TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senators Joseph Coniglio and Paul A. Sarlo which would express support for the Trans-Hudson Tunnel, the Northern Branch Passenger Rail restoration project and other mass-transit projects feeding into Bergen County was approved by the Senate today.
“Every day on roads like Routes 3, 4, 46 and 17, Bergen County commuters pack in on their way to work in the City,” said Senator Coniglio, D-Bergen. “Roadway congestion is a way of life in my community and so many others in Eastern Bergen, and we need mass transit to act as a pressure valve to ease traffic on our highways and major bridges into New York. This resolution will hopefully encourage NJ Transit and the Port Authority to speed up plans to build the mass transit railway infrastructure to serve the thousands of commuters leaving their homes in Bergen to go to jobs in New York.”
The resolution, SR-84, would express the Senate’s support for mass transit projects directed to serving commuters in Eastern Bergen County, including the proposed Trans-Hudson Tunnel to be built by the Port Authority, and the use of diesel-powered, dual-powered, or light rail passenger service on the Northern Branch, which runs through Tenafly, Englewood, Leonia, Palisades Park, Ridgefield, Fairview and North Bergen. Rail service on the Northern Branch, which would be managed by NJ Transit, would take passengers from Eastern Bergen County to North Bergen to switch over to the PATH trains into New York City, until the Tunnel is completed.
“It makes no sense that Bergen commuters, who live a stone’s throw away from New York City, are left without rail service to their jobs in the City,” said Senator Sarlo, D-Bergen, Essex and Passaic. “We should be doing everything we can to promote different mass-transit options for New Jersey’s residents, and right now, Bergen County is severely underserved by the State’s mass-transit network. We need to address this oversight, and give Bergen residents access to railway service to New York.”
The resolution is now filed with the Secretary of the Senate, and copies are transmitted to NJ Transit and the Port Authority to express the will of the Senate.