BAYONNE TRANSPORTATION

Story by Daniel Israel

Bayonne is an insular peninsula largely isolated from the rest of Hudson County, separated by water with the Kill Van Kull and separated on land by state highway Route 440 and the New Jersey Turnpike. However, there are many ways to get in, out, and around the city.

You don’t have to look far to take advantage of these transportation opportunities. The most basic method of getting around is walking. Wide sidewalks on many streets in the city make this easy, with a new pedestrian bridge crossing the light rail at 25th Street under construction replacing the old one, and plans for more over Route 440 to further connect the East Side to the rest of Bayonne. While there isn’t any bike infrastructure, the sidewalks are big enough to ride on on most streets and sharing the roads with drivers isn’t the worst experience.

Automobile access to and fro

For motorists, there are plenty of options to drive into Bayonne. The fi rst and most famous connection is the Bayonne Bridge, which connects New Jersey to Staten Island, New York. The bridge itself was raised recently to accommodate more marine traffi c through the Kill Van Kull.

The next most prominent is Route 440, which divides the city as it tears through the East Side. It runs north from the Bayonne Bridge to until the New Jersey Turnpike. Then it veers northwestward as it enters Jersey City and runs along the West Side of that city.

The New Jersey Turnpike enters Bayonne from Newark, crossing the Newark Bay Bridge, better known as the

Vincent R. Casciano Memorial Bridge. The 14A exit from the Turnpike into Bayonne was redone in recent years, and leads to a roundabout that connects with Avenue E. There are also additional roads after the exit that allow direct access to Route 440 and other areas of Bayonne.

In addition to those major connections, there is the county road that runs through Bayonne and into Jersey City known as Kennedy Boulevard. In addition, of the major avenues slicing up and down the city, Avenue C eventually becomes Ocean Avenue, and Broadway becomes Garfi eld Avenue. In addition, there are a number of local road connections in between the other streets.

Taxi service is still in the city in the form of Archie’s Taxi. However, the service overall is trending downward with the rise of ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, which can easily and fairly cheaply be ordered in Bayonne.

On nearly every main avenue in Bayonne, there is NJ Transit bus service. The 81 runs on Broadway and Avenue C to and from Bayonne and Jersey City, with stops at the Grove Street PATH Station. The 10 runs on Kennedy Boulevard, also between Bayonne and Jersey City, stopping in Journal Square with connections available to other bus lines.

The 119 runs on Kennedy from Bayonne to Journal Square in Jersey City and through the Heights other parts of Hudson County including Union City and Weehawken before entering the Lincoln Tunnel and ending in New York City at Port Authority Bus Terminal at 8th Avenue in Times Square. And the 120 runs from Bayonne to downtown New York City, traversing through

Jersey City via the New Jersey Turnpike and ending at Greenwich Street and Battery Place in Battery Park. The S89 runs from Staten Island along Route 440 to the 34th Street Light Rail Station, and there is also the privately run Broadway Bus service along Broadway throughout the city.

Walk a few blocks in Bayonne and it is easy to see the infrastructure, a bus stop on nearly every corner of the main thoroughfares running northeast southwest through the city. Residents can walk to a stop, hop on, pay a small fare, and be on their way to whatever their destination is.

Light Rail Stations dot Avenue E

Perhaps one of the most useful transportation connections in Bayonne is the Hudson Bergen Light Rail. There are four stops in the city at 8th Street, 22nd Street, 34th Street and 45th Street.

Offi cials have discussed extending the light rail to First Street using an old Conrail line, but it is unlikely to happen any time soon. However, that rail line ends at the tip of Bayonne near the Bayonne Bridge, directly in front of where the planned 1888 Studios will be constructed.

With that, it is undeniable the likely of the expansion has increased, even if it is still in the far off future. And talks of expanding the light rail to Newark increase the viability of funding for such a project in Bayonne too. Regardless, right now a small fare secures a light rail ticket and ride on a line that runs through Jersey City and into Hoboken. From Hoboken, transfers are easy to trains to New York City, the rest of the state, and beyond.

The ten stations in Jersey City running northeasternly from Bayonne include: Danforth Avenue, Richard Street, Liberty State Park, Jersey Avenue, Marin Boulevard, Essex Street, Exchange Place, Harborside, Harsimus Cove, and Pavonia/Newport. At the Liberty State Park Light Rail Station, commuters can get on a transfer to the West Side of Jersey City, with three stations at: Garfi eld Avenue, MLK, Jr. Drive, and West Side Avenue.

That line also runs to Hoboken after joining the line at Liberty State Park. From Hoboken Light Rail Station, the light rail has two more stops in the city at 2nd Street and 9th Street. Then it runs through Weehawken, with two stops located at Lincoln Harbor and Port Imperial.

Following that, the light rail turns northwesternly into Union City with a stop at Bergenline Avenue. Although called the Hudson -Bergen Light Rail, the line ends in Hudson County in North Bergen at the Tonnelle Avenue stop.

Whatever its name may be, it is a transit arterial through the county, especially Bayonne. Its mere existence has in part allowed special zones near the light rail that has infl uenced its redevelopment boom, with luxury lofts lining light rail stations.

Another transportation method present in Bayonne is the Cape Liberty Cruise Port. Royal Caribbean operates cruises from the city to destinations in the Caribbean Sea and other tropical getaways.

The cruise port is located at the tip of a smaller peninsula, home to the former Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY), that juts out of the main peninsula that is Bayonne. The port is all the way at the end of that peninsula on the Hudson River.

Also on that peninsula, although on the other side and further west across RK Neyman/Shutterstock.com

from the South Cove Commons shopping center, the city is planning to open ferry service. In 2020, the city entered into a lease agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for the land on which it would construct the ferry stop.

The idea is to have ferry service to Manhattan, something which the city had in the past throughout its history. However, there have been hangs up with indistinct negotiations with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, meaning service has been pushed back to beginning in 2023, offi cials said.

Nevertheless, when it does open, the ferry service operated by SeaStreak to downtown New York City will inevitably become an invaluable asset to the community home to many commuters. And the county is also exploring bringing ferry service to the area with potential stops in Bayonne, one possibly on Newark Bay near the planned fi lm studio, but things are still very much in the planning and community input stages.

In addition to all those more conventional means of transportation, there have also been some ideas fl oated for innovative, or outlandish to some, methods of getting around. One is the proposed aerial gondola.

The gondola, akin to a nicer ski lift, would run along the Bayonne Bridge and connect the city further with Staten Island. The idea would mean the lift would run past the bridge and along Route 440 to connect with the 8th Street Light Rail Station.

So far, the idea is nothing more than a pie-in-the-sky proposal to reduce roadway congestion. It would also potentially confl ict with any plans to extend the light rail to First Street. But still, the fact that someone saw Bayonne and thought it was suitable for such a project means the city has a reputation for transit, and it is not letting that slip away.

The next time you want to experience something new yet old, diff erent yet familiar, and historic yet up-and-coming, try to visit Bayonne. Hop in your car, on the bus, on the light rail, on a cruise ship, and maybe even one day a ferry or aerial gondola, and visit the #CityOnTheRise. — BLP