Journal Square Transportation Center

Journal Square
PATH rapid transit station
Location	Kennedy Boulevard Jersey City, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°43′56″N 74°03′47″W / 40.732141°N 74.063114°W / 40.732141; -74.063114Coordinates: 40°43′56″N 74°03′47″W / 40.732141°N 74.063114°W / 40.732141; -74.063114
Owned by	Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Line(s)	NWK–WTC   JSQ–33   JSQ–33 (via HOB)
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	4
Connections	NJT Bus: 1, 2, 6, 10, 64, 67, 80, 83, 84, 87, 88, 119, 125, 319 A&C Bus Corporation (4, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
Construction
Parking	464-car parking garage
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	1912
Rebuilt	1926–1929 1968 to mid-1970s
Electrified	600V (DC) Third Rail
Traffic
Passengers (2017)	8,227,813[1]  0.4%
Services
Preceding station   PATH   Following station Temporary Services[2][3] Harrison toward Newark NWK–WTC Grove Street toward World Trade Center Terminus JSQ–WTC (via HOB)           Saturday JSQ–HOB           Sunday Monday 12-5am Grove Street toward Hoboken JSQ–33 M-F 6am-11pm Grove Street toward 33rd Street JSQ–33 (via HOB) Monday 5-6am M-Th 6am-10pm F 11pm-11:59
Former services Preceding station   Pennsylvania Railroad   Following station Harrison toward Chicago Main Line Exchange Place Terminus Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Manhattan Transfer toward Park Place Park Place – Hudson Terminal Grove-Henderson Streets toward Hudson Terminal
Route map to Grove St to storage yards east of station to storage yards east of station Long track section to storage yards east of station Summit Ave to storage yard north of station to storage yard north of station Kennedy Blvd to storage tracks Long track section to storage yard north of station to storage tracks to Harrison

The Journal Square Transportation Center is a multi-modal transportation hub located on Kennedy Boulevard at Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States.^[4] Owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the complex includes a ten-story tower, a retail plaza, a bus terminal, a two-level parking facility, and the Journal Square station of the PATH rail transit system. The underground station has a high ceiling and a mezzanine level connecting the platforms. The upper level of the station contains a bank of escalators leading to street level, elevators to parking, and a series of escalators leading to the street-level bus bays.

History and vicinity

Supporting spandrels

Cross-platform transfer between JSQ-33rd trains and NWK-WTC trains

The transportation center is built over a cut through Bergen Hill. The Bergen Hill cut was originally excavated in 1834-1838 by the New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company, the forerunner of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), to access the Hudson River waterfront.^[5] Passenger trains traveled to what became Exchange Place, while freight trains on the Harsimus Branch continued to the Harsimus Stem Embankment.

The center began as the Summit Avenue station of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. The stop at Summit Avenue, located between Grove Street and Manhattan Transfer stations, opened on April 14, 1912, as an infill station. At the time, only one platform, an island platform in the center of the station, was in use. The Summit Avenue station was not complete until February 23, 1913, when two outer side platforms in a Spanish solution opened, and an enclosed mezzanine opened.^[5] At the time, passengers traveling on the 33rd Street line alighted and boarded on the outer side platforms, while passengers traveling on the Newark–Hudson Terminal line alighted and boarded on the center island platform. A bypass track for eastbound express trains was located to the south of the eastbound side platform.^[6]

The district was renamed Journal Square in the 1920s after the newspaper, The Jersey Journal. Around that time, the Summit Avenue station was renovated and also rededicated as "Journal Square".^[5] The open-spandrel concrete arch bridge carrying Kennedy Boulevard and the station, built in 1926, is a pared-down version of a more ambitious elevated plaza scheme proposed by consulting engineer Abraham Burton Cohen. Passageways were suspended from the arches to connect the railroad station to bus stops on the bridge deck above (the bus stops were later removed).^[7] The storage yards northeast of the station were also expanded. The number of tracks in the station was increased from three to six to accommodate terminating trains from 33rd Street, as well as both local and express trains from Newark. There were two island platforms serving the station's four inner tracks, allowing cross-platform interchanges between Newark–Hudson Terminal and Journal Square–33rd Street rains, and bypass tracks for express trains that went around the four inner tracks.^[6] The Journal Square station was rededicated on June 1, 1929.^[5]

The H&M was acquired by PATH in 1962, and reconstruction of the station began in 1968.^[8] Though the cornerstone was installed on September 20, 1972, the transportation center itself was opened in stages in 1973, 1974, and 1975^[9] during the late phases of the Brutalist architecture movement. A statue of Jackie Robinson was dedicated at the center in 1998.^[10]

