Gramercy Group served as the general contractor on the PATH Hoboken Flood Resiliency project, a critical infrastructure upgrade completed in 2021 at one of the busiest transit hubs in the New York–New Jersey metro area. Commissioned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the project was part of the agency’s broader Hurricane Sandy Recovery Program — an effort to harden facilities across the PATH system against the growing risks of storm surge and sea level rise.

Why Hoboken Needed Protection

When Hurricane Sandy struck in October 2012, the Hoboken Terminal and its surrounding rail infrastructure were devastated. Floodwaters from the Hudson River surged into the station, shutting down service and stranding hundreds of thousands of riders who depend on the terminal as a daily transit hub for PATH and NJ Transit. In Sandy’s aftermath, Port Authority leadership made flood resilience a top priority. This meant not just restoring what was lost, but building systems that could stand up to the next major storm.

“Since 2009 we’ve addressed climate risks in project design, but Sandy brought a renewed urgency to our work,” said Port Authority Chief of Resilience and Sustainability Josh DeFlorio. The Hoboken station became a key proving ground for that commitment.

A Multi-Level Defense System

The flood protection system installed at Hoboken Station is designed to block rising water at multiple points before it can reach the tracks and disrupt service. During a storm, rushing water from the Hudson River encounters a layered series of barriers: aquarium-thickness glass at the elevator entrances, aluminum stoplog systems at the tops of staircases, and flexible fabric barriers that can be deployed over staircase openings in advance of a storm. If water makes it past those defenses, massive watertight steel doors stand ready at the base of the staircases to keep floodwater from reaching the platform and track level.

Gramercy’s Scope

Gramercy oversaw all aspects of the project, managing a wide range of trades including: electrical, communications, plumbing, HVAC, structural steel, concrete formwork, roofing, and waterproofing. The work also involved significant structural modifications — selectively demolishing, shoring, and placing new structural concrete to accommodate the flood door installations. One staircase required the complete demolition and restoration of its stair bulkhead.

At the heart of the project, Gramercy installed four Walz & Krenzer watertight doors ranging from 1,500 to 5,600 pounds — the heaviest positioned at the staircase between NJ Transit and PATH. Each door was engineered to withstand FEMA’s updated flood elevation levels, with testing conducted to approximately 13 feet. Our team also oversaw the installation of an ILC Dover horizontal fabric flood barrier through a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise subcontractor.

A detailed five-phase plan was developed to minimize disruption, shutting down only one staircase at a time to maintain the flow of commuters through the terminal. Coordination with both PATH and NJ Transit was critical at every stage.

Award-Winning Work

In February 2021, the PATH Hoboken Flood Resiliency project was recognized by the New Jersey Alliance for Action with a “New Jersey’s Leading Infrastructure Projects” award — a program created to highlight innovative and landmark construction initiatives that impact the state’s economy. The award honored the full team of partners who worked together to deliver the project, and we are proud to have been part of that effort.

Protecting What Matters

The upgrades at Hoboken Station are designed to dramatically reduce recovery time after a major storm — getting the railroad back up and running for the hundreds of thousands of riders who depend on it. It’s the kind of work that often goes unnoticed until it’s needed most, and Gramercy Group is proud to have played a role in making this critical piece of New York–New Jersey transit infrastructure more resilient for the long term.