As of June 30, the $1.6 billion raising of the Bayonne Bridge roadway will allow the world’s ultra-large, environmentally friendly container vessels to pass beneath the span, gaining access to the Ports of Newark, Elizabeth, and Staten Island, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey informed.
Governor Christie, who joined Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and other officials at Maher Terminals in Elizabeth, said the existing lower roadway of the bridge, which had prevented larger ships from entering the East Coast’s busiest port terminals, after passing through the recently widened Panama or Suez Canals, will be removed six months ahead of its recently revised year-end schedule.
As the Port Authority explained, the Bayonne Bridge’s current navigational clearance of 151 feet limits the size of the vessels that can travel under it to approximately 8,000 to 9,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent cargo size containers). The newly raised roadway will provide a clearance of 215 feet – the same as the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge – allowing ships with up to 18,000 TEUs to pass below to access terminals located in New Jersey and Staten Island. The largest ship currently able to navigate the waters below the bridge is 9,800 TEUs.
“With the lifting of the bridge’s navigational restrictions, we expect these numbers to continue to grow and shipping lines to begin to send their larger ships to this port. As a result, more businesses will seek to locate in the port area to create jobs, especially in the skilled trades while garnering the benefits being close to the port can bring. These businesses already generate nearly $53.5 billion in economic activity” said Governor Christie.
With this project, standard consumer goods, sold in the New York-New Jersey region, are expected to have lower prices due to the reduction of operating costs for shipping lines.
“It began with the unprecedented accomplishment of building a new roadway through an existing bridge structure, with traffic continuing to flow on a lower roadway. Removal of the lower roadway will make it one of the most important American infrastructure projects in history to facilitate global trade” Port Authority Chairman John Degnan commented.
The project, managed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is under construction by the joint venture of Skanska/Koch/Kiewit Infrastructure Co. The bridge will be built to its full width by 2019.
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the busiest port on the East Coast and the third busiest in the country after Los Angeles and Long Beach.
