The Liberty State Park Ferry Terminal in Jersey City in New Jersey reopened earlier this week after a US$51.1 million upgrade to its capacity and emergency access.
The project restored four bow-loading slips at the Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal and upgraded its only operational side-loading slip. It also added a 200- by 50-foot (60- by 15-metre) engineered barge equipped with four slips to accommodate ferries of varying sizes.
The New Jersey Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection said the barge can accommodate four ferries simultaneously. The facility serves passengers travelling from New Jersey to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
“This new facility expands ferry capacity, improves accessibility, and replaces aging marine infrastructure with a modern terminal designed to safely serve the needs of visitors to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island,” New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Priya Jain said.
In an emergency, the new slips can serve several rescue and transport vessels.
The terminal is designed to handle an all-boats call from the captain of the port, enabling the US Coast Guard, the New Jersey State Police, and other agencies to gather vessels for mass evacuations.
Captain Doreen McCarthy, Commander of Coast Guard Sector New York, said the slips could become, “that evacuation point, a staging area, a lifeline, a place where vessels, rescue crews and emergency personnel can convene to come together.”
The new structure replaced a 330- by 40-foot (100- by 12-metre) barge that was damaged during a winter storm in December 2020 and later sank. Crews removed it in the summer of 2025 before repurposing it as an artificial reef at Sea Girt Reef off Manasquan.
As part of the project, a wooden transfer bridge with historic significance was restored, along with the addition of fire protection systems, utilities, landscaping, and a weather canopy above the fixed pier.
The Federal Highway Administration provided US$41 million, or approximately 80 per cent of the project cost.
State funding included constitutionally dedicated Corporate Business Tax revenue under the Preserve New Jersey Act.
The ferry facility stands beside the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, which was built in 1889.