Pennsauken Transit Center construction begins

NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Richard Sarles joined U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Congressman Rob Andrews and other officials to break ground on a project that will offer convenience and new travel options to South Jersey rail customers by directly linking the River Line with the Atlantic City Rail Line (ACRL).

The $40-million
Pennsauken Transit Center, accelerated with American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act funding, will create or sustain hundreds of jobs and will for the first
time provide thousands of customers with direct transfers and access to all
stations on both lines.

"New Jersey is building
toward renewed economic strength and improved transit connections in southern
New Jersey," said Governor Jon S. Corzine. "When our nation’s economy was
teetering, we intervened with an economic stimulus package that is creating
jobs and putting paychecks into the hands of hard-working New Jersey residents."

The transit center will
be built in two phases along Derousse Avenue where the ACRL crosses above River
Line tracks. 

Upon project completion
at the end of 2012, Atlantic City Rail Line customers will have direct access
to the River Line, with connections in Camden to PATCO rail and NJ TRANSIT bus
service to Philadelphia, and in Trenton to NJ TRANSIT Northeast Corridor
service to New York.

River Line customers will
have direct access to Atlantic City, Philadelphia and all intermediate ACRL
stations.

"This new transit center
epitomizes our focus on expanding the reach of our transportation network
through intermodal transit hubs," Sarles said.  "We are connecting light
rail service that operates between Camden and Trenton with commuter rail
service that carries customers between Atlantic City and Philadelphia,
producing convenient access to all stations to customers of both lines."

The groundbreaking represents
the start of the first phase of the project, a  $2.1-million contract
awarded to Northeast Remsco Coast, Inc., of Farmingdale, N.J., with ARORA and
Associates, PC, of Lawrenceville, N.J., providing design services under the
contract.

Phase I covers River Line
elements of the project, including construction of a 200-foot platform with
60-foot canopy for customers boarding light rail trains. The contract also
includes installation of infrastructure and conduit for communications, security
and ticket vending machines, grading, drainage, lighting and public art.

In Phase II, two
300-foot-long, high-level platforms will be built on either side of the ACRL
tracks. Stairs and two elevators will be constructed to provide access to
customers with disabilities.

The second phase also
includes construction of a 280-space parking lot, installation of passenger
communications, ticket vending machines as well as resurfacing, curbing and
lighting improvements to Derousse Avenue.

The transit center will
be operational upon completion of Phase II, which will be built under a
construction contract awarded in early 2011.