The bus stop that faces Route 59 at Palisades Center in West Nyack will be temporarily relocated starting Thursday due to parking lot construction.

The new, temporary stop will be near the lower level Macy’s entrance, also facing Route 59, the county’s Department of Public Transportation said today.

Bus riders who use the mall’s commuter parking lot (Lot J, across from the Home Depot) will not be affected during the construction.

The new bus stop is served by eight routes – Transport of Rockland (TOR) 59, 91, 92 and 97; the Tappan ZEExpress; the Clarkstown Mini Trans Routes A and D; and the Rockland Coaches (Red & Tan Lines) 20.

All of these routes will switch to the temporary stop, but bus schedules will not be affected by this change.

Buses will continue to use the stop for the duration of the construction project.

It is not known how long the project will last.

The firstAmtrak coach car to be refurbished by federal stimulus dollars will be back on the rails and carrying passengers next week, the railroad announced.

It’ll get back on track at an Amtrak maintenance yard in Bear, Del., and Amtrak is celebrating the event with a press conference Monday. The car cost $687,000 to renovate. Read more of this entry »

There’s a certain tortise-and-the-hare irony to this. A runway at JFK Airport was shut down temporarily yesterday because a few dozen turtles ambled onto the tarmac, the Associated Press reports.

Pilots at the airport on Jamaica Bay reporting seeing the first turtles about 8:30 a.m.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey rounded up the Diamondback terrapins in about 35 minutes and placed them back in the water, farther from the airport, AP said. But flights were delayed up to an hour and a half.

Well that was quick.

Every cause, it seems, needs an association. Or many associations. Well now, a few weeks after President Barack Obama announced national plans for high-speed rail, a newly formed U.S. High Speed Rail Association has announced itself.

You can take a look at the organization’s ambitious plan Read more of this entry »

NJ Transit made it official today, announcing train service to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J., will begin on July 26 for an international soccer championship game.

For Rockland residents, it means they can take a train to Jets and Giants games for the first time, as well as other major sporting events and concerts at the Meadowlands.

The Pascack Valley, Port Jervis and Main/Bergen lines stop at Secaucus Junction, N.J., where they can catch a shuttle to the stadium. Read more of this entry »

Traffic congestion dipped ever so slightly in 2007 — even before the current recession — but don’t take heart, says the Texas Transportation Institute, which studies traffic nationwide. Those maddening traffic jams robbed us of $87.2 billion in wasted fuel and lost work time.

That was more than 2.8 billion gallons of wasted fuel, or three weeks’ worth of gas for all of us drivers. And the time wasted came out to 4.2 bilion hours, or a full work week for every traveler.

All this is in Read more of this entry »

Sometimes you just have to reward persistence. Somehow, I’ve gotten on the e-mail list of Iceland Air, and I am constantly getting their service updates.

So, fine. I’ll pass on the latest news. The airline is starting new flights to Manchester, England and Glasgow, Scotland. And if you ever find yourself at Keflavik airport — I’m sorry, Keflavik International Airport (and, really, what other type of airport would you expect in a country the size of Ohio?) — then you can avail yourself of this beefed-up service.

But wait, I’m having a little too much fun with this. You really can take advantage Read more of this entry »

Amtrak Acela Express passengers will see changes in the schedules starting Monday because of track work that’s going on.

But maybe the more significant news is that the railroad is adding two new Sunday runs from New York to Boston.

Check out the press Read more of this entry »

Riders on Metro-North’s Hudson Line will see some schedule changes July 13 because of track work. Temporary changes that had been in effect since April 5 will end.

If you ride the Harlem Line or the main New Haven Line, don’t worry. No changes Read more of this entry »

Here’s a statement from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday’s horrific Metro train crash in Washington D.C.:

“The heartfelt thoughts and prayers of all MTA employees go out to Read more of this entry »

People who ride the Pascack Valley line on weekends can hop on express trains starting July 12.

Metro-North Railroad said the new expresses will leave Spring Valley for Hoboken at 9:27 a.m. and 11:37 a.m., saving riders 23 minutes from the current trip.

There will be two express departures from Hoboken to Spring Valley at 3:20 p.m. and 7:22 p.m.

In addition to Spring Valley, trains on NJ Transit’s 31-mile Pascack Valley line stop in Nanuet and Pearl River. They will no longer stop in New Jersey except at Secaucus Junction and Hoboken.

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

Severe thunderstorms are causing havoc and flooding in northern New Jersey.

As a result, there will be only bus service tonight on Pascack Valley line between Oradell and Spring Valley.

UPDATED AT 5:37 p.m.: PVL service is temporarily suspended at Emerson due to severe flooding. A bus bridge is being established between Westwood and Oradell stations.

Commuters heading home on NJ Transit’s Pascack Valley line are experiencing to 30 to 60 minute delays in both directions due to flooding, the transit agency reported shortly after 5 p.m.

The problem is due to flooding in Emerson.

NJ Transit bus 165 and Red & Tan Coaches are cross-honoring tickets from Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The team in charge of replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge today said it wants to create a new committee to get input from Rockland and Westchester residents about how to pay for the $16 billion project.

There is currently no funding in place for the project, which has three components: a new bridge ($6.4 billion); a 30-mile high-speed bus network from Suffern to Port Chester ($2.9 billion); an east-west rail line from Suffern to Tarrytown, where it would link up with Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson line, providing a direct ride from Rockland into Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan ($6.7 billion).

State officials have said it will likely be funded through a combination of public and private funds.

The citizens committee on finance will be formed this month, making it the fifth Stakeholder Advisory Working Group to work with the project team. The other four have had their own focus — bridge design, environment, traffic-transit and land use — and been in place for almost two years.

“Throughout the project development process ahead, we will continue to engage the public,” acting state Department of Transportation Commissioner Stanley Gee said in a press release. “The new Stakeholder Advisory Working Group on Finance is yet another way we are reaching out to local communities, providing public feedback and incorporating public input as the project goes forward.”

The DOT, the project team’s lead agency, recently hired Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., of New York City to serve as the project’s financial advisor.

The project team, made up of the DOT, state Thruway Authority and Metro-North Railroad, today also released the “Scoping Summary Report,” which finalizes last year’s recommendations and encompasses public comments that were received last year. This formally marks the start of the Draft Environmental Impact Study phase, which will involve detailed environmental analysis.

The 236-page summary report is available at http://tzbsite.com/.

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News and LoHud.com.

I have a story in today’s paper about NJ Transit shutting down the Pascack Valley line this weekend.

Buses will serve all of the line’s stops, which include Spring Valley, Nanuet and Pearl River so construction can be done.

Here’s the special schedule that will be in effect this weekend. Train service resumes Monday morning with the 4:56 a.m. departure out of Spring Valley.

If you’ve never been on the line, here’s a great video of the 31-mile ride posted on YouTube by someone who clearly has excellent access.