Liberty Corridor
www.state.nj.us/transportation/works/libertycorridor
Liberty Corridor is an innovative program sponsored by Sen. Menendez of New Jersey to promote economic development through selective funding of critical links in the transportation system that would serve broad, long term needs of the region and enhance the capacity of the region’s growing industries, especially those relying on new technologies.
Wittpenn Bridge Replacement
Project Description: This would eliminate a major choke point by replacing the existing, structurally deficient Wittpenn Bridge that joins Kearny with Jersey City with a new vertical-lift bridge on a new alignment. Ten-foot travel lanes will be replaced with 12-foot wide lanes.
$10 million has been allocated from the Liberty Corridor project funds toward the estimated $91 total cost of construction, and would make several currently underutilized brownfield sites accessible and desirable for port related activities.
NJDOT anticipates start of construction in 2009, and completion in 2011.
North Jersey Railroad Double-stack Clearance / National Docks
Project Description: This would eliminate vertical clearance restrictions in two tunnels on the Conrail railroad route between the Port of New York and New Jersey and the CSX mainline serving the US rail network. The Bergen and Waldo tunnels in Jersey City currently cannot accommodate the passage of industry-standard intermodal container trains of 20-ft./2-in. in height.
The $24 million project would reduce the number of trains and the resulting costs required to handle the growing number of container shipments bound to or from the port and help secure the value of port investments. Liberty Corridor funding is being matched by funds from CSX, the railroad using the route.
Liberty Corridor Phase 1 Projects, NJDOT
Port Reading Junction
Project Description: This project will reconfigure the Port Reading Junction and allow double track trains to move between the two major routes out of the State to the West and the South, the CSX West Trenton line and the Norfolk Southern Lehigh line. This will significantly improve the efficiency of train operations and constitutes a critical link in the current Lehigh line double tracking project.
Although physically located in Somerset County, it would affect rail freight traffic throughout the Liberty Corridor. Liberty Corridor is providing $5 million of the $13.4 million cost, with the rest being shared by the two railroads. The lines serve the terminals in Port Newark, Port Elizabeth and Staten Island. One major beneficiary is the growing ethanol industry which provides clean fuels for transportation.
Tremley Point Connector Road
Project Description: This is a new connector between Exit 12 on the New Jersey Turnpike and the warehousing and distribution complex being developed in Carteret, NJ. The funding will allow the completion of a highly sensitive project that includes protecting significant wetlands. When completed in 2012, the 6 million square foot complex which sits on a brownfield site of more than 400 acres is expected to provide more than 2000 new jobs. Liberty Corridor is providing $10 million of the $92 million project cost. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is also investing more than $155 in associated improvements to Exit 12.
North Avenue Corridor Project – Phase I
Project Description: The North Avenue corridor in Elizabeth is one of the most critical transportation and commercial corridors in the State. A third of the truck traffic to and from the Port travels in this corridor, along with customers for IKEA, Jersey Gardens Mall, several hotels and other commercial development. This project will separate truck traffic headed to the port and the airport from passenger traffic destined to these commercial sites, improving access to the airport and the port for all. $10 million from Liberty Corridor will supplement the funding from the Port Authority ($169 million) and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority ($45 million).
Liberty Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Service
Project Description: An innovative bus rapid transit (BRT) line will connect the workforce living in neighborhoods in Newark to the downtown, and employment sites at the Ports of Newark and Elizabeth, Newark Liberty International Airport, the Newark Innovation Zone and University Heights Science Park. Lack of public transportation access to the port has been a significant contributor to the congestion near the port and has required the dedication of scarce vacant land to parking. Liberty Corridor is providing the full $10 million cost of this new service.
