NYNJ Port Authority awarded bridge contracts worth nearly $3bn
The Port Authority Board of Commissioners awarded a 40-year design-build-finance-maintain contract to NYNJ Link Partnership as part of a $1.5 billion public-private partnership (PPP) to replace the Goethals Bridge with a new state-of-the-art cable-stayed bridge. Besides, the Board of Commissioners awarded a $743.3 million contract to Skanska Koch, Inc. / Kiewit Infrastructure Co. (JV) team as part of a $1.29 billion program to increase the navigational clearance of the Bayonne Bridge, the Port Authority press release said.
The Goethals Bridge replacement project will create more than 2,250 direct construction jobs, $224 million in wages, and $872 million in economic activity for the region. The new span will connect Staten Island, New York with Elizabeth, New Jersey. Construction crews will remove the current Goethals Bridge once construction on the replacement span is complete.
This is the first time the Port Authority will build a new bridge since 1931, when the George Washington Bridge opened to vehicular traffic. Port Authority engineers determined that building a new replacement bridge is a more cost-effective solution than repairing the existing bridge.
The Bayonne Bridge project will raise the deck by 64 feet and provide drivers with a new, modern roadway with safer 12-foot lanes, shoulders, a median divider and a 12-foot bike and pedestrian walkway. It also will provide the capability for future mass transit options across the span.
The Bayonne Bridge project is the first time in agency history that engineers will construct a bridge roadway deck above the existing roadway, while traffic continues to flow on the deck below. Work will start later this year with deck removal scheduled for late 2015. One lane of traffic will operate in each direction throughout the life of the project, with overnight and limited weekend closures.
The widening of the Panama Canal, scheduled for completion in 2015, will result in larger, more modern ships calling on the Port. Raising the roadway of the 81-year-old Bayonne Bridge’s main deck by 64 feet will allow cleaner, more efficient post-Panamax ships to pass under the structure to access port terminals in New York and New Jersey. The project is critical to maintaining and enhancing the competitiveness of the New York and New Jersey ports.
About Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Founded in 1921, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey builds, operates, and maintains many of the most important transportation and trade infrastructure assets in the country. The agency’s network of aviation, ground, rail, and seaport facilities is among the busiest in the country, supports more than 550,000 regional jobs, and generates more than $23 billion in annual wages and $80 billion in annual economic activity. The Port Authority also owns and manages the 16-acre World Trade Center site, where construction crews are building the iconic One World Trade Center, which is now the tallest skyscraper in New York. The Port Authority receives no tax revenue from either the state of New York or New Jersey or from the City of New York. The agency relies on revenues generated by facility users, tolls, fees and rents as well as loans, bond financing, and federal grants to fund its operations.