Bayonne Bridge project completion delayed

Heavy weather and other challenges mean roadway will not be raised until the summer of 2016.    The projected date for raising the roadway of the Bayonne Bridge has been pushed back six months, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
   Chris Valens, a spokesman for the authority, confirmed a report in the Star-Ledger newspaper that said the raising of the roadway is expected to be completed in the summer of 2016. However, work on the bridge will continue into the following year.
   The Star-Ledger said the delays are related to last winter’s harsh weather, and ordinary events such as rain and heavy winds. The noisiest work will also be scheduled for the daytime.
   The $1.3 billion project will increase the distance from 151 feet to 215 feet between the bottom of the roadbed to the Kill Van Kull, a waterway that leads to the port’s major container terminals in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J., and on Staten Island in New York.
   The project will allow larger ships, which are expected to call the port in increasing numbers once the Panama Canal expansion project is completed, to pass beneath the Bayonne Bridge.
   A video animation made by the Port Authority shows how a new roadway will be built above the existing road deck before demolishing the bridge.