Jersey City officials hosted a public meeting to discuss the progress of the Bergen Arches project at Dickinson High School auditorium last night.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
Jersey City Infrastructure Director Barkha Patel began by asserting that the project, which would covert the space into a public greenway or rail trail, has widespread community support.
“For decades, advocates like many of you have been working so hard to keep the spirit and vision of the Bergen Arches alive,” she said.
Patel noted that the Bergen Arches Preservation Coalition, the Journal Square Community Association, the Embankment Coalition, the Landmarks Conservancy, Bike JC, and Safe Streets JC are among those looking to see the project come to fruition.
“It hasn’t been easy. Over the decades, it’s included raising money for this project, fighting outlandish proposals to turn the Bergen Arches into a highway,” Patel continued.
She also said the state hasn’t been interested in the project for years, even though it owns the land via NJ Transit.
She commended state Senator Raj Mukherji (D-32, then an assemblyman) for securing the $100,000 in the 2022-2023 state needed to complete the study last year. State Senator Brian Stack (D-33) also pushed for the allocation.
They are now doing a feasibility study of the nature, the bridges and tunnels that make up the Bergen Arches, measuring safety and what they would preserve.
It is part of the larger Essex Hudson Greenway project, a 10-mile long trail connecting the area with an above-ground nature path the city and the State of New Jersey is working on.
The study is going over the space, the vegetation, the condition of the infrastructure, and what they want to preserve.
“The vision is crystal clear and unwavering. We want to open the arches. We want it to be safe and accessible for the public,” Patel explained.
“We want to prioritize transportation uses that are sustainable and efficient like walking, biking, and transit. We want to preserve the urban forest that’s growing down there. And we absolutely do not want it to be a highway for cars.”
The goal now is to create a more concrete plan for the state to work on, with Patel emphasizing that the final study would serve as a blueprint the State can use to open the arches as a type of park and part of the Essex-Hudson Greenway.
“It’s been a battle over the last seven years,” Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano
said about the process.
“We are eager to see the Bergen Arches be an open green space for residents. “There’s a lot of deer walking through there. It’s really nice. It’s like a natural preserve,” he noted.
They then showed a video that explained how prominent railroads were in the city in the 1800s, including the Erie Railroad that created the Bergen Arches.
The last train went through the Bergen Arches in 1957 and part of it is a tunnel through the rock.
Supermass Studio is the firm conducting the feasibility study with Arup and NHDM and provided the graphics as progress. It is the first feasibility study done on the project.
Technical data analysis is being done as part of the ongoing study, which is expected to be completed by this summer. Once finished, the study will be presented to the state and NJ Transit before Jersey City pushes for work to get started.
“It is the first time (NJ) Transit has come to the table and actually worked with us. That’s a very positive development,” she noted.
City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione echoed Patel’s sentiments in an email to HCV this afternoon.
“We were able to get NJ Transit to participate this time, which is an important step in the right direction. Over the next several months, the team will collect data and community feedback to provide the state with a feasibility study that promotes future possibilities at the site.”
We should reactivate the Bergen Arches and use it for an express bus way connecting JSQ and downtown Jersey City via Columbus drive. Light rail is too expensive to build today at $50 million per mile. Use non polluting buses instead for less money and infrastructure work. You can also have a bikeway and pedestrian way. It can be up and running very quickly to accommodate all the new residents coming soon. Also could connect to the Essex Hudson Greenway and ultimately the dream mall and Metlife Stadium. Via could also use it with NJT buses.