In another step forward for the Carteret Ferry Terminal project, the borough was
awarded a $5.38 million grant from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority
to help with funding for the $48 million Carteret Multimodal Ferry Terminal Building.
The building broke ground on Dec. 12.
“A project of this magnitude cannot happen without strong collaboration from the
alphabet soup of acronyms of federal, state, regional, and local agencies, some working
collaboratively with us to become partners in the project,” Carteret Mayor Daniel
Reiman said.
“I want to acknowledge and express our deep gratitude for their unwavering support to
the New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Fran O’Connor, as well as
Laine Rankin, Deval Desai, Komila Pandit, and Pavan Sheth, and the North Jersey
Transportation Planning Authority and Executive Director David Behrend, as well as
Sascha Frimpong, who serves as our point of contact. Their funding, guidance, and
partnership have been vital in moving this project forward. These agencies recognized
the value and impact of this terminal for the people of Carteret and for the transportation
network of our entire region.”
Last fall, a construction contract of $47,502,761 was awarded to Brockwell and
Carrington Contractors of Towaco, to construct the four-story, 52,000-square-foot
multimodal ferry terminal. The facility is designed to be a destination onto itself with
retail, restaurants and recreational space.
Planned since the inception of the Reiman Administration, the terminal is expected to be
an 18- to 24-month construction project. Completion is expected by December 2027.
Each floor will be approximately 13,000 square feet, according to architect Tom Potter
of Potter Architects in Union.
To pay for the overall ferry project, the Reiman administration has secured more than
$86 million in federal and state grants.
Completed work on the ferry project to date includes the installation of 130 feet of steel
sheet pile bulkhead along the Arthur Kill waterfront, 19,500 cubic feet of dredging of the
waterside of the bulkhead to achieve sufficient depths for the ferry slips and docking
area, and the in-water terminal docks and gangplanks. Construction of a 700-space
parking lot and on-site work is underway.
“There will be two to three stops in Manhattan leaving about three or four times a day
and arriving back to Carteret three or four times a day,” Reiman said. “Three or four
times in the morning and three or four times in the evening. That’s the initial projection.
We’ll increase that as ridership demands.”
The intermodal aspect of the Ferry Terminal will allow NJ TRANSIT buses, municipal
jitneys, and NJ Rideshare to drop passengers off. The jitney will pick up passengers
throughout the Borough, as well as at Rahway and Woodbridge train stations.
The terminal is expected to open by early 2028 or sooner, but ferry service may be
provided earlier through a smartphone app on a kiosk on the dock of the ferry slips,
Reiman said.
