Bergen Arches

. From 1906 to 1910, using 250,000 pounds of dynamite, workers blasted through convert|800000|cuyd|m3 of blue trap rock; convert|160000|cuyd|m3 of earth were excavated. There were construction cost overruns which led to financial trouble for the Erie. The term "Bergen Arches" originally referred to the massive bridges over the cut, but the two terms have become synonymous.

It is abandoned, but the adjacent two-track tunnel (the Long Dock Tunnel) from the mid-19th century that the Bergen Arches replaced is used for freight (although only one track is usable due to the small clearance of the Tunnel and increased size of modern trains).

A project is underway to consider use of the abandoned track bed for a four-lane or six-lane highway that would connect the New Jersey Turnpike and U.S. Route 1/9 to the New Jersey Hudson River Waterfront, bypassing traffic headed for the Holland Tunnel.

Map

External links

* [http://www.jerseycityhistory.net/bergenarches.html The Bergen Arches: A History - includes several photographs and classic postcards]
* [http://www.jcedc.org/new/bergenarchesos.html Bergen Arches roadway project]
* [http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/works/studies/bergenarches/ State of New Jersey's study for possible other options for the Arches]
* [http://www.nycroads.com/roads/NJ-139/ History, summary of road and rail options with an aerial picture of the arches and the nearby highways and railroads]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Jersey+City,+NJ+07306&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=15&ll=40.735551,-74.061499&spn=0.011544,0.042915&t=h&iwloc=addr Google Maps satellite view of the area. The Arches are just southwest of the northwest-southeast Route 139.]
*http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/B_Pages/Bergen_Arches.htm