First Arch for Portal North Rail Bridge Delivered by Barge

Following a 30-hour journey down the Hudson River, the first of three arches to support the new Portal North Bridge arrived at the construction site recently. The new rail bridge will replace the current 114-year-old swing bridge with a fixed span that eliminates the need to open and close, improving the experiences of thousands of daily commuters along the busiest stretch of passenger rail in the U.S.

“The arrival of the first arch at the Portal North Bridge site marks a major milestone in transforming the Northeast Corridor into a more reliable transit route for tens of thousands of daily commuters,” said NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin S. Corbett. “Through this project, NJ TRANSIT is proud to demonstrate that, even in the Northeast—where mega-projects have historically faced delays and cost overruns—it is possible to deliver a transformational project on time and within budget.”

Three tugboats, a heavy transport barge, and a spacer barge towed the five-million-pound, 400-foot-long, 50-foot-wide arch down the Hudson River beginning at the Port of Coeymans near Albany, NY. Traveling an average of five knots (approx. 5.75 mph) down the Hudson River, it arrived near the bridge site in Kearny 30 hours later.

The Portal North Bridge is a new, 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, more than doubling the height clearance and will allow marine traffic to pass underneath without interrupting rail traffic.

In October 2021, NJ Governor Phil 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 bridge. The contract represents the single largest construction award in NJ TRANSIT’s history.

“Today marks an important milestone for the Gateway Program with the arrival of a new arch that will help replace the century old Portal North Bridge,” said Gov. Murphy. “Together, we are transforming the Portal North Bridge into an access point that will provide our rail passengers with a more reliable commute, and our entire region with economic opportunity. We are now proudly one step closer to rebuilding our regional infrastructure and assuring that the most important public works project in America continues to move forward.”

The project is being funded by USDOT, New Jersey, New York, and Amtrak. In January 2021, Gov. Murphy announced the signing of a Full Funding Grant Agreement which secured $766.5 million in FTA funding to support the project’s construction.

“As work continues on Portal North Bridge, having the first of three arches delivered to the project site is the latest of many milestones that we are proud to celebrate,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. “This new milestone symbolizes both the great progress taking place on the project and the strong collaboration with our partners at NJ TRANSIT that comes from investments in infrastructure improvements and getting the work done on time, within budget, and safely.”

The 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.

“For hundreds of thousands of New Jersey’s daily rail commuters, travel has been dictated by the limitations of aging infrastructure. However, the arrival of one of the Portal North Bridge’s three arches marks a significant step toward upgrading this vital section of the Northeast Corridor,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). “Over the last ten years, my colleagues and I have secured nearly $1 billion in federal funding to strengthen this critical railway, the first major project under construction in the Gateway Program, making it safer and more reliable.”