New Jersey Transit Friday received a check for $298.7 million in federal transportation aid, which was delivered personally to Gov. Jon Corzine by U.S. Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood at a ceremony at New Jersey Transit's Metropark Station in Woodbridge.

The $298 million is part of the larger $423 million in economic recovery support NJTransit is receiving from the federal government.

Corzine said the aid represents the largest transit grant issued to date by the Federal Transit Administration. "As a result,'' the governor said, "we'll be able to kick-off a new slate of shovel-ready project s to make necessary infrastructure improvements that will help to stimulate our economy while saving and creating thousands of jobs for New Jersey residents."

The federal aid is currently being directed to approximately 13 transit projects throughout the state, all of which have either already started or are scheduled to get under way by the end of the year.

The projects include the new Pennsauken Transit Center that will connect the River Line and the Atlantic City line; a new Plauderville Station in Bergen County; a new 500-space parking lot at Edison Station that will more than double the parking capacity; signal and safety upgrades on various rail lines and the Mass Transit Tunnel, which is ramping up into its construction phase.

Here is a list of the projects and the aid each will receive:

• Mass Transit Tunnel — $130 million
• Lower Hackensack Drawbridge rehabilitation — $30 million
• Plauderville Station high-level platform — $15 million
• Edison Station park and ride — $11 million
• Morristown Line bi-directional signal improvements — $25 million
• River LINE cab signal system — $24 million
• Enhanced track rehabilitation — $7 million
• Pennsauken Transit Center preliminary engineering — $2 million
• Newark Penn Station Plaza West preliminary engineering — $2 million
• Commuter Rail rolling stock rehabilitation — $1.5 million
• Bus rolling stock rehabilitation — $35 million
• Bus shelters — $2.5 million
• ACCESS LINK and Atlantic City Jitney 248 vehicle purchases — $16 million

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM