Bergen Arches facts for kids

"The Greatest Railroad Cut" 1910

The busiest tunnel point in the world in 1911, the six Erie Railroad tracks exiting the Bergen Arches below and four Lackawanna tracks all emerging from tunnels under Bergen Hill

Tunnel cut is unused

After leaving the Erie Cut trains travelled over city streets to reach the depot.

A map of the current active railroads of northern Hudson County. The Bergen Arches are not shown, but they are immediately adjacent to the Bergen Tunnel which is the part blue line marked "Conrail National Docks Branch" which runs between the tunnel portal just east of the West End Junction (bottom center) and the tunnel portal just west of the connection with the Conrail River Line stub.

The Bergen Arches is a cool old railroad path in Jersey City, New Jersey. It goes through a big hill called Bergen Hill, which is part of the Palisades cliffs in New Jersey. This path used to be a busy train route, but now it's not used anymore.

The Story of the Bergen Arches

The Bergen Arches is also known as the Erie Cut. It was a special path built for the Erie Railroad. This path was about a mile long and had four tracks. It connected the main train line to the Pavonia Terminal on the Hudson River waterfront. From this terminal, people could take a ferry to Manhattan or use the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad.

Building the Erie Cut was a huge job! From 1906 to 1910, workers used 250,000 pounds of dynamite. They blasted through 800,000 cubic yards of hard rock. They also dug out 160,000 cubic yards of earth. This project cost around $5,000,000. This was a lot of money back then! The high cost even caused some money problems for the Erie Railroad.

The name "Bergen Arches" first referred to the big bridges built over the cut. But over time, the name started to mean the whole cut itself.

The last trains used this path in 1957. After that, the line was closed down. There's an older tunnel next to it, called the Long Dock Tunnel, which the Erie Cut replaced. This older tunnel is still used today for freight trains. It's even being fixed up as part of a project called the Liberty Corridor.

What's Next for the Arches?

Since the Bergen Arches are no longer used, people have suggested different ideas for what to do with the old path.

Some ideas include:

• Making it into a four or six-lane highway. This highway would help cars avoid traffic on New Jersey Route 139 when heading to the Holland Tunnel.
• Extending the Hudson Bergen Light Rail line. This would mean more public transportation for people.
• Turning it into a fun greenway (a park-like path). This idea is often linked with another nearby abandoned rail line called the Harsimus Stem Embankment.

In 1989, Governor Thomas Kean suggested building a freeway here. The mayor at the time, Bret Schundler, really liked this idea. In 1998, $26 million was set aside for this project.

However, during the 2001 mayoral race, candidates wanted a public transit line instead. So, in 2002, the plans for the freeway were dropped. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has continued to study different options for the site. In 2011, more money was given to keep looking into these plans.

A group called the Bergen Arches Preservation Coalition wants to use the Arches for the East Coast Greenway. This would be a long path for walking and biking.