Bayonne Bridge is an arch bridge spanning the Kill Van Kull and connecting Bayonne, New Jersey with Staten Island in New York City. It carries New York State Route 440 (NY 440) and New Jersey Route 440. It has the sixth-longest steel arch mainspan in the world, and this span was the longest in the world at the time of its completion. The bridge is also one of four connecting New Jersey with Staten Island; the other two roadway bridges are the Goethals Bridge in Elizabeth and Outerbridge Crossing (which also carries Route 440) in Perth Amboy, and the rail-only span is the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge, all of which cross the Arthur Kill. The original 151-foot (46 m) roadway carried two lanes of motor traffic in each direction, as well as a walkway. Completed in 1931, the Bayonne Bridge was built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which still operates the bridge. It was designed by Swiss master bridge-builder Othmar Ammann and architect Cass Gilbert. A project to provide increased clearance required to accommodate New Panamax ships began in 2013, and was completed in two stages between 2017 and 2019. The new roadways each carry two lanes of dived motor traffic plus shoulders for disabled vehicles in addition to a separate path for pedestrians and bicyclists, which opened on May 24, 2019. The desired navigational clearance was achieved June 8, 2017.
History[]
1930s-2010s[]
The Bayonne Bridge opened on November 15, 1931, after dedication ceremonies were held the previous day. On opening day, about 7,000 pedestrians and 17,000 vehicles crossed the bridge. The new crossing was expected to reduce Staten Islanders' average commutes by an average of 18 to 20 minutes, reducing the need to use the Goethals Bridge or Outerbridge Crossing. The Bayonne Bridge's dedication ceremony was attended by David M. Dow, the Secretary for Australia in the United States, and the same pair of golden shears used to cut the ribbon was sent to Australia for the ribbon-cutting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge four months later. After the ceremony in Sydney, the scissor blades were separated and one was sent back to the Port Authority. Time referred to the symmetric detail of the bridge as "impressive and haunting", while the commune of Bayonne in France sent a congratulatory telegram. The American Institute for Steel Construction selected the Bayonne Bridge as the "Most Beautiful Steel Bridge" in 1931, choosing it over the George Washington Bridge for that status.
On Aug. 15, 1936, Richmond Borough President Joseph A. Palma announced plans to build a rapid transit line over the Bridge.[1] However this never occurred.
Pedestrians were originally required to pay a toll, this practice was discontinued in 1940, at which point the operator booths were demolished.[2]
Between 1939 and 1942, during World War II, the space under the Bayonne Bridge's Staten Island approach became the Archer Daniels Midland Manhattan Project Storage Site, utilized for storing uranium. The material was used in the nuclear weapons developed during the Manhattan Project, and about 2,007 barrels weighing 1,207 short tons (1,078 long tons; 1,095 t) were stored under the bridge. Due to the long half-life and high radioactivity of unrefined uranium ore, the site became highly polluted and was later designated a federal Superfund site.
In 1951, twenty years after the bridge opened, the New Jersey tollbooth was re-landscaped by the Port Authority and the City of Bayonne.
In 1956, some land under the New Jersey approach viaduct was set aside to create the Juliette Street Playground.
The Bergen Point Ferry, which paralleled the bridge, stayed in service until 1961.
As originally built, the deck featured extra space for a potential rail line. However this never came to be, and as a result of increased traffic traveling to the bridge off of the Verazzono Narrows Bridge, the bridge deck was expanded with wider lanes in 1964. A new toll plaza in Staten Island was also created that year.
The Willowbrook Expressway was created in 1965 to route onto the bridges from the New York side, This resulted in the reconstruction of the New York approaches.
In 1966, The Staten Island toll plaza was altered significantly, replacing the original toll booths with an arrangement of six toll booths, the viaduct in the area of the toll plaza was widened to match. The project also included electrical modifications and the installation of new cobra lights.[3]
The Staten Island toll plaza was made into one-way operation in August 1970, with three toll plazas being demolished to allow this. New York 440 was realigned to follow the Willowbrook Expressway around this time, and the latter was extended over the bridge on the New York side.
In 1973, in order to save energy, the decorative lighting across the arch span was shut off temporarily. [4]
The bridge became a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1985.
On the right of October 2nd 1990, truck traffic was temporarily banned after a crane being towed by a tugboat struck the center span of the bridge.[5] Two days later, traffic was reduced to one lane to allow the bridge to be repaired.[6]
On October 12, 1991, the bridge was closed after a container ships loading boom damaged five stringer beams, this happened barley over a year after the previous incident.[7]
In 1992, Route 169 was constructed as a four-lane arterial, and as such the New Jersey approaches to the bridge were reconstructed.
In 1995, a closed circuit TV (CCTV) security system with cameras was installed along the walkway. Additionally. new lighting was installed on the plazas and approaches. Improvements were also made to the Morningstar Road off-ramp, under a separate contract.[8]
E-ZPass transponders were retrofired onto the toll booths in June 1997, the first PANNYNJ bridge to implement the system.[9]
In 1999 the bridge was extensively rehabilitated. The roadway pavement was removed, the concrete deck, expansion joints and scuppers of both approaches were replaced, the concrete deck, joints and scuppers of the central span were repaired and a latex modified concrete pavement was laid on the roadway. The superstructure steel members and concrete piers of the entire bridge were also repaired, and later in that same year, permanent maintenance and construction platforms were constructed beneath the roadway and the approaches.[10]
In 2000, a parking lot was constructed off of Exit 13 on the Walker Street and Morningstar Road interchange.[11]
In 2001, various improvements were made to the CCTV system, and new navigational lights and aviation lights were installed. Additionally, most of the street lamps were replaced, and the New Jersey abutment was extensively rehabilitated.[12] That same year, the New Jersey Route 440 destination replaced the New Jersey Route 169 designation on the new Jersey side, witch was then extended onto the bridge itself.
