PANYNJ begins second review phase for Cross Harbor Freight Movement Program

The review, expected to take up to three years, will perform a detailed analysis of the environmental effects and potential mitigation measures for the two alternatives identified for the port authority’s Cross Harbor Freight Movement Program.    The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has hired a consultant for the second phase of an environmental review for a project that aims to improve the movement of freight across New York Harbor between the east-of-Hudson and west-of-Hudson regions, the PANYNJ confirmed Feb. 2.
   The review, expected to take up to three years, will perform a more detailed analysis of the environmental effects and potential mitigation measures for two preferred alternatives identified in the prior study for the port authority’s Cross Harbor Freight Movement Program.
   Under the $23.7 million agreement, the PANYNJ is retaining the services of Cross Harbor Partners, a joint venture of New York City-based consulting companies STV Incorporated and AKRF Inc. Cross Harbor Partners will take on the Environmental Impact Statement, which will closely examine two preferred options – the construction of a cross harbor freight tunnel and the expansion of the Port Authority’s existing railcar float operation.
   The rail tunnel alternative calls for construction of a freight tunnel under the New York Harbor that would run about four miles from Jersey City, NJ to Brooklyn, NY. The railcar float alternative would expand the existing carfloat system, and would include new transfer bridges, carfloats, locomotives and tracks.
   A carfloat is an unpowered barge with rail tracks mounted on its deck that’s used to move railroad cars across water. They’re towed by a tugboat or pushed by a towboat.
   The Port Authority says that the environmental review is expected to provide it and other regional agencies with cost and benefits of each alternative to help reduce roadway congestion attributed to goods movement across the New York/New Jersey Harbor.
   “We need to explore potential solutions now to improve mobility and reduce the region’s reliance on trucks to move goods critical to regional economic growth,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole explained. “This initiative will take a close look at two alternatives that could help achieve that goal in the future.”
   The study is expected to help Port Authority leadership determine if one or both alternatives provide sufficient benefits to justify their costs. The recommended alternative or alternatives would require additional funding for the next phase of development, which entails preliminary engineering.
   “With a projected 40 percent increase in freight movement by 2035, delays in goods movement will only worsen unless we begin to develop an optimum plan now that will provide the shipping and distribution industry with attractive alternatives to shipping by truck,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said in a statement. “Our goal is to explore these alternatives and come up with cost-effective approaches to future freight movement.”
   New York City is the only major city in the world not directly connected to its country’s national freight rail network, according to Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).
   “That is something we must address,” he said. “For too long, New York City and the entire metropolitan region has had an over-reliance on trucks – clogging our roadways, making consumer goods more expensive and raising the cost of doing business, harming our environment, endangering our health, and creating real safety and national security vulnerabilities.”
   More than one billion tons of freight move through the greater New York region each year primarily by truck, with truck congestion adding an estimated $2.5 billion annually to the cost of delivering goods to consumers and businesses, according to Port Authority data.