The borough of Carteret secured a $5.6 million grant for the forthcoming Carteret ferry terminal building from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Carteret Mayor Daniel Reiman announced on Wednesday.
The new 47,000 square-foot hub of the borough’s forthcoming ferry service will provide service between central New Jersey and Downtown Manhattan. The funding was made possible through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, or RAISE, discretionary grant program and will be used to support the construction of the borough’s new multimodal terminal which will facilitate transfers between the ferry, New Jersey Transit bus routes, cars, and nearby pedestrian and bicycle paths.
“This is a highly competitive grant to which towns, counties and states from all over the country can apply and compete,” Reiman said. “It’s an extremely difficult grant to obtain, so we are very grateful to President (Joe) Biden and the U.S. Department of Transportation for investing infrastructure funds into this intermodal ferry terminal. This program would not be possible without the implementation of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill championed by Congressional leaders like Frank Pallone.”
When he signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, Biden said: “This is an investment that’s going to connect entire towns and regions to new opportunities. With this investment, we’re sending a message to those communities and to the people who call them home: You matter.”
Carteret has become a very desirable location to live, work and raise a family. The Reiman administration has fought for years to increase Carteret’s economic competitiveness, and to create the opportunity for growth through new residential and commercial development, the newly constructed Carteret Performing Arts and Events Center, upgraded parks and stable tax rates. The addition and implementation of this new public transportation option will positively impact the community economically. Creating ferry travel opportunities also is a critical component to opening waterfront areas and increasing access to work and recreation activities.
Among thousands of applicants throughout the U.S. and its territories, the extremely competitive RAISE Grant is awarded to only a handful of recipients to fund transportation infrastructure projects. Carteret was the only New Jersey recipient.
The borough recently awarded contracts for the next phases of both in-water and uplands construction of the forthcoming ferry terminal. The bulkhead for the ferry terminal was completed in October 2022. New Jersey Department of Transportation Office of Maritime Resources completed the dredging in January 2023.
“This is truly an exciting time for Carteret,” Reiman said. “After years of studies and permitting through what seems like the endless bureaucracy of government agencies, we will soon reinstate ferry service, which will safely and efficiently deliver commuters from Carteret and the surrounding area every day to New York City.”
For the ferry project, the Reiman administration has secured more than $70 million in federal and state grants, including several other competitive funds, such as a 2022 Federal Transit Authority grant and a 2023 Congressional appropriation.
The planned intermodal transportation building is part of a larger multiyear, $1.5 billion redevelopment plan to transform the borough’s waterfront into a regional transportation, economic and recreational hub and destination. In addition to Waterfront Park, Veteran’s Pier and Carteret Municipal Marina, which have already been completed, the waterfront redevelopment plans include the private construction of a 500,000-square-foot film production studio and 150,000 square feet of ancillary retail and hotel space on private property adjacent to the ferry terminal.
