A rail bridge that Superstorm Sandy nearly finished off is finally being replaced. NJ Transit is building a new Raritan River Bridge on the North Jersey Coast Line, a roughly $595 million program that swaps a century-old swing span for a modern movable lift bridge between South Amboy and Perth Amboy.
Project Scope
The work runs in phases. George Harms Construction took the initial roughly $250 million package for foundations and approach structures, and a Skanska Koch contract covers the lift bridge itself, flanking spans, catenary, signals, and communications. The new structure sits higher above the water and uses a lift design that’s more reliable and easier to maintain than the aging swing span it replaces. Federal Transit Administration money funds a large share of the total. Final completion is targeted for the third quarter of 2029.
Why It Matters
The old bridge is a single point of failure on one of NJ Transit’s busiest lines, and storm surge has knocked it out before. Rebuilding it higher and stronger is a resilience play as much as a capacity one, part of the agency’s post-Sandy program to harden the assets that saltwater keeps threatening. For riders, the payoff is fewer weather-driven outages on a corridor that carries tens of thousands of trips a day.
Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | NJ Transit |
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| General Contractor | George Harms Construction / Skanska Koch |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Delivery Method | Design-Bid-Build |
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| Funding Source | Public (Federal) |
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