Contract awarded for East 25th Street pedestrian bridge
The vital bridge spans the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail By Daniel Israel –
The entrance to the pedestrian bridge from Prospect Avenue.
The pedestrian bridge spanning the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail at East 25th St.is finally getting a facelift.
At the Dec. 16 meeting, the city council awarded the contract for the replacement of the East 25th Street pedestrian bridge to Grade Constructions of Paterson for $2,643.569.71.
According to City Council President Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski, developers building nearby will help fund the the project. The bridge replacement will add stairs, elevators, wheelchair ramps, and new curbs on both sides of the bridge.
PRC Group, developer of the former St. Joseph’s Syriac Catholic Cathedral on Avenue E, will pay $600,000 toward the replacement bridge. On the other side of the bridge on Prospect Avenue, TFG 117-121 Prospect Ave Renewal LLC will contribute $250,000.
The rest of the cost will be funded by a capital bond ordinance, passed by the city council in March to fund the replacement and construction of pedestrian bridges.
According to Third Ward Councilman Gary La Pelusa, the bridge has been crumbling for a long time. In the past, the city council has tried to get funding, but other issues took priority, he said.
“This is a real neighborhood bridge because the people who live in those areas rely on it so they don’t have to go several blocks left or right to gain access,” La Pelusa said. Other pedestrian bridges cross the Light Rail at East 22nd Street and East 30th Street.
The East 25th Street pedestrian bridge is one of three that the city council will address, Ashe-Nadrowksi said.
Route 440 pedestrian bridges
The city is constructing two new pedestrian bridges to allow residents to cross major thoroughfares more safely. The city engineer has been authorized to begin taking bids for contracts.
The two new bridges will cross Route 440 at 34th Street and 22nd Street, corresponding to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stations on both streets. These are not to be confused with the aforementioned pedestrian bridges, which cross only the light rail.
Funding for those bridges will come from private developers, state grants, and from the city’s bonds.
“This is an extremely important matter for safety, as we’re developing the East side of town,” Ashe-Nadrowski said. “We’ve had a number of unfortunate accidents and fatalities, and this is a high priority for this council to make sure that these things get done.”
Ashe-Nadrowksi said that the three projects are “bridging the old Bayonne and the new Bayonne” and that the city council is going to make sure that the bridges are completed in 2021.