Bayonne Bridge Replacement

With the soon to be completed channel dredging project well in hand, the port is challenged by the 70-year old Bayonne Bridge whose maximum clearance above the water won’t let the newest classes of containerships pass under.

The Port Authority, strongly supported by Nation’sPort and the New York Shipping Association, is studying alternatives that would allow the new, larger ships pass through the Kill Van Kull to the ports in New Jersey and Staten Island. These studies are scheduled for completion in 2010.

Some of the alternatives include replacing the bridge, raising it higher, or building a new tunnel and removing it entirely.
The US Army Corps of Engineers has completed a national cost-benefit analysis which shows that the nation as a whole would benefit from this project. For the full report, please see: Bayonne-Bridge-Air-Draft-Analysis.pdf

Simply put, newer ships are coming into service that will be unable to call at the Port of New York and New Jersey. This problem will accelerate with the anticipated completion of the widening of the Panama Canal in 2014, allowing larger ships to sail directly from Asia to the East and Gulf Coasts. As shipping lines seek to increase their efficiency, they will increasingly rely on these ships, moving service to ports which can handle them.

Failure to adapt to these new requirements would mean that fewer of the goods intended for final distribution in the Greater New York region will be off-loaded here, and instead, they will be put ashore in ports which can handle them such as Norfolk, Charleston or Savannah. Not only will the total cost of goods increase as these will then have to be trucked or sent by train, but many of the jobs associated with working in the port and distributions systems will be lost to the Region.

Senators and Congressional Representatives have sponsored legislation that would provide up to $125 million for preliminary engineering and environmental reviews of the proposed alternatives to enable a final selection to be made and advanced for construction.