A bridge to sell us

Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s dinner last weekend at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster got a previously unaware president interested in the Portal North Bridge plan. A late-night tweet then spurred bureaucrats scrambling, advancing the wasteful $1.81 billion miniboondoggle (part of Amtrak’s $30 billion Gateway mega-boondoggle).

Gov. Cuomo and New York, which is on the hook for 50% of the project’s $1 billion local expense, must scale this monster down, saving money, time and the environment while expanding from two tracks to four. Think L-train in the sky, gov.

Besides failing to qualify for a cent of the proposed $766.5 million federal Core Capacity grant, as we proved earlier this year (it fails to add seats to the morning rush, way off the statutorily mandated 10% minimum), there is no logic here.

Once, vessels on the Hackensack River forced the 1910-vintage bridge to open, halting trains. Solution: a much higher bridge that wouldn’t open. But now there are no boats. And if any boat does appear, new Coast Guard rules forbid bridge openings during the entire a.m. and p.m. rush, which works perfectly for Metro-North’s movable Harlem River bridge carrying every train to and from Grand Central.

Smarter solution: a low, movable bridge, vastly cheaper and much faster to build. Existing environmental approvals can be simply amended for a smaller structure without the massive approaches. And even with extra time drawing new plans, an economical low four-track span could be opened before the pricey high two-tracker.

Plan, fund and build that.