On Thursday, March 12, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak celebrated a major milestone at the Portal North Bridge in Kearny by riding a ceremonial train over the bridge, which will have one track officially go into passenger service on Monday, March 16. This marks a historic moment in transferring service from the current 116-year-old swing bridge, which has long been a source of delays. The second and final track will be moved onto the new bridge in the fall, providing increased reliability to rail customers for generations to come.
The ceremonial first train was led by NJ TRANSIT’s locomotive wrapped in graphics celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
On February 13, NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak began critical work to transfer one track of rail service from the old Portal Bridge to the new Portal North Bridge over the Hackensack River. The work required temporary service adjustments to NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak schedules.
The Portal North Bridge is a new modern two-track, high-level, fixed-span bridge that will improve service and capacity along this section of the Northeast Corridor. The new Portal North Bridge will rise 50 feet over the Hackensack River, doubling the height clearance and will allow marine traffic to pass underneath without interrupting rail traffic.
The project eliminates the 116-year-old swing bridge, which has been the enduring source of major service disruptions for NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak customers traveling on the Northeast Corridor. The new bridge will provide:
- Improved reliability and fewer bridge-related delays
- Increased operational resilience along the Northeast Corridor
- A modern structure designed to support future capacity growth
The project is being funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, New Jersey, New York, and Amtrak. In January 2021, Governor Murphy announced the signing of a Full Funding Grant Agreement which secured $766.5 million in Federal Transit Administration funding to support the project’s construction.
In October 2021, Governor Murphy and NJ TRANSIT announced the approval of a $1,559,993,000 construction contract awarded to Skanska/Traylor Bros PNB Joint Venture (STJV) for the construction of the new Portal North Bridge. The contract represents the single largest construction award in NJ TRANSIT’s history.
The Portal North Bridge project spans 2.44 miles of the Northeast Corridor line and includes construction of retaining walls, deep foundations, concrete piers, structural steel bridge spans, rail systems, demolition of the existing bridge, and related incidental works. The project is a critical component of the larger Gateway Program, which will eventually double rail capacity between Newark and New York.
-via Press Release
