Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Completes Preliminary Study of Bayonne Bridge

The PANYNJ will now devote $10m, over 18 months, to further study of alternatives that include jacking up the bridge, building a new bridge, or replacing the bridge with a tunnel.

The bridge, built in 1931, sits atop the Kill Van Kull, which connects New York’s vessel anchorages to its complex of container terminals, rail, and truck interfaces in Port Elizabeth and Port Newark.

With its airdraft of 156 feet, the bridge impedes transits of vessels of 7,000 teu (and above), which are expected to call at the port with great frequency from 2015 and onward.

At that time, the widened Panama Canal will open, and the Corps will have dredged the Kill Van Kull to 50 feet.

An eventual project will require 9-14 years (for a tunnel), at costs ranging from $1.3bn (jack-up) to more than $3bn (tunnel). The PANYNJ will now “complete the necessary planning analyses and due diligence required to determine a preferred course of action and recommended project alternative”.