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Bergen Arches is an abandoned railroad

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

through Bergen Hill (the lower New Jersey Palisades) in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

History

Bergen Arches is the common name for the Erie Cut, the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

's mile-long, four-track cut which linked the railroad's main line to its

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

waterfront Pavonia Terminal, where travelers to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

could transfer to the Pavonia Ferry or the

Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned subsid ...

. From 1906 to 1910, using 250,000 pounds of dynamite, workers blasted through of blue trap rock; of earth were excavated. There were construction cost overruns (and settlements paid to local homeowners for damage and injuries from flying rock), with a total cost around $5,000,000.00, that led to financial trouble for the Erie and the cancellation of plans to build a new terminal along the Jersey City waterfront. The term "Bergen Arches" originally referred to the massive bridges over the cut, but the two terms have become synonymous. The last trains to the terminal ran in 1957. The line was abandoned that year. The adjacent tunnel (the Long Dock Tunnel) from the mid-19th century that the Erie Cut replaced is used for freight, and is being restored as part of Liberty Corridor Project as an extension of National Docks Secondary line.

Future

Various projects have been proposed for the abandoned track bed: for a four-lane or six-lane highway that would connect the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not consi ...

and U.S. Route 1/9 bypassing traffic headed along New Jersey Route 139 for the Holland Tunnel, extension of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail, or in conjunction with the

Harsimus Stem Embankment The Harsimus Stem Embankment, also called Sixth Street Embankment, is a half-mile-long historic railroad embankment, now abandoned and largely overgrown with foliage, in the heart of the historic downtown of Jersey City, New Jersey in the U ...

, a recreational greenway. A freeway proposed in 1989 by Governor Thomas Kean was strongly supported by then-Mayor

Bret Schundler Bret D. Schundler (born January 14, 1959) is an American Republican politician from New Jersey. Schundler was the mayor of Jersey City from 1992 until 2001. Schundler was the city's first Republican mayor since 1917. He ran for Governor of New Je ...

. In 1998, this project was allocated $26 million in the federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. During the 2001 mayoral race, candidates instead lobbied for a mass transit line, and in 2002 the plans were dropped during Mayor Cunningham's administration. In that year,

Parsons Brinkerhoff WSP USA, formerly WSP, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Parsons Brinckerhoff, is a multinational engineering and design firm with approximately 14,000 employees. WSP stands for Williams Sale Partnership. The firm operates in the fields of strategic con ...

, a consulting firm, released another report commissioned by

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportat ...

(NJDOT) and describing the conditions and analyzing of various options. NJDOT has continued to fund studies for the project. In March 2011, an additional $13.4 million was allocated to advance the project. A Bergen Arches Preservation Coalition has proposed to run the East Coast Greenway through the Arches.

References

External links

The Bergen Arches: A History - includes several photographs and classic postcards
* *
State of New Jersey's study for possible other options for the ArchesHistory, summary of road and rail options with an aerial picture of the arches and the nearby highways and railroads
*https://web.archive.org/web/20120929064726/http://www.njcu.edu/Programs/jchistory/Pages/B_Pages/Bergen_Arches.htm *https://www.nj.com/news/2019/12/abandoned-rail-line-is-a-strange-urban-paradise-and-some-want-to-keep-it-that-way.html *https://www.nj.com/hudson/2020/07/bergen-arches-preservation-coalition-joins-forces-with-high-line-network.html {{coord, 40.7369, -74.0594, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Transportation in Jersey City, New Jersey Geography of Hudson County, New Jersey Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Historic districts in Hudson County, New Jersey Erie Railroad Landforms of Hudson County, New Jersey Railroad tunnels in New Jersey Erie Railroad tunnels Tunnels in Hudson County, New Jersey

History

Future

See also

References

External links