New Jersey’s Portal Bridge, a 110-year-old structure long the bane of Northeast Corridor rail travelers, is a step closer to becoming a memory with NJ Transit’s award of a $1.6-billion replacement project contract to a joint venture of Skanska and Traylor Brothers. A joint venture of AECOM and STV will provide construction management services.
Approved unanimously on Oct. 12 by the transit agency’s board of directors, the project, to be called the Portal North Bridge, calls for replacing the problematic swing bridge with a two track, high level, fixed-span structure that will rise 50 ft above the Hackensack River, double the height of the existing bridge.
