The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system is heading west toward the Hackensack River, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said Tuesday afternoon.

Currently the westernmost light rail station is the West Side Avenue Station. Under a plan that has been in the works for years, a Bayfront station would be built roughly one mile to the west, on the other side of Route 440, and would be a boon for the proposed 8,000-unit Bayfront development project on the banks of the Hackensack.

“This is big for the future of Jersey City and I’m encouraged that we are moving forward with the extension of the light rail into the southwest portion of Jersey City,” Fulop said in a statement. "With the city progressing on Bayfront, the largest mixed-income housing development in the region, this light rail extension is essential.”

The mayor tweeted his enthusiasm for the light rail extension Tuesday afternoon, one day after Gov. Phil Murphy discussed it at the Jersey City Summit for Real Estate Investment.

The Governor’s Office did not return a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Fulop said NJ Transit, which operates the light rail system, would break ground in 2020.

“This will be a game changer for our Bayfront investment on the West Side of #JerseyCity as we are building the largest mixed income community in the region,” Fulop tweeted.

Great news for #JerseyCity as @GovMurphy said yesterday at the JC Real Estate Conference that the state of NJ that the light-rail extension on the West Side of #JerseyCity will be moving forward + groundbreaking will be in early 2020. pic.twitter.com/RmFoB2feBG — Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) November 19, 2019

The stations at West Side Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive and Garfield Avenue are currently closed due to utility work by the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority (West Side Avenue branch.

The NJ Transit website includes a map of the where the tracks would be laid. It also says that an Environmental Analysis was completed and the Federal Transit Administration issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the project back in 2014. The FONSI marks the final step in the NEPA review of the project.