Commuters from New Jersey prepared for a new challenge on Tuesday as NJ Transit warned passengers that it might be best to work from home for nearly a month because of upgrades that would disrupt service, including to Manhattan.
The latest headache is tied to a decision by Amtrak to replace the 116-year-old Portal Bridge as part of billions of dollars in infrastructure improvements in the region. While Amtrak operates the span, NJ Transit accounts for most of the traffic over it, which crosses the Hackensack River on its way to Manhattan. NJ Transit carries tens of thousands of people daily into Manhattan.
The work of moving one rail track onto the newer and taller Portal Bridge North began over the weekend. But because of Presidents’ Day, Tuesday will be the first weekday when commuters and NJ Transit will get an idea of just how serious disruptions will be through the next four weeks.
By March 15, NJ Transit expects to resume its regular schedule, officials said. In the meantime, they have advised people to work from home if possible or to transfer to PATH trains at Hoboken instead to continue into Manhattan. PATH has already warned its passengers to expect crowded trains and possible delays.
The improvements are part of broader plans, including the Gateway Program, aimed at restoring aging infrastructure in New York and New Jersey. Billions of dollars in projects has been the subject of a fight between President Donald J. Trump and officials in both states. But the bridge work, which is already paid for, is not expected to be affected by that dispute.
Amtrak has said that the new bridge will improve traffic on the Northeast Corridor — the busiest passenger rail route in the Western Hemisphere. New Jersey officials have long sought to replace the Portal Bridge, located between Kearny and Secaucus, which has been the cause of hourslong train delays and fires that have suspended service.
In a sign of what commuters should expect Tuesday, NJ Transit issued an apology after 27 trains were canceled on Sunday, the first day of disruptions, partially citing the bridge work. NJ Transit said it will cut weekday service over the bridge roughly in half, to 178 trains from 332.
PATH officials stated that riders will experience “significantly higher passenger volumes and longer waits,” especially at Hoboken Station, and that they “strongly encourage commuters to work remotely or avoid travel during the morning peak window of 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.”
Working remotely is not an option for Erin Manuzza, who lives in West Orange, N.J., and commutes to the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. She uses NJ Transit five days a week.
She posted a TikTok last week, joking that soon, NJ Transit would ask, “Have you considered teleporting?”
Ms. Manuzza, 36, has been plotting her construction-disruption commute very carefully.
“I’m preparing to treat every commute like a minor logistics operation,” she said. “I’m building in extra time, drinking an extra cup of coffee, refreshing the NJ Transit app more than I’d like to admit, mentally preparing for crowded trains and keeping backup plans ready.”
She added that what used to be a routine commute “now feels like it will become a daily game of chess.”
Planning ahead is the most important part, said Joshua Crandall, the founder and C.E.O. of Clever Commute, an app that combines official transit data with crowdsourced information to provide transit information and alerts. Anyone who waits until the last minute to check the train schedules is “already done,” he said. “You’re done before you started.”
He predicts, as the PATH officials do, that there will be a choke point at Hoboken Station.
“I can picture, in my mind, that crowded narrow turnstile at the Hoboken train station and a sea of people kind of funneling off all the trains,” Mr. Crandall said, adding, “You’re going to have an experience that’s going to be uncomfortable.”
The mayor of Hoboken, Emily B. Jabbour, is monitoring the situation. “We understand that this may be the first of several very challenging commuting days ahead,” she said in an email.
“While I wish the construction impacts had been communicated earlier to allow for more comprehensive planning, my administration has been in close coordination with our transit partners to advocate for Hoboken and push for additional service and mitigation wherever possible.”
Mayor Jabbour noted that NJ Transit is adding supplemental buses, PATH is providing additional trains during peak commute times and NY Waterway will be increasing ferry service.
Like Mr. Crandall, Ms. Jabbour stressed anticipating delays. “We continue to encourage commuters to plan ahead and allow extra travel time,” she said.
Mr. Crandall, who lives in Montclair and works in the financial district, plans on taking an earlier-than-usual train every morning — the 6:33 instead of the 7:44. “I may actually grab the 6:27 a.m. if I’m ready in time,” he said. He also plans to spend the night with a friend in Brooklyn to avoid the evening commute.
But Mr. Crandall remained optimistic. “It’s a resilient system — and there will be ferries, right?”
Dodai Stewart is a Times reporter who writes about living in New York City, with a focus on how, and where, we gather.
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