Weehawken Port Imperial is an intermodal transit hub on the Weehawken, New Jersey waterfront of the Hudson River across from Midtown Manhattan served by New York Waterway ferries and buses, Hudson Bergen Light Rail, and NJT buses. The district lies under and at the foot of Pershing Road, a thoroughfare which travels along the face of the Hudson Palisades, which rise to its west. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs along the shoreline and is abutted by recently constructed residential neighborboods, Lincoln Harbor to the south and Bulls Ferry to the north.
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The North Hudson waterfront is located north of Weehawken Cove on a long narrow strip of land between the Hudson River and Hudson Palisades. On April 18, 1670 the government of the Province of New Jersey confirmed a grant to Maryn Adriaensen for a parcel of land called Wiehacken in the jurisdiction of Bergen on Hobooken Creek, 50 morgen Dutch measure originally given on May 11, 1647. Sporadic ferry service began and in 1700 a royal patent was given by Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont[1] which led to the naming of Weehawken Street at the landing across the river in today's West Village. Later called Slough's Meadow, the waterfront has in the last centuries been transformed from an tidal marsh[2] to an extensive rail and shipping port and, since the 1980s, redeveloped for commercial, residential, recreational, and transportation uses. Many duels, including the nation's most famous between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burrin 1804, took place on a site later obliterated by rail infrastructure of the New York Central Railroad's West Shore Railroad and the Erie Railroad[3][4] Erie's Pier D and Piershed is a remnant of the rail era listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places in 1984.[5] The turn of the century saw the growth of the railyards, carfloats, ferry slips, and passenger station of Weehawken Terminal. The main ferry ran to 42nd Street and for short time was a component of the transcontinental Lincoln Highway. The highway and the trolleys of North Hudson County Railway and later the Public Service Railway ascended Pershing Road. The Weehawken was the last ferry to the West Shore Terminal on March 25, 1959 at 1:10 am.[6] and train service was discontinued. The right of way (originally part of the NYC's New Jersey Junction Railroad) was layer used by the Penn Central River Division [7] and the Conrail River Line before being abandoned. The United Fruit Company once maintained the largest banana warehouse in the United States adjacent to its berths.[8][9][10] As with much of the traditional harbor of the Port of New York and New Jersey, the infrastructure became obsolete as passenger and freight transport patterns changed.
The restoration of rail and ferry services is of a much smaller scale. In 1981 Arthur Edward Imperatore, Sr., trucking magnate, purchased a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) length of the Weehawken Yard from the bankrupt Penn Central for $7.5 million, his surname an inspiration for Port Imperial. New York Waterway was established in 1986.[11] Service was originally provided from an converted ferry moored at the shore next to the marina south of the current terminal.[12][13] NJT contracted the extensive renovation and waterproofing of the Weehawken Tunnel under Bergen Hill which had been built in 1861.[14][15][16] The new ferry terminal, built and owned by New Jersey Transit and leased by NY Waterway,[17] opened in May 2006.[18][19][20][21] The HBLR Station opened for weekend service in November 2005[22] and fulltime service on October 29, 2006.[23] The construction and maintenance of stairways from atop the cliffs at Boulevard East to the station and the bridge from the station to the ferry slips have been a source of contention and controversy. The area, still under development,[24] is considered to be too oriented to automobiles, rather than pedestrians.[25] While there has been some integration in the wider public transportation system, some transportation is geared within the development site, including parking lots.[26][27][28]
In 2009, New York Waterway was instrumental in the rescue of passengers on US Airways Flight 1549, which made an emergency landing on the Hudson River near Port Imperial.[29] A memorial to the September 11 attacks was unveiled on the event's 10th anniversary.[30]
In June 2011, ground was broken on 850-space garage and retail space building, across from the ferry terminal.[31][32] In October 2011, the hub was announced as the site of the Port Imperial Street Circuit, a motorsport venue hosting the Grand Prix of America, a round of the Formula One World Championship.[33] The start-finish line and pit facilities for the 2012 event will be directly opposite the ferry terminal, and the area is being redeveloped for the race.[34]
| Port Imperial | ||||||||||||||||
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The Port Imperial Hudson-Bergen Light Rail platform |
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| Station statistics | ||||||||||||||||
| Address | Port Imperial Boulevard Weehawken, New Jersey |
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| Lines | ||||||||||||||||
| Connections | NJT Bus: 23, 156R, 158, and 159R New York Waterway |
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| Platforms | 1 island platform | |||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||
| Opened | October 29, 2005 | |||||||||||||||
| Electrified | 750VDC | |||||||||||||||
| Accessible | ||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | New Jersey Transit | |||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| Traffic | ||||||||||||||||
| Passengers (2006) | 76,440 0% | |||||||||||||||
| Services | ||||||||||||||||
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| destination | location | transfer |
|---|---|---|
| West Midtown Ferry Terminal[35] Midtown Manhattan |
Pier 79 West Side Highway-West 39th St Javits Convention Center |
free transfer to Manhattan "loop" buses |
| Battery Park City Ferry Terminal at World Financial Center[36] |
Hudson River Park at Vesey Street Battery Park City |
paid transfer to Liberty Water Taxi & NY Waterway routes |
| Pier 11 at Wall Street[37] | South Street south of Wall Street & South Street Seaport |
paid transfer to New York Water Taxi, NY Waterway, and SeaStreak routes |
| Destination | route | transfers |
|---|---|---|
| Tonnelle westbound |
Bergenline | At Bergenline: NJT buses and guaguas |
| Hoboken Terminal southbound |
Lincoln Harbor Hoboken |
At Hoboken Terminal: PATH to Midtown Manhattan NJT/MTA Rail Hudson Place bus station |
| West Side Jersey City southbound |
Lincoln Harbor Hoboken Downtown Jersey City |
At Exchange Place: PATH to WTC, Journal Square, Newark Penn Station NJT buses |
| Bayonne | Greenville and Bayonne require transfer at stations between Pavonia-Newport and Liberty State Park. | |
