The “Raise the Roadway” project, which began in May 2013, is designed to raise the navigational clearance under the Bayonne Bridge to 215 feet to allow larger, modern container ships to travel under it.
During a rainy tour of the bridge today, Port Authority officials led reporters along the new, elevated roadway up to its most recently installed section under the bridge’s iconic steel arch.
Port Authority Chief of Major Capital Projects Steven P. Plate said the overall construction on the project is still progressing as planned.
“We want to announce again and reinforce that we’re in very good shape,” he said.
While the just-completed roadway is ultimately meant to be the northbound side of the bridge, one of its two lanes will be used for southbound traffic while workers install two additional lanes.
Motorists using the Bayonne Bridge can expect to start driving on the raised roadway — which is 64 feet higher than the existing one — by the second quarter of 2017, the Port Authority said.
Among other things, constructing the roadway involved strengthening the existing steel arch with new steel panels and installing new steelwork such as floor beams, girders and other structures.
The new roadway under the arch also required the installation of new steel cables and the pouring of nearly 2,500 cubic yards of concrete.
Plate said today’s announcement of the roadway’s completion coincides with the 85th anniversary of the day the Bayonne Bridge first opened to traffic on Nov. 15, 1931.
The work that remains to be done to prepare the roadway for two-way traffic consists of pouring concrete barriers; striping the lanes; and installing lighting, communication, drainage, electrical and fire standpipe systems, he said.
The bridge’s old, lower span is slated to be removed by late 2017, which would enable larger ships to pass under the bridge and allow workers to replace the old structure with a two-lane southbound span by 2019.
The Port Authority said allowing larger container vessels to pass under the Bayonne Bridge will help the Port of New York and New Jersey “maintain its position as the region’s premier destination for shippers worldwide.”
The Bayonne Bridge was originally slated to achieve navigational clearance this year in time for the completion of the Panama Canal’s expansion but that was postponed to late 2017.
The bi-state agency said in fall 2015 that the postponement was due to “numerous challenges,” including: the harsh winter of 2014 to 2015; changes in project staging to address community concerns; modifications to the existing steel arch; and steel reinforcement activities requiring additional repairs.
Before the postponement, the project’s cost was estimated at $1.3 billion. The overall project’s delay to 2019 will potentially result in a roughly 15 percent cost increase, the Port Authority said earlier this year.
