The project replaces the 110-year-old bridge to improve service and reliability on the Northeast Corridor for NJ Transit and Amtrak customers as part of the Gateway Program.
The New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) Board of directors has approved a contract with Skanska/Traylor Bros Joint Venture for the construction of the new Portal North Bridge. This is the largest award in NJ Transit’s history.
The project, a critical part of the Gateway Program, will eliminate the critical issues caused by operation and maintenance of the existing swing bridge that have long plagued the most heavily transited portion of the Northeast Corridor.
“Few infrastructure projects are as critical to the nation as replacing the aging Portal Bridge, said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
“With today’s step, NJ Transit is rapidly moving towards beginning the first phase of the largest infrastructure project in the United States. This award will not only bring a bridge that will resolve the long-standing bottlenecks plaguing New Jersey commuters, but will also create well-paying skilled labor jobs in the process.
NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin S. Corbett added, “This construction award, which is the single largest in our agency’s history, is the culmination of more than three years of hard work and determination by NJ TRANSIT and our project partners at Amtrak.
The $1,559,993,000 construction contract for the 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. Once construction begins, the construction contract is anticipated to take approximately five and a half years
The project is being funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, NJ Transit and Amtrak. In January 2021, Gov. 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.
