Three STV projects win honors in New Jersey

Delaware River Turnpike Bridge. Photo: Copyright Aerophoto America

Trenton, N.J. — STV received three awards from the New Jersey Alliance for Action, one of the Garden State’s top capital construction and infrastructure investment advocacy groups. STV’s contributions to the Central Railroad of New Jersey’s (CRRNJ) terminal restoration and flood resiliency design program, construction management of the reuse of Camden Bank for Rowan University, and emergency repairs of the Delaware River Turnpike Bridge (jointly submitted by STV and HNTB), all received Distinguished Engineering Awards at the alliance’s annual awards breakfast.

“Flood resiliency, inner-city redevelopment and transportation infrastructure are three areas critical to the revitalization and regrowth of the New Jersey economy and these projects highlight just that,” said Kevin Pierce, P.E., STV senior vice president. “We are grateful to have these projects recognized and honored at this award program.”

The CRRNJ’s historic terminal building, designed by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns and constructed in 1889, served as the largest rail hub in the New York metropolitan area between 1892 and 1954. The gateway for millions of immigrants who passed through nearby Ellis Island, the waterfront passenger terminal linked New Jersey to Manhattan via ferry before tunnels and bridges were built across the Hudson River. It was abandoned in 1967, when the CRRNJ declared bankruptcy and passenger trains stopped operating there. By 1975, the three-story building was added to both the State and National Register of Historic Places. In 2012, the 30,000-square-foot building sustained extensive damage and flooding from Superstorm Sandy. In addition to significant damage to historic elements on the ground level, all building systems, including fire protection, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment, were severely damaged by an 11-foot storm surge, which flooded the building with six feet of storm water. New Jersey’s Division of Property Management and Construction retained STV to provide design services for the restoration of the building. Its charge was to restore the interior finishes to pre-Sandy conditions and replace all the damaged building systems.

At another historic facility, the First Camden National Bank & Trust Building (listed on the National Register of Historic Places), STV was contracted by Rowan University to provide construction management services to restore and expand the building in order to add more classroom and faculty space to the school’s downtown Camden campus. The newly renamed Rowan Camden Academic Building retains the main bank building’s ornate fixtures with its alabaster chandelier, wall sconces and decorative art, while the original offices on the mezzanine level were refurbished for the University president and faculty. After addressing significant flooding issues, the building’s lower level, which is located 16 feet below street level, was transformed into office space and a student lounge with the original vault’s two-foot wide, solid-steel doors bolted open and the safety deposit boxes placed behind a glass partition. At the top of the building, a fifth-story addition built in the 1930s was remediated of all remaining asbestos and now houses six new classrooms, faculty workspaces and a student lounge area.

For the Delaware River Turnpike Bridge, which connects the New Jersey and Pennsylvania turnpikes, a contractor discovered a significant fracture in one of the bridge’s upper truss members and buckling in an adjacent member during a routine inspection. The bridge was immediately closed to all vehicular traffic so a comprehensive engineering assessment and structural analysis could determine a permanent repair strategy. STV provided construction management and inspection services, in conjunction with a design consultant, for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to develop an emergency repair plan. During the closure and repair process, the bridge remained under around-the-clock watch using high-definition video survey technology and instrumentation sensors. Initial best-case estimates indicated that the bridge would remain closed for nearly three months, however with the project team’s innovative approach to the emergency repairs, the bridge was reopened to vehicular traffic in less than two months.