Central New Jersey residents who need to travel into New York City may soon have a new way to do it.

Carteret received a $6 million federal grant to build a ferry terminal and provide service to Manhattan.

Waterfront Park will be the launch site. The ferry is expected to bring riders up the Arthur Kill to lower Manhattan in just under an hour.

“Any New Jersey driver will tell you that the [New Jersey] Turnpike is overcrowded, making the time to get to work totally unpredictable,” says Sen. Bob Menendez.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey designated Carteret’s waterfront as a good location for a ferry terminal 22 years ago. But Carteret Mayor Dan Reiman says that the town has been waiting even longer for a ferry.

“It’s been nearly 60 years since Carteret had a ferry boat in operation providing modes of transportation from Carteret to Manhattan,” he says.

Reiman says that construction has already started on a 185-slip public marina in town and a riverwalk is planned on property opposite Waterfront Park, which was owned by Dupont.  

Officials say that they also believe that the terminal would vastly improve the area. They say that the ferry could bring with it residential and retail space, as well as new jobs.

“For employers deciding where to invest, transit systems are increasingly a major factor in their calculations,” Menendez says.

It was also announced that Bayonne is receiving over $600,000 in federal grant money to help start up ferry service there.

The Carteret terminal is expected to be up and running by 2022.