Carteret Ferry Terminal To Break Ground This Summer, Mayor Vows

CARTERET, NJ — Construction on the much-hyped Carteret ferry terminal is slated to begin in summer 2022, promised Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman this week.

Also this week, Gov. Phil Murphy and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin announced the Carteret Ferry Terminal project will receive another $7.75 million in state funding.

This newest round of taxpayer dollars will go to buy a ferry boat to take commuters from Carteret to Lower Manhattan.

This comes after the $5.625 million federal grant earmarked in July by this area's congressman, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ6), to help build the actual ferry terminal itself.

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.

However, construction has not started on a ferry terminal in either town.

The Carteret ferry terminal — if it's built — would lie at the north end of Carteret Waterfront Park, at the new Carteret boat marina along the Arthur Kill. It would take about 25 minutes for the ferry boat to reach Lower Manhattan.

The building would have a waiting area, restrooms, food court/snack bar, operations center, meeting space and a rooftop observation deck.

The South Amboy ferry terminal will be located at 1 Radford Ferry Road, next to the Manhattan Beach Club, a currently under-construction 1,875-unit luxury apartment complex.

The trip from South Amboy to Lower Manhattan is about 40 minutes by boat.

Both Carteret and South Amboy are blue-collar, working-class towns are trying to reinvent themselves as attractive NYC bedroom communities, similar to the way Jersey City and Hoboken transformed their waterfronts.

The vision of Carteret's Mayor Reiman is to surround Carteret's ferry terminal with as-of-yet-unbuilt condos, office and retail space and boardwalk shops.

As Patch reported earlier this week, Carteret is currently building a $13.25 million boardwalk/river walk all along the Carteret Arthur Kill waterfront.

Previously: Carteret, South Amboy Move Forward With NYC Ferry Service (January 2021)

Carteret Gets More State $$ To Expand Arthur Kill Waterfront Walkway (Oct. 25)

South Amboy Breaks Ground On Manhattan Beach Club Apt. Complex (July 2020)

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