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Portal Bridge

Portal Bridge
Coordinates40°45′13″N 74°5′41″W / 40.75361°N 74.09472°W / 40.75361; -74.09472
CarriesNortheast Corridor
CrossesHackensack River
LocaleNew Jersey Meadowlands
OwnerAmtrak
Characteristics
DesignPratt truss swing bridge
MaterialBessemer steel
Total length961 ft (293 m)
No. of spans6 deck girder + 1 swing span
Clearance below23 ft (7.0 m)
History
Constructed byPennsylvania Steel Company
Inaugurated1910
Statistics
Daily traffic450 trains (as of 2015)
Location
Map

The Portal Bridge is a two-track rotating swing-span railroad bridge over the Hackensack River in Kearny and Secaucus, New Jersey, United States. It is on the Northeast Corridor just west of Secaucus Junction and east of the Sawtooth Bridges. Owned and operated by Amtrak and used extensively by NJ Transit, it is the busiest train span in the Western Hemisphere,[1] carrying between 150,000 and 200,000 passengers per day[1][2][3] on approximately 450 daily trains (an average of one train every two minutes during the day).[1]

Originally opened for revenue service in November 1910,[3] the bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in conjunction with service to the newly constructed Pennsylvania Station in New York City. It is 961 feet (293 m) long. The average bridge clearance of 20 feet (6.1 m) (depending on the tide) requires it to swing open to allow maritime traffic to pass underneath it. By the 2000s, the Portal Bridge train speeds were limited to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).

Replacement of the bridge is the first phase of the Gateway Project.[4] After initially refusing to provide any funding for the project, the Trump administration allowed the project to move forward in February 2020.[5][6] The bridge replacement is estimated to cost $1.8 billion. Funding comprises $811 million from the State of New Jersey, $766.5 million from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), $261.5 million from Amtrak and $57.1 million from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).[7][8][9] Construction of the new bridge was given final approval to proceed in April 2022 and later began on August 1, 2022.[10][11] The first track on the new bridge is scheduled to be operational in November 2025.[12]

  1. ^ a b c McGeehan, Patrick (September 25, 2014). "104-Year-Old Portal Bridge Presents $900 Million Problem for Rail Commuters". The New York Times. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  2. ^ Porter, David (November 15, 2014). "New Jersey's Portal Bridge, bane of the Northeast Corridor, is due for upgrade". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference maag2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Portal Bridge Replacement Project". Amtrak: The Northeast Corridor. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  5. ^ Young, Elise (March 15, 2019). "Portal Bridge's Reign of Misery Ending for NYC-Area Train Riders". Bloomberg.
  6. ^ Higgs, Larry (February 10, 2020). "Portal Bridge clears last major hurdle before the federal dollars can flow". NJ.com. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  7. ^ Israel, Daniel (December 17, 2020). "Final federal funding for Portal North Bridge nears approval". Hudson Reporter. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  8. ^ "USDOT announces $766.5 million grant agreement to NJ Transit for Portal North Bridge Project". www.masstransitmag.com. January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  9. ^ "Menendez, Booker, Pascrell, Payne, Malinowski Applaud Signing of Portal Bridge Federal Funding Agreement". January 14, 2021.
  10. ^ "At last, commuters will see construction of a new Portal Bridge from their train windows". April 7, 2022.
  11. ^ "Breaking ground for new Portal North Bridge in New Jersey". WABC-TV. August 1, 2022. Archived from the original on August 14, 2022.
  12. ^ Higgs, Larry (October 12, 2021). "'Momentous day' for NJ Transit commuters with $1.56B contract to replace Portal Bridge". NJ.com.

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