The Gateway Program Development Corp. announced Monday it has released two new animations of the finished Portal North Bridge and Hudson River Tunnel projects.
The two projects are the first in the Gateway Program and will replace a 107-year-old failing rail system from Washington to Boston, Newark-based GDC said.
The first animation is the full build out of the Portal North Bridge project, which is a 2.5 mile rail from Kearny to Secacus, including the replacement of a 107-year-old swing bridge over the Hackensack River. GDC said the bridge gets stuck and causes major delays when opening and closing to accommodate river traffic.
The second animation is the new route of the Hudson River Tunnel from New Jersey under the Palisades and Hudson River to the west side of Manhattan. This will be the first tunnel built under the Hudson in more than 80 years, GDC said.
“With complicated transportation projects, it’s important that we show and not just tell,” Stephen Sigmund, GDC chief of public outreach, said.
“These animations bring to life the two most urgent infrastructure projects in the country, the 2.5 mile long Portal North Bridge and the two tunnels under the Hudson River to Penn Station, that will unclog a bottleneck causing delays for 200,000 riders and day and threatening 10 percent of the nation’s GDP. Such critical parts of our transportation infrastructure deserve to be reliable, efficient and built for the 21st Century, and these animations demonstrate that that’s just what the new Portal North Bridge and Hudson River Tunnels are.”
