$6M New Grant To Make Carteret Ferry Terminal A Reality

CARTERET, NJ — Another federal grant has been secured in the ongoing quest to make Carteret-to-Manhattan ferry service a reality.

U.S Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ6) just announced Tuesday that Carteret will receive $6 million from the Department of Transportation to build a passenger ferry terminal. This comes after the town of Carteret announced in January it will buy one single 149-passenger ferry boat from NY Waterway, paying $2.25 million for the boat.

When completed, this will be a three-story ferry terminal with a waiting area, restrooms, food court/snack bar, operations center, meeting space and a public rooftop observation deck.

The ferry terminal is proposed to lie at the north end of Carteret Waterfront Park, at the new Carteret boat marina along the Arthur Kill. It's about 25 minutes by boat to reach Lower Manhattan.

The ferry terminal will connect with the bike paths and walking paths on the Carteret waterfront. Congressman Pallone, who strongly supports the project, said he envisions NJ Transit buses pulling up to drop off ferry commuters each morning and take them home at night. There will also be a parking lot for cars.

For the past few years, the town of Carteret has been amassing more than $13 million in state and federal grants to launch the ferry service.

For the past several years now, Carteret and South Amboy have been in somewhat of a competition with each other to launch ferry service to New York City. The South Amboy ferry terminal is proposed to be located at 1 Radford Ferry Road, next to the Manhattan Beach Club, a 1,875-unit luxury apartment complex.

However, in recent years Carteret has received significantly more federal grants to turn its ferry proposal into reality.

Prior: Carteret Ferry Terminal To Break Ground This Summer, Mayor Vows (Oct. 2021)

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