New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) is advancing plans to implement environmentally friendly transit access between its Secaucus Junction Station and the Meadowlands Sports and Entertainment Complex. The Secaucus to Meadowlands Transitway will utilize mostly existing infrastructure and roadways to provide additional capacity and ensure the area has the necessary public transportation system in place to attract and maintain some of the world’s largest entertainment and sporting events, boosting economic prosperity in the region and throughout all of New Jersey. The project also includes construction of a new ground level terminal at the Meadowlands and modifications to the existing bus circulation configuration and terminal at Secaucus Junction, to seamlessly and continuously move a stadium’s worth of people between Secaucus Junction and the Meadowlands Sports and Entertainment Complex, anchored by MetLife Stadium, seven miles away.
“NJ Transit is taking another exciting step towards advancing an innovative and environmentally friendly solution to move additional customers between Secaucus Junction and the Meadowlands Complex,” said New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner and NJ Transit Board Chair Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti. “This critical initiative will support economic growth in the state while effectively meeting the anticipated travel demands to New Jersey’s premier sports, retail and entertainment destinations.”
At the August 2021 NJ Transit Board of Directors meeting, staff was authorized to enter NJ Transit Contract No. 21-017 with HNTB Corporation of New York, N.Y., for Concept Development and Preliminary Engineering, Final Design Engineering and Construction Assistance for the Secaucus-Meadowlands Transitway. At that time, funding was authorized to complete Phase 1 Conceptual Development and Preliminary Design services in the amount not to exceed $3.5 million. On July 19, the board authorized HNTB Corporation to enter Phase 2 for an amount not to exceed $34.9 million, plus five percent for contingencies, subject to the availability of funds.
NJ Transit sought proposals from planning, architecture and engineering design professionals with the intention of leveraging existing rights-of-way and partnering with adjacent transportation infrastructure owners (such as NJDOT and New Jersey Turnpike Authority) to quickly and cost-effectively implement environmentally friendly transit access between NJ Transit’s Secaucus Junction Station and the Meadowlands Sports and Entertainment Complex.
As part of the overall project, transit modes studied and advanced as a part of this work shall be configured such that they are capable of either being implemented with zero-emission vehicles or be readily transitioned to zero-emission vehicles in the future, with the capability of being scalable to fully autonomous vehicle operation as demonstrated advances in the industry allow.
“By once again advancing this innovative project, NJ Transit shows we are more than ready to tackle the world’s largest events,” said NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin S. Corbett. “With this project advancing, NJ Transit is poised to provide an exceptional service experience to the Meadowlands Sports and Entertainment Complex, bolstering New Jersey’s prominence on the global stage."
