The Hudson-Bergen Light rail in action. (Photo via flickr user wallyg)
Think of this story as the natural accumulation of this week. On Monday, I tackled the upcoming changes to the Bayonne Bridge, and last night, I discussed the need for more light rail within the city limits of New York. Today, we learn that if New Jersey planners have their way, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line will indeed climb over the Bayonne Bridge and into Staten Island.
As The Jersey Journal’s Charles Hack reported on Thursday, New Jersey Transit officials have spoken with their Port Authority counterparts to discuss adding space for the light rail line as New Jersey prepares to renovate the Bayonne Bridge. Hack writes of the preliminary planning process:
Dan Stessel, a spokesman for NJ Transit, confirmed yesterday there have been discussions about extending the Light Rail from the Eighth Street Light Rail Station in Bayonne – which is slated to open within a month – to Staten Island. “Our involvement has been providing technical data to the Port Authority,” Stessel said. “Any significant expansion of the Light Rail beyond the Eighth Street Light Rail Station would require further study to address capacity constraints.”
Those constraints relate to whether the existing infrastructure – which includes two rail tracks, one in each direction – could handle additional trains and riders that an expansion to Staten Island would bring, he said.
Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said it is far too early to say whether or not incorporating a rail line into the bridge is a realistic proposition. Political support for a rail extension across the bridge seems stronger in New York than New Jersey. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro say that providing space for the Light Rail or an express bus lane on the bridge would cut Staten Island residents’ commute to Manhattan and reduce congestion.
Later on yesterday, Michael Grimm, a U.S. Congressman from Staten Island, voiced his support for the plan. Calling the project a “top priority,” he explained why Staten Island needs this rail link. “The people of Staten Island have spent too much time sitting in their cars stuck in traffic,” he said. “The Port Authority already has plans to raise the Bayonne Bridge, so it makes sense to incorporate light rail into the new design. The people of Staten Island have waited far too long for a light rail connection, which is why I plan to do all I can to make sure that it is built.”
Right now, we don’t know anything about the costs of laying light rail over the bridge, and it doesn’t make much sense to build a connection without activating the North Shore Rail Line or building the HBLR out to the ferry terminal. I also wonder about the framing here. Should New York representatives focus on moving Staten Islanders to Manhattan via New Jersey or should they view this rail link as a way to improve mobility from Staten Island to the job hubs across the Hudson in New Jersey? Without the numbers or any studies to support this contention, I believe the link to New Jersey would be more useful than the promise of a slightly faster ride to Manhattan.
Ultimately, this plan is years from fruition. While New Jersey representatives have called upon the Port Authority to act quickly as it addresses the future of the Bayonne Bridge, it will take multiple studies and much lobbying to see transit realized. But as I said earlier this week, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to better connect Staten Island, and both New York and New Jersey should work to make it happen.
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Finally, we have a transit project slated for the city’s least served and least connected borough. It has both popular and political support. This should be a no brainer. I really hope this happens.
It’s a narrow bridge and they’re going to raise the deck 60 feet, widen lanes, and add streetcar access. This, I just have to see.
And also save the ‘historic’ structure somehow.
it is a head scratcher
Who is paying for this project? NJ Transit, using NJ tax payer subsidies, to give NY state public transit, isn’t going to fly. Will the PA subsidize HBLR in SI? Its going to be a cold day in hell before NY State or the MTA will pay for any new mega projects. Hope you have a Scuba tank when driving over the Tappen Zee, you’ll need it in a few years.
Pete.. Looks like NJ Transit is at best “cautious” about this idea. Their spokesman says there are supplying tech data to the PA and there are “capacity constraints” that need to be studied. We dont hear the PA jumping all over this either – it’s “far too early”. Reading between the lines, there is no eagerness to throw in and fund. After ARC, who sees Christie giving one dime to this project?
The PA seems lukewarm about any rail project. They’re not happy running PATH, and their best source of road revenue is the GWB.
Assuming this can be technically built, there are some other logistical questions to be raised. (1) will it operate in Staten Island as a true “streetcar” (rather than on its own right-of-way)? If so, I see a strange battle between NJ Transit and the NYC Dept. of Sanitation when LRT cars get stuck because of snow. (2) will the NJ Transit Police have the jurisdiction to enforce fare-checks in Staten Island? Will those caught without validated tickets in SI then have to go to court in New Jersey?
An HBLR line over the bridge would also likely mean longer access ramps at each end to lower the grade for the higher span so that the rail cars (and trucks) would be able to cross at normal speed, or you end up with a humped bridge like some of those over the inter coastal waterways down south, or the Thousand Islands Bridge in Upstate New York. That’s sure to start a NIMBY fight all by itself, let alone the questions of street running vs. dedicated ROW in S.I., and who pays for two-tracking HBLR and extending it to the bridge in Bayonne.
The plan may be doable, but getting the Port Authority just to acknowledge the option is only the first of many hurdles for the project.
“Without the numbers or any studies to support this contention, I believe the link to New Jersey would be more useful than the promise of a slightly faster ride to Manhattan.” But the beauty of an extension of HBLRT to Staten Island is that there is no conflict here; one can do both. Yes, one can see the political issues at play. But the practical? What’s not to like?
I wonder how many Staten Islanders work in Jersey city’s mega office hubs from Newport through exchange Place & on to Harsamus Cove. If the employment numbers are high enough, this maybe a project worth doing if the bridge can be adapted for light rail.
