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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 Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet. Rai ...

(the lower

New Jersey Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...

) 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 Delawa ...

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 ...

'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 Ne ...

waterfront

Pavonia Terminal Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby ...

, 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 The Pavonia Ferry was a ferry service on the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River which conveyed passengers between New York City and Jersey City. It was launched in 1854. It was sold to the Pavonia Ferry Company of Jersey City for what was co ...

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 ...

. 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 The Long Dock Tunnel is a freight rail tunnel in Jersey City, New Jersey that is part of the North Jersey Shared Assets Area and used by CSX Transportation on the National Docks Secondary. The single track (formerly dual track) tunnel runs thro ...

) 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 National Docks Secondary is a freight rail line within Conrail's North Jersey Shared Assets Area in Hudson County, New Jersey, used by CSX Transportation. It provides access for the national rail network to maritime, industrial, and distributi ...

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 cons ...

and U.S. Route 1/9 bypassing traffic headed along

New Jersey Route 139 Route 139 is a state highway in Jersey City, New Jersey in the United States that heads east from the Pulaski Skyway over Tonnele Circle to the state line with New Jersey and New York in the Holland Tunnel, which is under the Hudson River, to New ...

for the

Holland Tunnel The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects the New York City neighborhood of Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Author ...

, extension of the

Hudson Bergen Light Rail Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson R ...

, or in conjunction with the Harsimus Stem Embankment, a recreational greenway. A freeway proposed in 1989 by Governor

Thomas Kean Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American businessman, academic administrator and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Kean served as the 48th governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Following his tenure as governor, ...

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 The United States federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) is a federal transportation bill enacted June 9, 1998, as and . TEA-21 authorized federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit ...

. 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 The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991. ...

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