Army Restores Wetlands in Harbor Project

As part of a $1.6 billion harbor-deepening project in the waters of New York and New Jersey, several agencies are busy restoring surrounding wetlands. Also, New Jersey builds a new rail station.

Army Corps Restoring Wetlands

Several wetlands restoration projects underway in New York and New Jersey will soon overhaul 143 acres of land to re-establish tidal flow in the region.

The work is part of a $1.6 billion project to deepen New York Harbor, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting on behalf of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, with support from other state and federal agencies, is also involved in the wetlands effort.

The agencies are working on a $27 million environmental mitigation program in the 16,216-sq.-mi. Hudson Raritan Estuary, which entails replanting 1.5 million marsh plants and removing 110,000 cu. yd. of material.

The team of agencies broke ground this summer on one of the program's first projects, a $4.3 million wetlands preservation effort in the Woodbridge Creek Ecosystem, restoring land donated by the Township of Woodbridge. The project, awarded to Rencor, a subcontractor in Somerville, N.J., will restore 23 acres of tidal wetlands and set aside 27 more acres under a state preservation program. The project also allows for the restoration of Bayway, an area affected in 1990 by an oil spill caused by Exxon.

Other projects in the overall program include:

• a $3.3 million restoration of Joseph P. Medwick Park in Carteret, N.J., by Dawson Corp. of Clarksburg, N.J.

• a $5.4 million salt marsh mitigation project at a KeySpan Corp. site on Staten Island by New York Concrete Corp. of New York

• and the $13 million Elder's Point Island Restoration project in Jamaica Bay by Galvin Brothers of Great Neck, N.Y.

Road Projects in New Jersey

The New Jersey Department of Transportation recently awarded $144 million worth of contracts for the inspection of roadways in Hudson and Bergen counties and an urban boulevard study in Trenton.

The agency selected Dewberry, an engineering, architectural, program management, and planning firm based in Fairfax, Va., to perform inspections on Routes 1 and 9 under a $44 million construction project. The effort will widen, grade, pave, and install drainage between mileposts 58 and 63 in North Bergen Township, Fairview, Ridgefield, and Palisades Park.

Stacie A. Davis of West Orange, N.J., is performing project scheduling and Medina Consultants of Lawrenceville, N.J., is serving as subconsultant on construction inspection. Construction is slated to begin in 2009.

In addition, Dewberry was selected to analyze the feasibility of converting a 1.8-mi. section of Route 29 in Trenton into an urban boulevard in order to provide better access to open space along the Delaware River and to promote downtown revitalization. The project, expected to cost more than $100 million, does not yet have a construction schedule in place.

Urbitran Associates of New York will provide travel demand modeling and transportation planning services for the Trenton project and Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Lopez Rinehart of Orlando, Fla., is analyzing urban design and landscape architecture. In addition, ACT Engineers of Robinsville, N.J., is assisting with community involvement, facilitation, survey, and right-of-way planning.

New Rail Station Breaks Ground

Construction started in June on the new Mount Arlington Rail Station for New Jersey Transit in Mount Arlington, N.J. The new station is the second step of a program - following the expansion of an adjacent park-and-ride and bus stop in 2003 - that aims to alleviate growing congestion on nearby Interstate 80.

The station, slated to open in late 2007, will serve commuters traveling to and from New York. The multimodal station, designed by Nick Salerno, a New Jersey Transit architect, features a 20 by 30 ft. heated waiting shelter, two 285-ft. platforms, and a 20 ft.-wide by 10 ft.-high pedestrian underpass. The current park-and-ride lot will also be expanded by 57 parking spaces, bringing the total to 300.

New Jersey Transit awarded the $5.2 million contract to Terminal Construction of Wood-Ridge, N.J. The project is being funded by the recently revamped New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund.

Click here for more Infrastructure News >>