But after noisy protests against the project by the grassroots Hudson Alliance for Rational Transportation (HART) and others, a study of running transit through the corridor has received an endorsement from a key committee of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA). The Authority changed the proposal to read: "improved east-west transit and/or vehicular access to the Hudson County Waterfront." The study will be up for NJTPA board approval on March 8.

As an "earmarked" project under federal TEA-21 legislation, the project's definition had been narrowly defined as conversion to a roadway. Both HART, which seeks a light-rail alternative to serve the densely populated area, and railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX who own the right-of-way, raised objections that the highway proposal did not consider quality-of-life or goods movement issues.

Still, it's unclear whether any political muscle will be flexed on behalf of a transit solution. Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler has spoken dismissively of a transit alternative, though he's willing to consider a shared right-of-way with freight railroads. The congressional delegation is equivocal at best, and Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski is reported to be open to all options but believes that public funds will most easily be shaken loose for paving the Arches, not laying track in them.