Portal Bridge

The bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad as part of its New York Tunnel Extension project, which also included the Sawtooth Bridges, North River Tunnels, and Manhattan Transfer station. The Portal Bridge is a steel structure with masonry abutments. The bridge consists of a through-truss swing span and six open-deck girder approach spans (three on each side of the center span). ==Operation==

Rail service Commuter rail traffic is carried over the swing bridge. Rail service is currently at capacity, having grown from 40,000 daily passengers in 2005 When closed to river traffic, the bridge bears upon six wedge blocks. Two blocks are at each end of the bridge while two more sit adjacent to the center of the bridge. After the wedges are withdrawn, the center-bearing supports the structure as the bridge is swung open and returns it to its closed position once the river traffic has passed through one or both of the navigation channels. , the only regularly scheduled commercial traffic on the river was a barge transporting sludge from the Bergen County Utilities Authority sewage treatment plant in Little Ferry to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission plant in Newark. In 2021, it was announced that the sludge barges would resume. Operational issues The Portal Bridge has been called the Achilles' heel of the Northeast Corridor for several reasons. One report in 2019 estimated that the North River Tubes and the Portal Bridge contributed to 2,000 hours of delays between 2014 and 2018. The bridge requires millions of dollars of yearly maintenance. ==Accidents and incidents==

1996 derailment The bridge was site of a derailment on November 23, 1996 The reason for the derailment was that a rail was 5 inches higher than it was supposed to be, and acted as a ramp. As a result of the derailment, the maximum speed on the bridge was lowered to , The immediate result of the fire was to block all traffic until the next morning. The cost of the incident was $5 million. ==Replacement==

In December 2008, the Federal Railroad Administration approved a $1.34 billion project to replace the Portal Bridge with two new bridges: Due to cancellation of the Access to the Region's Core project by New Jersey governor Chris Christie in 2010, as well as to funding issues, this original plan was reduced to a single two-track bridge constructed north of the current bridge with room for a new bridge south of the current bridge left open to follow. After multiple delays, construction on the new bridge began on August 1, 2022. The first of the Portal North Bridge's three arches was floated into place in November 2024. and the last arch was floated into place in February 2025. The original Portal Bridge is scheduled to be demolished in July 2028. ==See also==