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CARTERET – A Piscataway company that build the first phase of the riverwalk has been awarded a contract to continue the boardwalk from Waterfront Park to Noes Creek.
Epic Management was recently awarded a contract for Phase II of the Northern Riverwalk, a one-mile, Americans with Disabilities Act accessible walkway, as the qualified low bidder.
The project involves completing a 20-foot timber frame boardwalk extending north from the existing Carteret Fishing Pier and Waterfront Park and connecting with the still to be constructed ferry terminal and the completed Southern Riverwalk section, which extends to the Woodbridge border in the Port Reading section.
A portion of the Carteret Riverwalk
The project also includes the installation of electrical service, such as light fixtures to enhance safety and accessibility, along with benches, trash receptacles and recycling containers.
“This is a great opportunity to help expand our Riverwalk and boardwalk,” said Mayor Daniel Reiman. “The new walkway will increase the public’s access to the Arthur Kill and offer a passive recreational resource for all ages. Working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres and Office of Natural Resource Restoration we’ve completed about a mile and a half of boardwalk now, and we’re adding another mile going north. Once it’s completed, we’ll have two and a half miles. It really highlights all of the investment and all of the opportunity along the waterfront.”
Recent water work completed by George Harms Construction Co, based in Farmingdale included work on a dock, gangway and stairs that lead to the Arthur Kill and will be used by the borough’s future ferry service. During Phase II the boardwalk will be connected to the docks, gangway and stairs, Reiman said.
Previously the state Department of Environmental Protection awarded Carteret a $1.2 million Green Acres grant, two supplemental grants of $1.4 million and a $500,000 grant from the agency’s Urban Parks initiative for the Northern Riverwalk.
For the Southern Riverwalk, which is nearly complete, the borough received an additional $6.67 million from the DEP’s Office of Natural Resource Restoration.
Plans call for the Northern Riverwalk to run along the shoreline through Waterfront Park and the remediated conservation easement donated by DuPont Corp and the future site of the Carteret Intermodal Transportation Center, the hub for the borough’s future ferry service and Carteret Stages, a movie studio and hotel in development. The Northern Riverwalk will connect the future Transportation Center to Waterfront Park, Carteret Fishing Pier, Waterfront Fitness Trail and Carteret Marina.
The walkway could be become even longer. Reiman said the borough plans to acquire the abandoned Conrail line that runs parallel to Peter J. Sica Industrial Highway and the waterfront.
“We would create this 5-mile loop,” Reiman said. “In essence we could create this five mile Rails to Trails to boardwalk concept.”
The borough was awarded a $1.5 million grant in May 2023 from the state Department of Transportation’s Alternatives Set-Aside Program for the rail trail project.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Carteret waterfront walkway project eyes further expansion
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