Port Access: New York/New Jersey
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New York/New Jersey: Bayonne Bridge "Raise the Roadway" Ahead of Schedule
The elevated Bayonne Bridge roadway will open June 30, allowing ultra-large, environmentally friendly container vessels calling Port of New York and New Jersey to access marine terminals in Newark, Elizabeth and Staten Island.
The existing lower roadway of the bridge, which had prevented larger ships from serving these busy terminals, will be removed six months ahead of its year-end schedule.
Recently U.S. Coast Guard Sector New York and pilot organizations lifted air draft restrictions enabling vessels carrying up to 9,800 TEUs to call terminals west of the Bayonne Bridge without worrying about tidal conditions. Soon, the newly raised roadway will provide a clearance of 215 feet – the same as the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge – allowing ships of up to 18,000 TEUs capacity to pass below to terminals located in New Jersey and Staten Island.
"‘Raise the Roadway’ is a visionary project, accomplishing what once seemed impossible for the long-term benefit of our regional economy," Port Authority Chairman John Degnan said. "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."
In February, the $1.8 billion project achieved a new milestone with the opening of the elevated roadway through the existing arch bridge and over the original roadway, while maintaining traffic flow on the lower span. The bridge will be built to its full width by 2019 – at which point motorists will benefit from a fully modern, safer and wider roadway with four 12-foot wide lanes in each direction, outside and inside shoulders and a shared-use pedestrian and bicycle path.
"Raise the Roadway," coupled with last year’s completion of the Port Authority and federal government’s shared investment in the $2.1 billion 50-foot navigation channel deepening project, $600 million of Port Authority investment spent on on-dock rail projects and billions spent by private sector terminal operators, will allow the Port of New York and New Jersey to remain an attractive East Coast option for cargo shippers.
More information about the "Raise the Roadway" project, including a time-lapse video of construction and on-site camera feeds, can be found at www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/bayonne-navigational-clearance-project.html.
The elevated Bayonne Bridge roadway will open June 30, allowing ultra-large, environmentally friendly container vessels calling Port of New York and New Jersey to access marine terminals in Newark, Elizabeth and Staten Island.
The existing lower roadway of the bridge, which had prevented larger ships from serving these busy terminals, will be removed six months ahead of its year-end schedule.
Recently U.S. Coast Guard Sector New York and pilot organizations lifted air draft restrictions enabling vessels carrying up to 9,800 TEUs to call terminals west of the Bayonne Bridge without worrying about tidal conditions. Soon, the newly raised roadway will provide a clearance of 215 feet – the same as the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge – allowing ships of up to 18,000 TEUs capacity to pass below to terminals located in New Jersey and Staten Island.
"‘Raise the Roadway’ is a visionary project, accomplishing what once seemed impossible for the long-term benefit of our regional economy," Port Authority Chairman John Degnan said. "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."
In February, the $1.8 billion project achieved a new milestone with the opening of the elevated roadway through the existing arch bridge and over the original roadway, while maintaining traffic flow on the lower span. The bridge will be built to its full width by 2019 – at which point motorists will benefit from a fully modern, safer and wider roadway with four 12-foot wide lanes in each direction, outside and inside shoulders and a shared-use pedestrian and bicycle path.
"Raise the Roadway," coupled with last year’s completion of the Port Authority and federal government’s shared investment in the $2.1 billion 50-foot navigation channel deepening project, $600 million of Port Authority investment spent on on-dock rail projects and billions spent by private sector terminal operators, will allow the Port of New York and New Jersey to remain an attractive East Coast option for cargo shippers.
More information about the "Raise the Roadway" project, including a time-lapse video of construction and on-site camera feeds, can be found at www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/bayonne-navigational-clearance-project.html.
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