The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has awarded a $743 million contract to raise the deck of the Bayonne Bridge by 64 feet to allow larger ships to pass underneath it, an upgrade that port officials said is critical for the port to remain competitive after a widening of the Panama Canal is completed in 2015.
Likewise, port officials awarded a 40-year contract to the NYNJ Link Partnership — a $1.5 billion public-private venture — to design, build, finance, maintain and replace the Goethals Bridge with a state-of-the-art cable-stayed bridge. More than a million trucks crossed the bridge last year.
The Port Authority anticipates work beginning later this year on the bridge navigational clearance program, after completion of an environmental review and the permitting process, with a completion date in late 2015, port spokesman Chris Valens said.
The contract was awarded to Skanska Koch Inc.-Kiewit Infrastructure Co.
Port officials said the Bayonne Bridge project not only will raise the bridge’s deck, but also will provide drivers with a more modern roadway with safer 12-foot lanes, shoulders, a median divider and a 12-foot bike and pedestrian walkway.
The renovation will also provide the capability for future mass transit options across the span.
