Design and Construction of the Weehawken Tunnel and Bergenline Avenue Station for the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System

摘要

The existing 9.5 mi (15.2 km) long Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System in Northern New Jersey is being expanded. This 6-mi (9.5-km) expansion includes 4,100 ft (1,250 m) through an existing railroad tunnel. The Weehawken Tunnel was built in 1881-1883 by the New York West Shore and Buffalo Railroad (NYWS&B) to provide a rail connection from west of the Palisades Ridge to the Hudson River Waterfront in Weehawken, N. J. The engineering task was to provide an LRT alignment within the rock tunnel along with a mid-tunnel LRT station. The station is located approximately 160 ft (49 m) beneath the cities of Weehawken, West New York, Union City, and North Bergen Township. The existing tunnel needed to be enlarged by blasting methods to accommodate the two-track light rail trackway and station platform, This paper discusses the building of the original tunnel; the engineering design relative to the new tunnel configuration and mid-tunnel station; and the construction work done to date.