Local mayors advocate for light rail to extend to Bergen County

HUDSON COUNTY — Who put the bomp in the bomp, bomp, bomp, and who put the Bergen in the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail?
The latter was done at a time when the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train was supposed to extend from Bayonne all the way to Ridgefield in Bergen County — but the route has thusfar never extended past the Hudson County town of North Bergen.
Local mayors and legislators are now hoping to see the route extend to a stop at Englewood Hospital, whose CEO is willing to share some parking garage space with a new station.
Supportive legislators from Bergen County testified before the state Senate Transportation Committee in Trenton on Monday, a committee that includes State Sen. and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco.
The 21-mile line currently runs through Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City, and North Bergen.
The Star Ledger noted, “The latest proposal calls for extending the line north, from the current terminus at Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen to a new station 12 miles away at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. Funding for the $900 million project has yet to be identified, but NJ Transit plans to submit an amended draft environmental impact statement in late autumn following a 45-day public comment period.”
Sacco is supportive of the extension.
“Hopefully everyone stays focused, and we’ll see this in our lifetimes,” he was quoted as saying in the Star-Ledger report.