Construction is expected to begin soon on the Portal North Bridge. That’s a notorious chokepoint for NJ Transit and Amtrak over the Hackensack River. 

The nearly 112 year-old Portal Bridge is a swing bridge, meaning when big ships pass below, all train traffic is halted, so it can open. And sometimes it gets stuck and workers with hammers have to manually close it. This causes delays up and down Amtrak's northeast corridor.

The new $1.6 billion bridge will be taller so ships can pass below once the bridge rotates.

On Monday, lawmakers dug ceremonial gold shovels into a pile of manure in a parking lot near the bridge and tossed it to mark the occasion. 

The bridge overhaul is the first part of the massive Gateway project. With federal funds flowing Amtrak hopes it can begin construction on a new tunnel under the Hudson River next year.