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PATH riders headed to the World Trade Center will have to find alternate ways to get there on most weekends from Feb. 14 until early 2015.

(Star-Ledger file photo)

The Port Authority announced tonight it has worked an agreement with NJ Transit to cross honor PATH tickets on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail at the Exchange Place, Newport and Hoboken stations during the upcoming weekend closures of some PATH service.

The move comes after the Port Authority's decision to shut down weekend PATH service between Exchange Place in Jersey City and the World Trade Center led to continued grumbling today.

Jeff Tittle, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, issued a statement saying the service disruption will be a “huge inconvenience” for PATH riders who rely on the rail line to get into New York City.

“This will not only affect people’s everyday lives, but will hurt the local economy with people not being able to travel directly into Jersey City on the weekends.”

The Port Authority said the move will allow them to install a federally mandate anti-collision system before the end of 2015. The shutdown will begin late next Friday, Feb. 14.

Candice Osborne, who represents Ward E on the City Council, fired off a letter to Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye asking him to delay the disruption for at least six weeks and to come up with alternative solutions for PATH riders.

The Port Authority responded in the cross-honor announcement last night by syaing “This cooperative effort from our transit partner will provide our riders another important travel alternative at no further cost, and is one step as we continue to work to educate the public on alternatives to ease their travel.”

Osborne took particular umbrage at the Port Authority announcing the shutdown only about one week before it is set to begin.

“The public has not had sufficient time to react or become aware of these changes,” the letter reads. “It beggars belief that a single newspaper article eight days in advance could in any way be construed as sufficient notice to citizens”

PATH rider Alice O’Kane forwarded to The Jersey Journal a conversation she had with a PATH customer service representative, who told her that the service disruptions are “absolutely necessary” for the Port Authority to comply with new a new federal safety mandate and to restore service post-Hurricane Sandy.

“If Sandy has placed riders in jeopardy, have we been ‘rolling the dice’ with every ride we have all taken over the past 14 months” O’Kane said. “Hope not.”

“Weekend PATH service outages are critical for the expeditious installation of technology that will protect our customers and increase reliability of service following Superstorm Sandy,” Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico said Thursday.