Port Okays NY-NJ Bridge Mega-Projects

NEW YORK CITY-The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday authorized a 40-year design-build-finance-maintain contract to the NYNJ Link Partnership as part of a $1.5-billion public-private partnership to replace the Goethals Bridge between Staten Island Elizabeth, NJ. At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the Port Authority’s board also approved a $743.3-million contract to raise the Bayonne Bridge connecting that New Jersey city with Staten Island, and a $35-million repaving of the Outerbridge Crossing that links the island with Perth Amboy, NJ.

The replacement Goethals span marks the Port’s first bridge construction project since the George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and Fort Lee, NJ opened in 1931. It reflects agency engineers’ judgment that replacing the aging Goethals would be more cost-effective than repairing it.