Raising a solution

Raising a solution N.Y.-N.J. ports plan to raise the Bayonne Bridge's roadway to improve clearance for expected larger containerships.

By Chris Dupin

   It's a pity about the Bayonne Bridge.
   Her 'sister,' the similar steel-arch Sydney Harbor Bridge, which is just months younger, is the pride of Australia. A centerpiece of the city, fireworks are shot from it during New Year's celebrations, and tourists pay hundreds of dollars each for a chance to climb up the arch for a view of a beautiful harbor dotted with yachts sailing against the backdrop of the city's famous opera house.
   The Bayonne Bridge has a center span of 1,675 feet, 25 feet longer than the bridge in Sydney, but in contrast commands a view of the Kill Van Kull, an industrial waterway lined with tugs, work barges, dry docks and tank farms.
   Even the most ardent supporters of the New York's shipping industry have found little to love in the Bayonne Bridge in recent years because of the navigational obstacle it presents to large containerships.
   When completed in 1931, the 151 feet of clearance beneath the Bayonne Bridge (156 feet at low tide) was great enough to accommodate any ship in the U.S. Navy. But today it is too low-slung for the big new ships expected to start calling the East Coast of North America from Asia after the enlarged Panama Canal is scheduled to open in 2014. New locks for the canal will increase the size of the largest containerships able to cross the isthmus from 4,500 TEUs to 12,000 TEUs.
   The Kill Van Kull (the Dutch name dates from New Amsterdam days) is one of the most heavily used waterways in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It leads from New York Bay to the main container terminals in Elizabeth and Newark, N.J. ' including those operated by Maher Terminals, APM Terminals and Ports America ' as well as the New York Container Terminal at Howland Hook on the northwest corner of Staten Island.
   In December, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said that after several years of study it has decided to raise the roadway of the Bayonne Bridge 64 feet so ships passing beneath it would have 215 feet of clearance instead of replacing it with a new bridge or tunnel. That'll give ships passing beneath it more clearance or 'air draft' ' better than the 185 feet beneath Savannah's Talmadge Memorial Bridge, if not as generous as the 220 feet beneath the Oakland Bay Bridge.

For years the Bayonne Bridge's 151 feet of clearance accommodated vessels, such as this Maersk ship photographed in 2006. However, it is a navigational obstacle to larger containerships.

   Though the most lightly used of the port authority's four bridges and two tunnels, the Bayonne Bridge still handles two-way traffic of about 7 million vehicles moving annually between Bayonne and Staten Island.
   Port authority spokesman Steve Coleman said engineering and design work has begun for raising the roadway of the bridge, which would involve reconstruction of the existing approaches, ramps and hanging the main span at higher elevation in the arch.
   Coleman said the plan is to keep the bridge open while the construction proceeds. A new roadway will be built higher in the arch, so that cars and trucks can continue to use the existing roadway. When the new, higher roadway is completed, the existing roadbed will be demolished.
   The port authority said in addition to being the most cost-effective approach, the raised roadway will have 'the fewest environmental and neighborhood impacts.'
   Pledges to 'solve the Bayonne Bridge problem' have been included in nearly every speech to the shipping community by port authority officials and New Jersey politicians for several years. In October, the port authority board agreed to provide up to $1 billion in its capital planning process to help finance a 'Bayonne Bridge solution.'
   The agency did not say how expensive the modifications would be or how long they will take to complete. The Army Corps of Engineers' study estimated it would cost about $1.3 billion (plus $188 million for interest during construction) and take about nine years to complete.
   While a retrofit will be expensive and take a long time, the study found it was much cheaper and faster than other alternatives. Building a new bridge would cost $2.16 billion and take 12 years; a new tunnel could cost $2.2 billion to $3.1 billion and take 14 years.
   The port authority for a time had hoped it might be able to find a way to modify the center span of the bridge into a lift bridge rapidly at lower cost, but that idea was also rejected.
   'The announcement is good news for the sustainability and viability of the port, and now we must shift our focus to expediting the environmental process and finalizing the remaining engineering issues so we can develop a construction process,' said Joseph Curto, president of the New York Shipping Association, a group that represents terminal operators and other businesses in the port.
   New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie praised the raising-the-roadway solution, calling it 'fiscally appropriate and environmentally sound.' Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno this summer vowed during a visit by Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli that the bridge problem would be solved by the time the canal opened in 2014. That statement was seen by some as a moment of over-enthusiasm ' it is unclear whether the Army Corps. estimate of a 2019 completion date can be bested.
   In June 2010, the Port Authority Board of Commissioners moved to expedite the bridge renovation by agreeing to retain consulting teams to provide technical information on environmental and regulatory issues. It said they have worked to develop approaches to expedite the environmental review process, including the National Environmental Policy Act requirements, and other applicable regulations.
   But the fact that the bridge may take until the end of the decade to be completed may not dampen cargo volumes at the port. Most observers do not expect 12,000-TEU ships to begin calling the U.S. East Coast immediately once the enlarged Panama Canal is opened, and last year Mediterranean Shipping Co. successfully called the port with the 8,034 TEU MSC Rita.
   If carriers need to bring even bigger ships to New York, the port authority is also improving the Global Container Terminal in Bayonne and Jersey City. Ships calling that terminal do not have to pass beneath the Bayonne Bridge.
   The port is deepening the channel to that terminal to 50 feet to accommodate larger ships. It said last October it would expand the terminal from 98 to 170 acres and build an intermodal container transfer facility at an adjacent property.