“this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to better connect Staten Island”
Really? You are talking about a frightfully expensive project that creates a turtle-slow and trasfer-laden trip to Manhattan.
As I said in the post, it’s not about connecting Manhattan to SI but rather about connecting a New Jersey job hub with SI. How do you know it’s “frightfully expensive” if we haven’t been given any cost estimates yet? Do you assume any rail project is frightfully expensive? Maybe that’s not a bad assumption, but transit upgrades that are better than this half-hearted Select Bus Service are going to cost money. The other option is gridlock and lost productivity.
“Do you assume any rail project is frightfully expensive?”
Pretty much. But I think many can be worthwhile. I don’t think there are enough expansion projects. But just because you can stick a light rail line on this bridge does not mean that it’s a good idea. This one strikes me as a very poor use of a ton of money. If you actually allocated $1 billion to Staten Island bus lanes which could be used for general purpose travel during non-commuting hours: You could more quickly add lanes to the West Shore Expressway (which should be done anyway), reserving one during commuting hours for buses which can be run in several directions including to the Jersey City job hub. Maybe grade separate some of 440 in Bayonne to speed things further. There is no reason to formulaically conclude that rail or transit is always the best alternative.
It’s not a matter of “formulaically [concluding] that rail or transit is always the best alternative.” Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is in place, most of it on off-street right-of-way, and can handle more capacity than it does. So it’s making use of an existing investment on the New Jersey side. A replacement for the Bayonne Bridge should be multi-modal in order to give “the most bang for the buck.” Smart development on the Staten Island side might include a mixed-use project plugged into a multi-modal terminal (park-and-ride, rail, bus). HBLR has spurred a lot of new development on the New Jersey side. For an analogue look at the redevelopment of Stamford since the early 1970s. Building more roads just isn’t a good option.
Can you imagine that additional road capacity would ever be a good option?
I don’t know if you’re still reading this, but my own take is that road expansion should be based on missing links, not capacity. (You can’t raise capacity on roads like the LIE without creating expensive monstrosities.) By all means let’s look for ways to construct bridges or tunnels between Long Island and City Island/New Rochelle, and even Fishers Island and Mystic/Westerly; I’m all for spending some money on examining alternatives to see if such links can be constructed at reasonable cost. The point is that these would add mobility, whereas adding lanes to six-lane freeways would just move the congestion to the onramps.
How about spending the money on increased SI-NJ bus service instead? In particular, expand the hours of service on the S89, add a Bayonne-St. George bus that will mimic the North Shore Line, and a SI-Newark/Newark Airport line. Oh, and for an exotic proposal, a connection via the Outerbridge for better access to the Jersey Shore.
Another important issue: attracting New Jerseyans to work/shop in Staten Island. If that can be done, a rail line can be better justified.
Part of the “backstory” to this is viewing the NYC-NJ economy as a whole, especially Staten Island and adjacent parts of New Jersey. Economic development on both sides of the Kills is crucial.
From what I remember, capacity on the NJ side is one of the biggest concerns for NJT. Many stations along HBLR have already been extended, and, unfortunately cannot easily be extended anymore. The lines that run might have to be changed for capacity to work (running express/skip-stop or cutting a line in half).
This is on the backs of raising the Bayonne Bridge due to vertical clearance issues for very large ships. Expanding and improving the Jersey City & Bayonne Terminals would give the PA New-Panamax sized (or even Suezmax if they can get the funds to dredge the channels to 21m depth) port option on the Upper New York Bay. It would also buy the PA time to get the Bayonne Bridge in order. In the interim, the ships that can’t fit through the Bayonne Bridge can use the Bayonne/Jersey Terminals. Smaller ships can use the facilities upstream.
Eventually, the capacity of the facilities upstream will be needed. By then, the Bayonne Bridge modification will be completed.
From what I’ve seen from the Satellite photos, a third track can be added along the two-tracked Hudson Bergen Light Rail from 22nd St north, in large portions, excluding of course, the elevated part of the line, (which would be prohibitively expensive) and the street-running portions. Adding a third track along the at-grade portions may be helpful for implementation of skip-stop service and the like, but would not be a true express track by any means, since it cannot be extended for the entire length.
South of 22nd Street, the HBLR, despite the apparent room for it on nearby under-utilized freight tracks, is single-tracked, which splits into a two-track station 8th St and Avenue C.
There is room to expand to two-track operation before and after 8th St, so there’s no issue there.
Richmond Ave, which is the current route of the S89 Bus, and the North-South Route I had always imagined the HBLR running down, has a major advantage that no one would even think twice about;
It has a median that is one-two lanes wide from the North Shore all the way to the bridge over Fresh Kills; a dedicated right of way that would only require the redistribution of turning lanes.
South of Fresh Kills, however, it is only 4 lanes wide, and would have to share the right of way with cars, running as a true ‘streetcar’.
It could then terminate and turn at Eltingville Station, which would become the new transfer point for riders to New Jersey and PATH. It would likely take less than an hour from Eltingville to PATH, and even less if skip-stop peak service is implemented.
This project is a fantastic step forward; we’ve got to ensure that this happens!
Sorry not to be doing the research myself, but could a single train run from Bayonne all the way to the Port Imperial ferries, that connect to midtown?
If this project was done in conjunction with the 7 line extension we were excited about a couple months back, that might be a good way to get to midtown or LIC.
Also to consider, most of the new development on SI is going up around Richmond Ave, so adding transit to there would make it more possible for those new residents to forego the second car, and it might even (possibly) allow for TOD around stations.
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