N.Y.-N.J. port: New study will speed bridge

N.Y.-N.J. port: New study will speed bridge    The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it is seeking to speed-up the process for modifying or replacing the Bayonne Bridge by hiring consultants to look at environmental issues as it continues a study on whether to replace or modify the bridge so that larger ships can get to the port’s container terminals in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J., as well as Staten Island, N.Y.
   Last summer, the agency began a $10 million planning analysis to determine how best to address navigational issues posed by the larger ships expected to use the region's container terminals after expansion of the Panama Canal is completed in 2014.
   On Tuesday the port announced that it has issued a request for proposal seeking consultants to provide technical information on environmental and regulatory issues related to the project.
   The port wants a consultant to help it develop 'best practices' for expediting the process to fix the bridge that crosses a waterway called the Kill Van Kull and connects Staten Island to Bayonne, N.J.
   The port wants the consultants to help it find practices that have helped comparable projects get accomplished speedily. It pointed out examples such as the replacement for the Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River that collapsed on August 1, 2007, and was replaced with a new bridge on Sept. 18, 2008; and the St. Louis Bay Bridge, in Mississippi that failed during Hurricane Katrina, and was 90 percent complete in less than two years.
   Simultaneously undertaking an environmental alternatives' analysis “will help prepare a timeline for tackling environmental issues so the project will be ready to go when the funding is identified and ready,” the port authority said.
   Among the ideas the port is exploring is modifying the existing bridge by jacking the current road deck from about 151-feet above the surface of the Kill Van Kull to 215 feet, creating a lift-bridge mechanism at the center of the span, building a new, taller bridge or tunnel below the river.
   Other ideas being explored in various studies by the port authority to deal with the Bayonne Bridge issue include:
   ' Providing shippers with incentives and/or financial support to retrofit large vessels to pass under the existing bridge.
   ' Develop sites east of the Bayonne Bridge (for example the port is planning to build additional container handling capacity adjacent to the Global Marine Terminal in Jersey City, an area where ships do not have to pass under the Bayonne Bridge).
   ' A “lock system to lower boats for passage under the bridge.”
   ' A ferry between Staten Island and Bayonne, or a tramway for public transit riders.
   The port’s board on Tuesday also authorized spending $1.7 million to keep the bridge in good repair.
   New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie “has said fixing the Bayonne Bridge height problem is one of his top priorities and we will heed his request,' said Bill Baroni, the agency's deputy executive director. 'Port Newark and Port Elizabeth are critical to the region's economic growth and success. There is no greater priority than fixing the height issue and protecting Ports Newark and Elizabeth.'