Soon, a walkway with river view

Originally appeared in the Jersey Journal on Wednesday, November 02, 2005

By BONNIE FRIEDMAN

Political heavyweights came to Hudson yesterday to break ground on the portion of waterfront walkway that will close the gap between Jersey City and Hoboken.

Acting Gov. Richard Codey and U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-Hoboken, joined Rep. Robert Menendez, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy at the foot of the Holland Tunnel vent shafts where a 300-foot long and 30-foot wide walkway will soon be built.

"I look at this community and listen to the hammers and the building that is going on, and I see a bright future," said Corzine, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. "For one who lives along this waterfront, it's an extraordinary place to live; there is great vitality and we want to keep it moving."

The $1 million project - which includes an adjacent quarter-acre park - is headed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Officials expect the project to be completed next summer.

State law mandates that developers and property owners build and maintain a 30-foot-wide portion of walkway along property that abuts the river. But the 300-foot section of walkway in front of the Holland Tunnel vent shafts had long been closed off because of possible security risks.

Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia said the agency will place a buffer zone - and a security system - between the park and the vent shafts.

"The security system that is in place will be advanced," Coscia said. "That is one of the reasons why this is so expensive."

The groundbreaking is the first of several projects that will create a link from Jersey City to Newport.

Menendez recently secured $800,000 in federal funding to build a footbridge across the Long Slip Canal. NJ Transit, which owns the property along the canal, has not yet said when work will begin on that portion of the walkway.

Jamie LeFrak, managing director of the LeFrak Organization, said he is committed to building a temporary waterfront walkway along the 3,500-foot portion between the Holland Tunnel vent shafts and the Long Slip canal as soon as work starts on both projects.

The temporary walkway - expected to cost between $1 and $2 million - will be upgraded when a new building is constructed.

Codey quipped that the new walkway would offer "a good look at Mayor Healy's new beard."

The mayor said he's growing the beard to support Corzine, who - if elected on Tuesday - would be the nation's only bearded governor.