Portal Bridge Capacity Enhancement Project

Jacobs is part of the Tri-Venture Team “Portal Partners” providing professional railway, structural, civil, utilities, and geotechnical services for the replacement of Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River on the Northeast Corridor in Kearny and Secaucus, New Jersey. The Tri-Venture is under contract with NJ TRANSIT, in a cooperative effort with Amtrak. 

Portal Bridge serves the Amtrak Northeast Corridor, the busiest stretch of railroad in the country, spanning the Hackensack River between Kearny and Secaucus in Hudson County, New Jersey, The existing bridge is a bottleneck to Amtrak and the heavy NJ TRANSIT operations, and it experiences frequent interruptions to passenger service due to marine traffic. 

The Portal Bridge Capacity Enhancement (PBCE) project involves replacing the vital 100-year-old two-track railroad bridge, which experiences frequent mechanical failures. The existing two-track swing bridge will be replaced with two fixed bridges, to be located on either side of the existing bridge, with the two new bridges carrying a total of five tracks. The project extends from the NJ Turnpike in Kearny to the Frank R. Lautenberg Station at Secaucus Junction in Secaucus, and is approximately 2.5-miles in length. 

Portal Bridge is over 100 years of age and is nearing the end of its functional life. Furthermore, the structure is outdated and incapable of adapting to the present demands for expanded rail service into Manhattan. The bridge has inadequate clearances to accommodate much of the present marine traffic navigating the Hackensack River. Preliminary Engineering was completed to replace the existing two-track swing bridge with two (north and south) fixed bridges to be located on either side of the existing bridge; with the two new bridges carrying a total of five tracks and supporting NJ TRANSIT Trans Hudson Express (THE) Tunnel Project for additional capacity enhancement into New York City. These bridges would each be a three-span, network tied arch structure of 400-foot length, and obtain 50-foot vertical clearance over the river.

• Operations Analysis / Rail Systems Engineering
• Trackwork
• Civil Engineering
• Utilities Design and Relocation Schemes
• Construction Staging
• Value Engineering
• Constructability 
• Environmental / Regulatory Approvals
• Construction Phase Services

We conducted an in-house Value Engineering (VE) study on the 50% Preliminary Engineering submission. The effort was led by Jacobs, who provided a Certified Value Specialist (CVS) facilitator, and it was comprised of members who are not directly involved in the design effort from each design firm. Additionally, at the 100% Preliminary Engineering level our CVS facilitator led a VE study with independent firms as study members. Portal Partners is also performing qualitative risk assessment during the Preliminary Design phase, and the results of the risk assessment were incorporated into the VE process. The VE served as an excellent reality check on the project status at an early stage to allow the owners to consider alternative design, constructability and contract packaging approaches.

Final Engineering Design was completed and provides a two-track, fixed bridge to the north to replace the aging existing bridge. The bridge will be a three-span, network tied arch structure, with each span measuring 400 feet, and the bridge will have a 50-foot vertical clearance over the river. The new “north” bridge has an estimated construction value of $950 million. Related project work elements include items such as structural, track, civil, signal, communication, traction power, catenary, railroad-operational control centers, operational analyses, and constructability efforts. All construction work requires coordination of multiple contractors, railroad force accounts, third parties such as fiber optic and public utilities (water, electric, gas, sewer). Phasing and sequencing will be maintained to keep the railroad operating efficiently during all stages of the construction work.

Jacobs coordinated with all impacted utility companies and developed relocation schemes for impacted utilities and coordinated agreements between NJ TRANSIT and each utility company. Agreements were in accordance with State Utility Accommodation policies and Code of Federal Regulations 23 CFR Parts 645 Utilities and 646 Railroads. Impacted utilities included a high-pressure petroleum transmission pipeline and gravity and force main sewer lines conveying in excess of 1 MGD. Coordination of easements including preparation of drawings, legal descriptions, and individual property parcel maps were prepared for the petroleum pipeline and sewer lines. Special requirements were designed for construction adjacent to a historically significant water main, which required a leak detection and vibration monitoring plan.

Our Environmental Subconsultant prepared a Preliminary Assessment Report for the entire project area and a Regulated Materials Subsurface Investigation Work Plan (RMSIW), with a combined SI/RI for the project corridor to expedite the NJDEP review/approval process and minimize the amount of time spent in the field. The results of the RMSIW and the selected remedial actions were presented in a Regulated Materials Subsurface Investigation/Remedial Action Selection Report and were used to prepare Property Acquisition and Environmental Cost Estimating (PAECE) Reports for Right-of-Way (ROW) acquisitions. The Environmental Subconsultant provided environmental project support, including air monitoring/ coordination during the geotechnical investigations/drilling on Chromium Ore Processing Residue (COPR) sites as part of Final Design.

In the future, a second bridge to the south will be added to support a new tunnel into New York City and to address the evolving needs of NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak. Ultimately, the PBCE project will allow not only increased capacity along the Northeast Corridor to meet future demands. The PBCE will also improve service reliability and operational flexibility, provide a redundant Hackensack River crossing, which will support system maintenance, and will eliminate the interruptions of service related to marine traffic.