Lower Raritan, WMA 9

Turning a Superfund Site into an Ecologically Beautiful Park

The Raritan Riverfront Restoration and Park is a visionary project being lead by Edison Township.   It will transform the Kin-Buc Landfill Superfund Site and Edison Landfill into a waterfront park with restored wetlands, passive recreation, a kayak and canoe launch, and expanded public access to the riverfront for the first time in decades.

Edison Wetlands Association, a local non-profit conservation organization, first conceived the Raritan Riverfront Restoration Project in 2002.  This initiative will transform two neighboring landfills into a pleasant accessible public waterfront park. Surprisingly, the area already offers some of the best remaining wildlife habitat on the lower Raritan River. Once complete, the project will include a kiosk, kayak and canoe launches, butterfly gardens, gazebos, great bird watching opportunities, passive recreation, and hiking trails.

By transforming garbage and toxic waste into gardens and rich wildlife habitat, this Brownfields-to-Greenfields project in the heart of the former “Chemical Belt” of Edison will serve as a national model for redeveloping hazardous waste sites into public parks. By creating public access and ecologically restoring the shoreline and tidal wetlands, this project will serve as the start of a regional greenways along the lower Raritan River, an objective that EWA is also pursuing at other sites further downstream.

Edison Township will work to complete Phase I of the Raritan Riverfront Restoration and Park.  Phase I includes restoration of wetlands where the Mill Brook enters the Raritan River, directly adjacent to the only current public access point on the Edison waterfront , The Edison Boat Basin. A 100-foot footbridge will also be built across Mill Brook, and a 570-foot recycled plastic walkway will wind around the restored wetlands to a new gazebo and informational display along the Raritan River. Two short wood chip trails will lead to the wetlands from the main walkway, alongside butterfly gardens planted with native plants and wildflower species. From the gazebo, a 1,300-foot gravel walkway will be created along the riverside with additional informational displays, benches, and native trees.

The design of Phase I—the riverfront walkway—is complete. Edison Township is currently bidding out the project and are planning to begin construction in the Spring 2008.