Avenue (near the Essex County Weequahic Golf Course) will receive new landscaping, including flowering trees and shrubs, brick-paved crosswalks and better lighting. New wood-carved park signs will be installed at all four entrances.

Construction has already begun at the Dayton Street entrance, which will be closed to vehicular traffic once completed. Removable bollards will be installed to prevent vehicles from passing through and so the road will still be accessible in case of emergency.

Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said Thursday closing Dayton Street to cars will facilitate policing in the area.

"Closing off Dayton Street is a godsend," said Fontoura. "You're not going to use it as a thoroughfare, particularly for those who use it as a thoroughfare to try to escape."

Roadways at the Meeker Avenue and Elizabeth Avenue entrances will be narrowed to slow vehicular traffic and improve pedestrian safety. At Meeker Avenue, the steel guardrail along Weequahic Lake will be replaced with a stone retaining wall.

Trees along the Frelinghuysen Avenue entrance, accessible by pedestrians only, will be trimmed to provide a better view of the park, said Dan Dowd, whose company Barreto/Dowd Landscape Architecture and Site Planning designed the entrance upgrades.

The "hardscaping" improvements, like the narrowing of roadways and installation of crosswalks, are expected to be completed by Christmas, according to Dowd. Landscaping improvements will wrap up in the springtime.

Barreto/Dowd, of Howell, and Zenith Construction, of Orange, were awarded $38,250 and $775,000 contracts, respectively. The improvements are also being funded by grants from the New Jersey Green Acres program and the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust fund.

A second aerating fountain may be installed in northern part of Weequahic Lake if there is enough cash left over to fund it, according to officials.

Spanning 311 acres and featuring an 80-acre lake, Weequahic Park is the second largest in the county, following Branch Brook Park. The historic park has , including new exercise equipment, resurfacing of the rubberized walking track and a state-of-the-art youth golf facility.

"We go around this entire county … to improve and enhance recreation and leisure time that our residents can enjoy," said Blonnie Watson, president of the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. "Especially in the inner-cities, because a lot of them don't have the backyard. This is the backyard for many residents of Newark."