Portal Bridge (Old)

The Portal Bridge was constructed from 1905 to 1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad as part of the New York Tunnel Extension project. It was placed in service on November 27, 1910. The bridge is now part of the Northeast Corridor, and it is owned and operate by Amtrak, but is also used extensively by NJ Transit.

The bridge is a swing-span bridge that carries two tracks. It is a 961-foot steel structure with masonry abutments. The swing-span is a 300-foot Pratt through truss, and there are six 110-foot open-deck girder approach spans. The bridge currently carries between 150,000 and 200,000 passengers per day, and a on average, a train passes over the bridge every 4 minutes. It carries more passenger trains than any other railroad bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

The average clearance under the bridge is 20 feet (depending on the tides) and opens two to three times a week. This bridge is well known for causing delays up and down the Northeast Corridor (from Boston MA to Washington DC) due to issues with closing after maritime traffic passes through. It is estimated that the bridge fails to close properly one out of seven times it opens. The rails fail to lock into place, and in some cases, the rail crew needs to use sledgehammers to force the rails into place. One notable example of this occurred in 1996, when the bridge failed to close properly, and cause a derailment. The rail was 5 inches higher than it was supposed to be and functioned as a ramp. After this incident, the speed limit was lowered to 60 mph, making it a choke point for the entire Northeast Corridor.

In 2021 a contract was approved in construct the Portal Bridge North to replace the old Portal Bridge as part of the Gateway Project. It is anticipated that the new bridge will open in mid-2026, and the old bridge will be demolished in 2027.