ARC Project Awarded First Construction Contract

By Carolina Worrell
May 14, 2009

The ARC tunnel will extend from North Bergen to 34th Street in Manhattan and will double the commuter rail capacity between northern New Jersey and New York City.

The nation’s largest new public transportation project is moving into the construction phase.

The New Jersey Transit Board of Directors today agreed to approve the first of many contract packages for $8.7 billion Mass Transit Tunnel project.

Partners New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have pledged $5.7 billion to the MTT project that is being advocated by Senators Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, along with Governor Corzine and are seeking federal participation of $3 billion.

The approval of the contract comes a week after an announcement that President Barack Obama is including $200 million in additional funding for the project in the fiscal year 2010 federal budget and will set the stage for the MTT project – also known as Access to the Region’s Core or “ARC” – to break ground in the coming weeks.

The initial $13.6 million contract, awarded to Ferreira Construction Co., Branchburg, N.J. –  covers the planned railroad underpass at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, which will allow the tunnel’s two new rail tracks to begin their descent under Palisades Mountain. The contract is being funded with a portion of the $424 million awarded to New Jersey Transit through the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Future contracts will build the tunnels that will carry NJ Transit trains under the Palisades, under the Hudson River and to and from an expanded New York Penn Station.

The underpass project is expected to be completed in 2012.

“The Tonnelle Avenue underpass work will mark the start of one of the great infrastructure projects in the region's history,” said Susan Bass Levin, the Port Authority's deputy executive director. 

The ARC tunnel – which is also being recommended for an Early Systems Work Agreement to formalize the federal government’s long-term funding commitment – will more than double the number of trains that can travel between New Jersey and New York from 23 to 48, according to New Jersey Transit statistics.

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