NJ: NJ Transit takes major step forward with its plans to move fans to the 2026 World Cup finals

NJ Transit has approved construction of a proposed “transitway” system to move tens of thousands of World Cup soccer finals fans in 2026, but did not reveal its cost.

The contract to build a 7-mile bus rapid transit system was awarded Thursday night by a unanimous vote without using the normal process of taking bids and awarding a contract to the lowest responsible bidder. It was presented to the board and the public without a price tag for construction.

Instead, the contract with Anselmi & DeCicco was awarded using a “Procurement By Exception” policy to build the project between Secaucus junction rail station and MetLife stadium dubbed “Transitway.”

Despite some criticism by public speakers, NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett said going through the regular procurement process would have taken a year before construction started, bringing a completion date perilously close to the 2026 World Cup finals.

“We have our internal estimate, we’re negotiating that and going through that items by item and the time schedule,” Corbett said, adding the cost should be known by the Nov. 13 board meeting.

New Jersey- New York was one of several host cities selected last year by FIFA for the World Cup games in 2026. The men’s 2026 World Cup is set to feature a 48-team tournament, with 60 matches played in the U.S. Ten matches will be hosted by Canada and Mexico.

Traffic studies done for the nearby American Dream retail and entertainment complex said that highways to and from the sports and shopping complex can’t handle the volume of cars during an event. The challenge for NJ Transit is to move 20,000 people an hour to and from the stadium during the FIFA soccer finals, according to its own documents.

However the entire cost to construct Transitway will be funded by the Federal Transit Administration, Corbett said and NJ Transit is following procurement processes the FTA requires.

The clock is ticking with the World Cup final game to be played at MetLife on July 19, 2026.

The challenge is meeting the agency’s deadline to have Transitway operational in Spring 2026, which gives it several months to test and debug the system before the summer World Cup finals.

“We have 20 months ... and we don’t want to interfere with the FIFA events next summer,“ Corbett said.

MetLife Stadium will be the site of the new FIFA Club World Cup final game to be played next July, he said.

“It will be a good dress rehearsal for the 2026 World Cup, Corbett said

Gov. Phil Murphy’s commented that “NJ Transit will operate on steroids” and not repeat the embarrassing experience of Super Bowl XLVIII and Wrestlemania 35, two infamous events that resulted in waits that thousands of frustrated fans measured in hours.

Murphy and the agency cite its rebound to providing rail service to MetLife for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in May 2023 when 80,000 people were moved for the three shows, the Army Navy football game in 2021 and 2019’s concerts of K-Pop superstars BTS when predicted two hour waits to board a train didn’t happen and service worked as planned.

Although others have been proposed, this would be New Jersey’s first bus rapid transit system, which is like a light rail system without tracks. Buses would runs on a closed right of way like a train instead of in the street with traffic as conventional buses do.

Past descriptions have referred to a “system based on bus type rolling stock” with the ability to move up to 12,000 people per hour,” between Secaucus Junction train station and MetLife Stadium, using part of an abandoned rail line, NJ Transit officials said.

It would augment the existing Meadowlands sports complex rail line, which currently has the capacity to move 10,000 people an hour to the 82,500-seat stadium.

Transitway’s 7-mile route would leave Secaucus Junction, go south on an NJ Transit-owned road to reach the abandoned Boonton branch rail line and connect to the New Jersey Turnpike where separate bus lanes would parallel the highway. Once at the Meadowlands sports complex entrance, Transitway would use a dedicated right of way to get to the stadium and American Dream.

Anselmi & DeCicco has worked for NJ Transit on several three key station projects and did emergency work on the Oradell bus garage after it was damaged by flooding, Corbett said.

With most of the road and intersection work in place, the majority of the construction work will be building a terminal at MetLife stadium, he said.

Proposed in 2021, NJ Transit’s board of directors approved a $34.9 million contract with HNTB Corporation to do the final Transitway design in July 2023, which officials said must be “working by spring 2026.”

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