NJ Transit is offering riders a 50% discount on roundtrip travel from select stations beginning this Monday, March 24, after New Jersey’s I-80 was closed in both directions following the appearance of yet another sinkhole this week.
Elected officials hope the concession will help get commuters off the road and ease congestion while they fix I-80, which has been plagued by sinkholes since late last year.
“While we work around-the-clock to repair the roadway, we are providing every possible travel alternative including on NJ Transit trains,” said Gov. Phil Murphy in a statement. “By offering these discounts on the trains, we will get vehicles off the road and provide residents another option to get to work or school, and back home at the end of the day.”
The discount is available to customers traveling from Hackettstown, Mount Olive, Netcong, Lake Hopatcong, and Mount Arlington. To take advantage of it, travelers from these stations should let the train crew know if they plan to transfer at Newark Broad Street Station, Summit Station or continue to Penn Station New York. Crew will then help them obtain a transfer ticket to present to the connecting train’s crew.
Customers will still need to pay for their return trip ticket.
New Jersey’s Department of Transportation posted on X about the newest sinkhole, which appeared on Wednesday, March 19.
“A 15-foot by 15-foot hole opened up in the median in the I-80 eastbound work zone,” the agency wrote. “Out of an abundance of caution, NJDOT closed & detoured I-80 westbound at Exit 34B/Route 15 north. We are in the process of evaluating the situation.”
The cause of the sinkholes has been attributed to a series of abandoned mines beneath sections of I-80.
“It’s Swiss cheese underground,” Sterling Hill Mining Museum President Bill Kroth told News 12 back in December, shortly after a sinkhole opened up, adding “If that would have happened in one of the travel lanes, there would have been fatalities.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited I-80 on Saturday with Murphy and Rep. Tom Kean Jr.
“It is remarkable what we’re seeing,” Duffy said in a video posted to X. “This is going to be a whole government approach.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
