Mammoet achieves key milestone in historic Infrastructure Project

In collaboration with Skanska-Traylor Joint Venture and Carver Marine, Mammoet helped to achieve a significant milestone in the Portal North Bridge project, an essential infrastructure development designed to enhance the rail network in the New York metropolitan area.

Three new bridge sections will eventually replace the century-old Portal Bridge, a key link between Newark, New Jersey, and New York City. The current bridge is centuries old and is a notorious bottleneck that has long caused delays for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains due to its outdated swing mechanism and frequent malfunctions.

Leveraging their depth of experience in bridge installations, Mammoet successfully executed the transport of three bridge sections, each measuring over 120 meters (~400 ft.) from the assembly site at Port of Coeymans to the roll-on location, where they were then loaded onto a barge for further transit down the Hudson River.

Each section was carefully transloaded onto the temporary mid-river staging called the transfer bent, before loading onto another barge prepared with Mammoet’s Mega Jack system. Once on the Mega Jack, teams would jack each of the bridge sections 14-16 cassettes high, where the sections would then be positioned by our client using tugboats and winches before lowered into place by Mammoet onto their columns. Both the East and West bridge sections had the added step of being slid into place using Mammoet’s slide track systems.

Use of the Mega Jack allowed for greater speed in raising the bridge sections to the necessary height and the skid systems allowed for precise placement of the bridge sections into final position. The quick operation of the Mega Jack allowed for better management of setting windows due to the large tidal differences.

The new bridge, a modern fixed-span structure, will eliminate several mass transit problems, improving reliability and efficiency along one of the busiest rail corridors in the country. It will be 15 meters (~50 ft.) above the water, allowing both land and water traffic to traverse the area simultaneously.

Sidney King, Mammoet’s Project Manager for the Portal North Bridge project, stated, “Our team combined extensive experience and technical expertise to support this first major milestone for the Portal North Bridge project. The bridge section’s relocation and successful loading onto the barge demanded careful planning and close coordination with Skanska and Carver, and we’re proud to report a seamless operation. Mammoet is honored to play a role in this vital infrastructure project, which will enhance rail transit and meet the New York area’s future transportation demands. We look forward to continued success and collaboration on this important endeavor.”