One of the most unusual holiday light displays is also located in one of New Jersey’s most highly-trafficked areas. But it is a display that few people have ever seen.

Anyone who is not paying attention may miss a Christmas tree set up outside Caisson 3, just outside the Newport Pavonia PATH stop in Jersey City.

The tree is a longstanding tradition that has been put up every holiday season since the 1950s, when signal repairman Joe Wojitowicz put one up in the window of the signal room in Caisson 3. It was moved outside the office eventually and has been there every year since, even after Superstorm Sandy flooded the tubes.

Brian Hodgkinson is a chief of signal maintenance, who inherited the tradition and is passing it on.

“I put it up in the 80s. And now I just get a small crew of guys and we buy a tree and we put the new tree up every year,” he says.

Hodgkinson’s father worked for PATH and his son now works for the Port Authority. And when Hodgkinson retires in nine days, he will give orders to make sure future workers keep the tradition alive.

“Within a month the tree will be completely covered in dust… You put a bag around it and you throw it in the garbage,” he says.

Hodgkinson says that over the years he has seen how the tree captures the hearts of whoever does see it.

“People see it, and they catch a glimpse of it. You can see them turn real quick. And the next day they look to actually see that it's up and then they confirm what they actually saw the day before. ‘I did see a Christmas tree in the tunnel,’” he says.

PATH workers have also added a menorah to the display in recent years.