The East Coast Greenway, the developing 3,000-mile bike route connecting cities from Maine to Florida, has long seen the Meadowlands crossing [in northern New Jersey] as the most difficult nut to crack along the entire route.  But for the first time, we see a possible opening.

NJ Transit is building 2 new rail bridges across the Hackensack River (a “north” span and a “south” span adjacent to the current Portal Bridge, which will be put out of commission), and taking 2.5 acres of parkland from Hudson County to build a new rail facility.  By law, they must give back to the County. State law mandates that NJ Transit must compensate Hudson County by providing one of the following: either (1) double the acreage being taken, (2) double the dollar value of the taken land, or (3) a combination of replacement land and financial compensation.  We want that mitigation to take the form of 2 miles of Greenway trail in Hudson County, including a bike & pedestrian path on the new southern Hackensack River bridge, to bring the Greenway off-road from Belleville Turnpike in Kearny to West Side Avenue in Jersey City, adjacent to Hudson Generating Station.  Two miles of trail, in a 20’ wide corridor, comes to 5 acres: that’s double the area of the land being taken, meeting the letter of the law.

But to accomplish this, we need your help.  On Wednesday, February 10, from 6 to 8:30 pm, there will be a critical public hearing at Secaucus Public Library (1379 Paterson Plank Rd; map here).  We urge your attendance.  If there is a strong show of support for a bike-ped facility, we can get the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and Hudson County on our side. Public support is imperative; without it, success is unlikely.

In the 18 years since the East Coast Greenway was conceived, this is the best opportunity we’ve seen to build part of the ECG across the Meadowlands.  Can we count on your support?  Please contact mike@greenway.org if you have questions, or to let us know that you’ll be there.

[Note: The hearing location is a 4-minute walk from a stop on NJ Transit's 190 bus route, which runs between Paterson and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.]