BAYONNE, NJ-When the Port Authority of New York and NewJersey leapt on a new possibility for winning quickfederal approval of its plan to raise the BayonneBridge last week, industrial real estate specialists inNew Jersey raised a cheer.

“It is critical not just for the port, but for the state’seconomy in general,” Michael McGuinness, CEO ofNAIOP New Jersey, the commercial real estate developmentassociation headquartered in New Brunswick tells GlobeSt.com. “Notonly is the bridge project critical, but the timing iscritical.”

The authority has committed $1 billion to the project that willincrease navigational clearance for container ships from 151 to 215feet by the time widening of the Panama Canal iscompleted in 2014. Currently, the Bayonne Bridge is too lowto permit passage of larger vessels anticipated after Panamax, asthe widening project is known.