After years of effort on the part of South Amboy Mayor Fred Henry and the city council, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, state Sen. Joseph Vitale, Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, a groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday in South Amboy to mark the beginning of construction on the South Amboy ferry project.
Pallone (D-6th Dist.) was instrumental in seeing the project come to fruition. He advocated for federal funding from the Federal Transit Administration and wrote a letter in support of the city’s Passenger Ferry Grant Program application, which was awarded $5.3 million. The project will help meet commuter demand between central New Jersey and New York City and strengthen the area’s economy.
“I’m proud to join state and local leaders in South Amboy today to mark this important moment in the ferry terminal project. The South Amboy ferry will give residents a new way to commute between Central Jersey and New York City and reduce traffic congestion,” Pallone said. “The new facility will also bolster economic opportunities in the city and surrounding area. I’m glad the federal funding I helped secure for the project will be put to work soon.”
“Diversifying and expanding our network of transportation infrastructure is crucial to most efficiently getting people to and from places in one of our country’s most economically productive regions,” Coughlin (D-Woodbridge) stated.
The new ferry services at South Amboy will provide Middlesex County residents and other New Jerseyans throughout the region another efficient commuting option.
Once completed, the ferry is expected to service over 1,000 daily riders during each weekday and 250 daily riders on weekend days. With a total annual ridership of 286,000, the ferry is expected to greatly lower daily commuter traffic congestion between central New Jersey and Manhattan.
