Quote:
Our City Planner is doing " a heckuva job ".

Build the lightrail on the Embankment to Seacaucus and extend the 7 train to Hoboken and Seacaucus.

When the state Department of Transportation released a list last month of nearly two dozen transportation projects in Hudson County that will share $551 million in state funding this year, Jersey City officials were surprised to see $13.4 million allocated for the Bergen Arches.

The problem?

There's no plan, or at least no plan that the city is aware of as to how to use the money, said City Planner Bob Cotter.

"I was very surprised," Cotter said about the allocation. "I'm at a loss to explain what this $13 million is intended to do."

The Bergen Arches are a set of derelict train tracks that run parallel to Route 139 for about a mile. Last used over three decades ago, they were originally constructed to bring Erie Railroad passengers to the Pavonia Avenue Terminal on the waterfront.

The arches are an "incredibly valuable" right-of-way that could be very important for creating additional rail lines in the future, Cotter said. But for now there's no city plan for them, he said.

The $13.4 million state allocation for the Bergen Arches is part of the DOT's proposed five-year Transportation Capital Program.

According to DOT spokesman Joe Dee, it is up to the city to define what they want to do with the Bergen Arches. City and DOT officials have discussed the arches in the past, and DOT officials remembered those discussions when they drew up the five-year capital plan, Dee said.

Roughly two years ago, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy floated a proposal calling for a light rail route from Journal Square, through the Bergen Arches, across the Sixth Street Embankment, to the waterfront. The city is still in a battle with the owner of the embankment -- Victoria Hyman, the wife of businessman Steve Hyman -- over the fate of unused, elevated stretch.

"I think the first step is doing a study to determine what needs to be done or what they plan to do," Dee said.

According to Cotter, the DOT already commissioned a plan nearly a decade ago that called for any Bergen Arches projects to be "mothballed," or deferred indefinitely.

Only part of story online -- link is down -- maybe look at the online Jersey Journal for more info...

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Jersey City official caught off guard by $13.4 million state grant‎

The Jersey Journal - NJ.com -
Terrence T. McDonald -
21 hours ago

When the state Department of Transportation released a list last month of nearly two dozen transportation.....


Roughly two years ago, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy floated a proposal calling for a light rail route from Journal Square, through the Bergen Arches....


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Only part of story online -- link is down -- maybe look at the online Jersey Journal for more info...