Friday, May 24, 2013

Corps okays raising of Bayonne Bridge

Officials gathered this week to celebrate the Coast Guard's approval of a plan to raise the roadway of the Bayonne Bridge of New Jersey, a project that will help ensure the sustained growth of the East Coast's busiest port.

One attendee included U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), an early proponent of the project who had helped persuade President Obama to fast-track the project’s approval status last July.

Menendez said the bridge raising is, "the most critical infrastructure project on the East Coast, if not in the entire United States," and one that would generate $1.6 billion in economic activity during four years of construction, as well as facilitating the continued flow of trade directly to the region from China and other nations.

"If you wear it, if you eat it, if you drive it, if you use it, it probably came through the Port of New York and New Jersey," Menendez said, as container ships passed below the bridge on the Kill Van Kull behind him.

The project will raise the roadway on the bridge by 64 feet, creating a clearance of 215 feet above the Kill Van Kull at high tide. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the project’s sponsor, says the roadway has to be raised to allow larger container ships to get to terminals in Newark, Elizabeth and Staten Island.

For more of the Star-Ledger story: nj.com

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