The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ TRANSIT) prepared an Evaluation and Appendices or the Raritan River Bridge Replacement which was made available for review on June 14, 2017. A public comment period on the EA/Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation ran from June 14, 2017 to July 14, 2017. (The document can be viewed here with its appendices here.)
The document was prepared in accordance the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, Section 106, of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Section 4(f) of the U.S. Department of Transportation Act of 1966, and all applicable regulations including: Council on Environmental Quality regulations at 40 CFR 1506.6; FTA regulations under 23 CFR 771.119(d); Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice; Executive Order 11988 on Floodplain Management; and U.S. DOT Order 5650.2 on Floodplain Management and Protection.
FTA reviewed and responded to all comments received during the now-completed public comment period for the EA. Based on these reviews, the FTA will make a formal NEPA determination for the project. Public comments received during the public comment period will be addressed in FTA’s NEPA determination.
About the Raritan River Bridge Replacement Project
Recognizing that bridge resiliency is essential to safe and reliable operations along the North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL), the Raritan River Bridge Replacement project will replace the existing swing bridge that carries NJ TRANSIT’s NJCL trains over the Raritan River between Perth Amboy, NJ, and South Amboy, NJ. The new bridge will be on an alignment adjacent to the existing bridge, which suffered damage in 2012 during Superstorm Sandy. Built in 1908, the Raritan River Bridge is the sole rail link for 17 of the 20 stations on the NJCL to the major job centers of Newark and Jersey City in New Jersey and the New York City borough of Manhattan. It carries almost 10,000 NJ TRANSIT customers daily and moves two million tons of freight annually via Conrail.