Source: United States Senator for New Jersey Bob Menendez
KEARNY, N.J. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) joined Governor Governor Phil Murphy and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as well as several federal, state, and local officials to celebrate the official physical groundbreaking of the new Portal North Bridge. Construction of the new Portal North Bridge will greatly reduce gridlock caused by critical operation and maintenance issues of the existing 110-year-old swing bridge and improve service, reliability, and capacity for rail travel along the Northeast Corridor. The bridge is a major part of the larger Gateway Program, the nation’s most important infrastructure project, and a testament to the prioritization of critical infrastructure investments by Biden Administration that Sens. Menendez and Booker helped to secure in Washington.
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“Today, we turn the page. When the new Portal Bridge opens it will be fixed in place and high enough for marine traffic to pass below unimpeded. It will spare hundreds of thousands of passengers each day from malfunctions and delays,” said Sen. Menendez. “For travelers, it will mean less time stuck on a train and more time with their families and loved ones, and at their destinations. For our region, it will help us double rail capacity between Newark and Manhattan as part of the broader Gateway program. And for our communities, this project is directly tied towards more jobs, higher wages, and greater productivity.”
“The groundbreaking of Portal North Bridge is the culmination of an effort that has spanned years,” said Sen. Booker. “This vital infrastructure project has been a priority of mine since I joined the Senate. It will improve reliability and safety for riders, eliminate cumbersome delays, and move us one step closer to completing the broader Gateway Program that is critical to our region and nation’s long-term economic competitiveness. I am proud of the coordination between federal, state, and local officials that has moved this project forward.”
“This project turns the Portal North Bridge from a chokepoint to an access point. It modernizes the way that people and goods get to and from this region that is responsible for 20 percent of America’s economic product every year,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg. “I hope that this bridge will not only bring people to work and loved ones to where they need to be, but brings renewed confidence in our ability to get things done together. We are entering into a true infrastructure decade.”
The current Portal Bridge will be replaced with 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 and will allow marine traffic to pass underneath without interrupting rail traffic.
The Portal North Bridge project will eliminate the 110-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 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.
“The esteemed elected officials, transportation executives, and union members gathered here today to celebrate a national milestone are evidence of what we can achieve when we band together as Americans in pursuit of a common purpose,” said Governor Murphy. “Safe, reliable, and modern infrastructure is about more than just getting to work on time. It’s also about the thousands of good-paying jobs this project will create and the families they support. By improving connectivity, we will also promote economic opportunity, not just for New Jersey residents and commuters, but for the Northeast Corridor and our nation. The new Portal North Bridge symbolizes our lasting legacy and our commitment to the welfare and prosperity of all New Jerseyans.”
“Thanks to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Federal Transit Administration will be able to support more projects like the new Portal North bridge, which will improve our economy along the Northeast Corridor, and throughout the country,” said Nuria Fernandez, FTA Administrator. “I am proud to join Secretary Buttigieg as construction begins on this critical project. It will bring an important part of our national infrastructure into the 21st Century, creating jobs and getting Americans where they’re going quickly and safely.”
“It has been my goal as Board Chair of NJ TRANSIT that the agency prioritizes investments in infrastructure projects that will deliver long-term customer experience improvements,” said New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chair Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti. “This groundbreaking symbolizes the next step in modernizing and maximizing rail service along the highly transited Northeast Corridor improving reliability and capacity for generations to come.”
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 Notice to Proceed (NTP) given to STJV in April signified the start of the construction contract, which is anticipated to take approximately five and a half years to complete.
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