Thursday, December 31, 2015

Bayonne Bridge to stay open through New Year's holiday weekend

NJ.com: "The Bayonne Bridge will stay open through the New Year's holiday weekend and resume its regular weekday closures on Monday, the Port Authority announced.

Beginning Monday, the bridge will follow its regular schedule of daily closures from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and overnight closures from 8:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. as construction continues on the "Raise the Roadway" project, the bi-state agency said."

The Panama Connection

HOIST Magazine: "One of the most significant is a major reconfiguration of the Bayonne port Global terminal, one of five terminals in the New Jersey/New York port complex which services one of the largest markets in the US with a catchment of around 30M.
The terminal, appropriately operated by Global Container Terminals, is the only one on the outside of the Kill Van Kull, the main channel passing into the large Newark and Port Elizabeth area. Sitting on the end of the Bayonne peninsula it is the only terminal unaffected by a headroom restriction for ships passing under the famous Bayonne bridge which connects New Jersey to Staten Island.
A $1.2bn project is underway to reconfigure the bridge which will lift its road deck 20m to give a navigational clearance of 66.1m by late 2017, but until than GCT has a significant competitive edge says the GCT project manager for new terminal Rich Ceci. "We are the only terminal that will take the big Suez and new Panama ships" he says. Water draft is being increased to 15.2m and a new marine to rail transshipment zone is part of the works."

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Top Bayonne news stories of 2015 | NJ.com

NJ.com: "Bayonne Bridge construction delayed by two years

Five months after city residents living near the Bayonne Bridge and its ongoing construction expressed outrage at their reduced quality of life at a public meeting, the Port Authority announced on Oct. 1 that the project had been set back by two years and would not be completed until mid-2019."

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Harbor Pilots Called to Steer Larger Ships

WSJ: "The largest vessels have only a few feet to maneuver in some port channels; stacked-up megaships come within inches of scraping the bottom of the Bayonne Bridge on their way into Newark’s terminals"

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

With mass transit, talk is cheap: Riders need results (editorial)

SILive.com: "South Shore residents have the Staten Island Railway. Many North Shore residents, marooned as they are in a forgotten "transit desert," have zero alternatives, short of driving to the ferry. Of course, they would have options if the MTA would consider running light rail line across the Bayonne Bridge to connect with NJ Transit, but the powers that be have ruled that out."

Friday, December 18, 2015

Bayonne Bridge to stay open from Dec. 23 to Jan. 4

NJ.com: "The Bayonne Bridge will stay open from 5 a.m. on Dec. 23 until 9 a.m. on Jan. 4, city officials announced today."

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Bayonne Bridge to close this weekend stay open for holidays

Hudson Reporter: "The Bayonne Bridge will close overnight Friday into Saturday morning, and then overnight Saturday into Sunday morning, to accommodate ongoing construction work on the bridge project, according to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

But the bridge will be open for the holidays, from 5 a.m. Dec. 23 until 9 a.m. Jan. 4."

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Friday, December 11, 2015

White-Skanska-Kiewit ousted from over-budget Boston Green Line extension

Construction Dive: "Sweden-based Skanska, one of the largest construction companies in the world, has seen a run of bad luck on some high-profile projects in the U.S. recently. Those include the Apple "spaceship" campus, where the contractor was also removed from the job, and the delayed Bayonne Bridge rehab."

A tale of two boroughs, toll-wise (editorial)

SILive.com: "That battle was fought and lost four years ago when Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie signed off on the Port Authority's plan for incremental toll hikes on the grounds that the authority has had to pay enormous sums for such important projects as the World Trade Center reconstruction, the ongoing Bayonne Bridge's "Raise the Roadway" project and replacing the Goethals Bridge."

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Bayonne Bridge to close for whole weekend

Hudson Reporter: "The bridge will close at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, and will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday, Dec. 14."

NY-NJ terminal to start truck appointments in January

JOC.com: "Truckers have complained about long turn times at GCT Bayonne, the only New York-New Jersey terminal able to handle ships too large to pass under the Bayonne Bridge until the raising of the bridge’s roadway is completed in late 2017."

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Truck congestion at PANYNJ

Port Strategy "GCT Bayonne is the only option for the largest ships arriving at the US east coast’s busiest port. The Bayonne Bridge’s 151ft height limits clearance for all other ships than can access terminals in New Jersey or on Staten Island, New York."

Thursday, December 3, 2015

New Jersey: Garden of Opportunity

New Jersey: Garden of Opportunity: "The third largest seaport in North America and the largest maritime cargo center on the East Coast, the Port of New York and New Jersey serves as a North American gateway for international freight and a leading hub for domestic cargo. To accommodate post-Panamax activity at Port Newark/Elizabeth, a $743.3 million rebuilding project to raise the clearance of the Bayonne Bridge is currently underway to accommodate larger ships coming from Asia to the East Coast after the expansion of the Panama Canal."

Bayonne Bridge to close Friday and Saturday nights

NJ.com: "The bridge will be closed from 11:59 p.m. on Friday until 8 a.m. Saturday, and will also be closed from 9 p.m. on Saturday until 5 a.m. on Sunday, the Port Authority said. From 5 a.m. on Sunday onward, the bridge will remain open."

Court Upholds Environmental Review and Dismisses Challenge to Bayonne Bridge Project

Sive, Paget & Riesel: "After examining the EA and the extensive record, Judge Ronnie Abrams rejected all of the plaintiffs’ arguments, holding that the Coast Guard satisfied its obligations under NEPA. The Court found that the Coast Guard “adequately considered and disclosed” the Project’s induced growth impacts, even though the agency relied on the results of an expert’s proprietary model and data. Regarding construction, the Court found that the protective measures built into the Project rendered insignificant any potential temporary construction impacts. In addition, the Court found that the Coast Guard sufficiently analyzed the cumulative impacts of the Project and rationally concluded that the Project would not disproportionately burden minority or low income communities. The Court also ruled that the Coast Guard complied with NEPA’s public participation requirements and correctly determined that an EIS was unnecessary."

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Hudson River tolls set to go up again on Sunday

NJ.com: "The final bite of the Port Authority's toll increase will come early Sunday morning, when the cash toll increases to $15 for passenger vehicles at the Hudson River and Staten Island crossings."