Work on the Howland Hook Connection has begun

Surprised nobody has mentioned it here, unless I have missed it.......But work has begun on the connection from the Chemical Coast to the AK Bridge over the Arthur Kill. Both rickety old wooden bridges over Amboy Ave and Front Street have been completely removed so the old SIRT has been severed. A new fill has already been started and is visible as you head over the Turnpike on the Bayway Ave connector. There is quite a bit of construction under way near the Chemical Coast just south of the Elizabeth River bridge. This is where the switch to the connector will be.....

The fill supporting the old SIRT immediately east of AK is being reshaped. Lots of construction equipment in the area.....

Be careful when visiting this area as the potholes in the area are unbelievable........

mark

Be careful when visiting this area as the potholes in the area are unbelievable

Heh, it's not a popular place to visit, you know—on top of the already formidable vapors coming from the sewage treatment plant, you have the municipal waste transfer station with the NYC Sanitation trucks coming in and the municipal-waste tractor-trailers going out bound for PA. As for the potholes, they have been a feature of the area for decades out of memory already...

If the wooden bridge over Amboy Avenue is now down, it must have happened really late in the week, because they were still up Tuesday.

I was going to post about this yesterday, as I also noticed this (it was a pain getting thru Elizabeth because of some waterfront festival blocking the streets in the area).

Yes, both the bridges formerly across Front and Amboy are down, and the somewhat cut girders are by the side of the road (and actually up close they looked pretty good, not at all rusted out, you could see plenty of steel thickness at the cuts, certainly better than some rail (and road) bridges I have seem still in use. The concrete piers were all still up. The bridge across Bayway itself (er, Burlington at that point) is still up, as is the wooden trestles - this may (or may) not prove that they are not going to keep the connection across the turnpike in addition to the new extension to the Chemical coast, as they probably should have removed those wooden trestles (in poor repair, IMO) - that green bridge seems in good shape.
I saw no work on the dirt fill - was the fill you saw disturbed adjacent to the (fairly) new recycling yard/waste transfer station, or somewhat west of that?

I'm not sure where the new Transfer Station exactly sits..

The new fill begins west of Amboy Ave and parallels the old ROW for a few feet before becoming perpendicular with the Turnpike.....It then begins to curve towards the North right around the bend in the east side of the Burlington Ave bridge (I never knew the exact name of that street). If you park at the "club" (great bachelor parties there) and walk up, you can look down at all the preliminary work going on right next to the East side of the Chemical Coast...........

I'm going to try to get down there this week and take some pics....

Haven't been able to get down to Elizabeth for a closer examination. Any update on the progress of the connector?

Made a visit at lunchtime today. The viaduct from the bridge across Front St (I think that is the name of the first street along the Arthur Kill that runs under the Goethals) to jsut before Amboy Ave/S First St has been torn down, along with some of the abutments. New abutments are being built, while others appear to be the subject of refurbishment.

markyk wrote:The new fill begins west of Amboy Ave and parallels the old ROW for a few feet before becoming perpendicular with the Turnpike.....It then begins to curve towards the North right around the bend in the east side of the Burlington Ave bridge (I never knew the exact name of that street)...

The new fill is for Relocated Bayway, which will be relocated yet again, to intersect with Amboy Avenue just south of the wastewater treatment plant. The new track alignment will pass thru the old Olympia Trails bus garage (soon to be demolished) and connect to the Chemical Coast near what's called the "Chlorine Spur".

Just passed by the area today: boy, do they seem to be taking their time with this. Can't say I saw a whole lotta changes since I was last there 2 months ago (as opposed to, say, the Rahway Valley..). Well, OK, they did remove some of the former trestle girders that were lying on the ground, and did put up some support plating, probably in anticipation of pouring new piers.
Anyway, driving on ('Relocated') Bayway west, I came across a traffic light apparently in the middle of nowhere (this is annoyingly common in New Jersey...) - however, this time it was OK, as the bridge up ahead (across the chemical coast line) had one lane closed (actually removed), and the lights were there to ensure only one direction of traffic at a time used the remaining lane. Apparently they are rebuilding the Bayway bridge to allow clearance for the new connection, and I suppose it's going to have to be Plate H clearance for doublestack (I think that's minimum 20'2").
The wooden trestle across Bayway is still standing, apparently untouched (although there was a portable lift/cherry picker near it).
As an aside, the Red Centercab (GE?) switcher is still there off Front St. (on the East side, on the northernmost intact spur that crosses Front St.), and since there was a decent assortment of tank cars at the facility there, I presume that switcher is still busy.

Just took a look around AK Draw today, and the steel crossbeams have arrived on site for the connection. The abutments are shaping up, and it appears that there will continue to be a connection to the old SIRR Route to Cranford. The finished abutments between First St. and the road along Arthur Kill are split, with a one high side heading towards the old trestle and one low section branching off for the Chemical Coast. Should be able to tell for sure in the next month or so, when the abutments are finished.

It's been said many times that the new SIRT from Cranford will not go
past the Bayway refinery to cross the turnpike to the Howland Hook
connection, and that trains coming over the AK bridge will connect to the chemical coast northbound, not go to cranford.

On the other hand, I heard from a friend at Port Authority, that
the long range plan is to also to build a connector from the AK bridge
to head south on the chemical coast. (e.g for using the Port Reading
branch to connect to the NS lehigh line at Bound Brook to head west
and south). So maybe the "high" split you see is for that future
connection, not to connect
to the old trestle over the turnpike. Maybe it is up high to cross
over Bayway ave or Bayway Ave extension?
JS

It's been said many times that the new SIRT from Cranford will not go past the Bayway refinery to cross the turnpike to the Howland Hook connection, and that trains coming over the AK bridge will connect to the chemical coast northbound, not go to cranford.

While Howland Hook trains may not go to Cranford, there is much discussion about other services to SI, particularly for the proposed Nascar track. Nothing like keeping your options open.

If no trains are intended to go to Cranford, then why was the track rehabbed from the former CNJ connection at the old Cranford Yard towards Linden and Staten Island?
Trains are probably coming to Cranford.
I am not sure which one's, but they would not do all of that work for nothing!
Besides, I heard it from the horses mouth at the Kenilworth meeting in 2003 that there would be trains coming in that way.
I asked a representative myself.
Also, looks like they really did a great job rebuilding that track, it looks like it is ready to go.
Let's roll them trains!!!

CNJFAN wrote:If no trains are intended to go to Cranford, then why was the track rehabbed from the former CNJ connection at the old Cranford Yard towards Linden and Staten Island?
Trains are probably coming to Cranford.

Trains are coming to Cranford, but as far as everyone knows they are only coming from Bayway, west of the Turnpike. It would make sense to have the SIRT line continue across the Turnpike for future use, but there have been official notices in the past that this would not happen. As you can see from this thread, there are conflicting rumors...

but they would not do all of that work for nothing!

Heh, new to New Jersey?

Good Point Sir Ray.
I must remember where I live.

Hopefully I may get a view tomorrow on the plane back from Houston. It looked, but not for sure, on my flight out on Tuesday that there might have been some construction towards restoring the line all the way from AK to Cranford. Couldn't tell for sure.