Part of the ceiling at Journal Square fell onto the platform during the rush hour on August 9, 1983, killing 2 and injuring 8. The ceiling slab, a false ceiling that had been installed during the renovation ten years prior, had been observed to be sagging as early as that April.^[11][12]

The center is sometimes viewed as having contributed to the decline of the district by moving the train-bus interchange, and thus pedestrians, away from other commercial activities around the square.^[13]

The Loew's Jersey Theater, the Stanley Theater, Hudson County Community College, Journal Squared, Hudson County Courthouse and Hudson County Administration Building are in the immediate vicinity. Nearby are the neighborhoods Bergen Square, India Square, Marion Section, Five Corners, the Hilltop, and McGinley Square, site of Beacon and Saint Peter's College.

Layout

Ground	Street level	PATH exit/entrance, bus terminal
Mezzanine	Mezzanine	Entrance/Exit, automatic ticket dispensing machines, one-way faregates
Platforms	Westbound	←      NWK-WTC toward Newark (Harrison)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Westbound	←      JSQ-33 alighting passengers only ←      JSQ-33 (via HOB) alighting passengers only
	Eastbound	→      JSQ-33 toward 33rd Street (Grove Street) → →      JSQ-33 (via HOB) toward 33rd Street (Grove Street) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Eastbound	→      NWK-WTC toward World Trade Center (Grove Street) →

Bus

Bus at Journal Square before turning into Pavonia Avenue and entrance to bus platforms, followed by a guagua (minibus), which also serves the region

Bus exiting Pavonia Avenue

Regular frequent bus service is provided by New Jersey Transit and private enterprises for points throughout Hudson County and to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. There is also service to Newark, Hackensack, the Jersey Shore and Atlantic City.^[16] Bus arrivals and departures use platforms accessible from within the station or via Pavonia or Sip Avenues.

Route	destination	major points
1 NJT[17]	Newark-Ivy Hill via Newark-Ironbound and Downtown Newark	West Side Lincoln Highway Ferry Street/Raymond Boulevard Market Street 16th Avenue
2 NJT[18]	Secaucus Junction	Kennedy Boulevard County Avenue Meadowlands Parkway
6 NJT[19]	Greenville Merritt Street or Lafayette Loop Liberty State Park	Summit Avenue Communipaw Junction Ocean Avenue
10	Bayonne JFK Blvd and 3rd Street	Kennedy Boulevard
30 A&C	Society Hill	Marion Section West Side Avenue Droyer's Point
32 (440 Shopper) A&C	Hudson Mall	Marion Section West Side Avenue Route 440
33 (Bergen Avenue) A&C	Greenville	Bergen Square McGinley Square Bergen Avenue Old Bergen Road
64N limited weekday service no weekend service NJT[20]	Lakewood NJT Bus Terminal	U.S. Route 9
67 limited service NJT[21]	Toms River Park and Ride via Lakewood seasonal: Seaside Heights	U.S. Route 9 Route 549
80 eastbound NJT[22]	Exchange Place	Newark Avenue
80 southbound NJT[22]	Greenville regular service	West Side Avenue
83 NJT[23]	Hackensack Bus Terminal	Summit Avenue Bergen Turnpike Tonnelle Avenue U.S. Route 46 Main Street
84 NJT[24]	Nungesser's North Bergen	Newark Avenue Palisade Avenue Bergenline
87 southbound NJT[25]	Greenville Gates Avenue	Bergen Square MLK Drive Old Bergen Road
87 northbound NJT[25]	Hudson Place Hoboken Terminal	Central Avenue Palisade Avenue 9th Street-Congress Street HBLR Paterson Plank Road
88 NJT[26]	Nungesser's North Bergen	Kennedy Boulevard
119 No Sunday service	Port Authority Bus Terminal 42nd Street (Manhattan)	Kennedy Boulevard 9th Street-Congress Street HBLR 14th Street Viaduct
125 NJT[27]	Port Authority Bus Terminal 42nd Street (Manhattan)	Kennedy Boulevard Marginal Highway
319 NJT[28]	Atlantic City Bus Terminal or Wildwood Bus Terminal Seasonal: Cape May	Garden State Parkway Express to Sea Isle City (stops in Toms River)
Bergenline Avenue Jitney[29]	Newport Mall George Washington Bridge Plaza	Newark Avenue Palisade Avenue Bergenline Fort Lee
JFK Boulevard Jitney Community Lines	Port Authority Bus Terminal 42nd Street (Manhattan)	Kennedy Boulevard Union City

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Journal Square Transportation Center.

• PATH - Journal Square
• NJT Bus Routes in Hudson County
• Kennedy Boulevard entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Entrance plaza from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View