NJ Transit trains will begin using a brand new bridge over the Hackensack River on Monday, marking the latest phase in a yearslong project to replace the century-old Portal Bridge, which caused headaches for riders for years.
For the last month, NJ Transit and Amtrak reduced the number of trains running over the river while they switched service from the old crossing to the new one, called the Portal North Bridge. But officials said the temporary inconvenience will be worth the trouble.
The new structure is taller than the old one, meaning it won’t have to open and close for boats on the river. Officials said that would happen dozens of times each year on the old bridge, and it would often get stuck and require a worker to hammer the pieces back into place.
It’ll also enable faster service. Trains will be able to travel up to 90 mph over the new crossing, up from the previous maximum speed of 60 mph.
The existing bridge carries 450 daily Amtrak and NJ Transit trains with 200,000 daily passengers, according to the two railroads.
“It was high time we got the new bridge done, this will make a huge difference, I want to end summers of hell,” Gov. Mikie Sherrill said at a press announcement.
The $2.3 billion project was approved in 2020 by the Gateway Development Commission, which is also responsible for building a new set of Hudson River train tunnels. President Donald Trump signed off on federal funding for the bridge in his first term, but has tried to kill financing for the tunnel project since returning to the White House.
“This is the appetizer. Now, what do I mean by that?” said U.S. Rep. Nellie Pou of New Jersey. “The main course is going to be about Gateway, the Gateway tunnel.”
The new bridge still isn’t finished, though.
Eastbound trains will be the only ones to use the new bridge, while westbound trains will still use the old crossing until the fall. Officials said they wanted to leave the tracks on the old bridge in place because they didn’t want to be caught working on the crossover while transit ridership in New Jersey booms over the summer due to the World Cup.
NJ Transit commuters at Penn Station this week said they were eager for the service disruptions caused by the bridge project to come to an end.
“Going home is a headache,” said Joseph Karpinski, who works in patient support at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. “It’s just taking much longer. It’s taking about a half hour at least longer. It’s very crowded, because there’s less trains, there’s more people going on the same train.”
Karpinski, 61, said he often travels back to Newark during the afternoon rush hour, which he said is when trains are the most packed.
NJ Transit rider Larae Finklin, who lives in Piscataway, New Jersey, said she’s had trouble making it to work in Queens over the last month. She said reroutes to her commute forced her to take a shuttle bus to another station, where she’d get on a separate train.
“It’s been pretty bad,” said Finklin, 29. “A couple of weeks ago it was worse because we couldn’t get into New York … It’s just always kind of iffy. One day it’s working, one day it’s not. A lot of delays.”