On September 11th 2002, the decorative lighting was changed to a red white and blue color scheme, memorializing those who died in or from 9/11.[13]
In 2009, work was completed on a project that saw the installation of decorative LED bulbs on the arch, however the previous lighting was kept intact.[14]
On September 19, 2013, a webcam was launched on the Port Authorities website to watch the reconstruction of the bridge.[15] It was taken down when work was completed.
2010s-present[]
Functional obsolescence and resulting reconstruction[]
In the 2000s, the Port Authority started planning on a project to allow larger container ships to use the Kill Van Kull. The expansion of the Panama Canal allowed large ships coming from Asia to reach the East Coast, but the bridge was too low for these larger ships to pass under it on the way to and from Newark Bay. Its clearance of between 151 to 156 feet (46–48 m) above the Kill Van Kull depending on the tide already meant that some contemporary ships, which could reach 175 feet (53 m) above the waterline, had to fold down antenna masts, take on ballast, or wait for low tide to pass through, New, larger New Panamax ships made things worse. If the problem was not fixed, the Port of New York and New Jersey could have lost significant shipping business to other ports such as Charleston, South Carolina. In August 2009, the Port Authority started a planning analysis to determine how to fix the air draft problem.
The Port Authority commissioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CoE) to conduct a study of the question, which was completed in 2009, and authorized up to $10 million for planning and engineering services to develop options to deal with the bridge's low clearance. The CoE study looked at three options for the bridge, besides the no-build option. The quickest option they identified, and the one ultimately chosen, was a $1.7 billion project to raise the bridge's roadway to increase its height by 40 percent, which could be accomplished by 2019 at the earliest. It would need a clearance of 215 feet (66 m) to handle the new ships. Another option presented was to build a new cable-stayed bridge, which would have cost $2.15 billion and taken until 2022. The most expensive option would be to get rid of the bridge altogether and replace it with either a bored tunnel or an immersed tunnel through which traffic would traverse under the Kill Van Kull. This option would have taken the longest, being complete in 2024 and costing $2.2 to $3 billion. In initial planning documents, a vertical-lift bridge was also considered, but this was not investigated further in the CoE study. Another study, an environmental review by the U.S. Coast Guard, was commissioned in 2009. The review was required because the project would take place over a navigable waterway. The study cost over $2 million, took four years, and resulted in 5,000 pages of reviews. Despite its duration and cost, which precluded the start of construction until 2013, it was one of the Coast Guard's quickest environmental reviews for such a major project. In March 2012, the Port Authority submitted a request to the federal government for an expedited environmental review process, which was approved in July 2012 even though some residents in Newark and Staten Island said they wanted the Coast Guard to conduct a full environmental review.
According to the Port Authority, the "Raise the Roadway" project would have many benefits, the first being that it would allow larger, more environmentally friendly ships to pass through the port. As a result of the project, the proportion of the arc above the roadway would be reduced, with only 22 cables suspending the new roadway below the arch as opposed to 30 cables holding up the old roadway. As for the roadway itself, the single roadway would be replaced by two new roadway decks with new supporting piers and approach roads. Route 440 would be widened from one 40-foot (12 m) roadway with no shoulders and four 10-foot (3.0 m) lanes, to two 30-foot-9-inch (9.37 m) roadways with two 12-foot (3.7 m) lanes each, a median divider, and 4-foot-9-inch (1.45 m) shoulders. There would also be a bikeway and walkway the entire length of the bridge, with access ramps to replace stairs. The design also allows for future transit service such as light rail. Extending the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line to Staten Island over the bridge has been proposed, though final design plans do not include a rapid transit component. Finally, the project would support nearly 2,800 jobs and $240–380 million in wages throughout the construction industry, as well as $1.6 billion of economic activity.
The CoE estimated that raising the Bayonne Bridge would produce a $3.3 billion national benefit, noting that 12% of all US international containers pass under the bridge, that the port indirectly creates 269,900 jobs, and that port activity generates $11 billion in annual national wages. The project would allow 12,000-container ships to pass under the bridge, increasing capacity; before the project, the largest ships allowed to pass under the bridge were 9,000-container ships. Congressmen from both New York and New Jersey pressed the Port Authority to act quickly, despite lowered revenues from reduced traffic at the Port Authority's six crossings. The Port Authority announced its official plan in 2011. The Coast Guard held two public meetings about the bridge in 2012. Improvements at Port Jersey on the Upper New York Bay were also underway. The Port Authority believed that it was possible to build the new roadway without interrupting traffic flow between Staten Island and Bayonne. In July 2012, the Port Authority announced construction would begin in the middle of 2013, to be completed by 2017. In this timeline, removal of the existing roadway would be completed by late 2015, in time for the opening of the widened Panama Canal. The project would cost $1.7 billion and last five years. One of the challenges faced by the project was the tight confines of the construction area: residential homes lay less than 20 ft (6.1 m) from the work site, though none of them were in the path of the construction itself. In 2014, Staten Islanders living near the Port Richmond work site filed a lawsuit, alleging that the construction work violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by exposing predominately-minority communities in Port Richmond to toxins. In 2015, some Bayonne residents lodged complaints due to excessive noise, vibrations, dust over their neighborhood, and construction debris falling off the bridge (such as paint chips), though the Port Authority later settled those complaints. The project would also necessitate the temporary closure of a park in Bayonne. Additionally, the Bayonne Bridge would remain open to vehicle traffic throughout the construction.
On April 24, 2013, the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners awarded a $743.3 million contract to a joint venture of Skanska Koch and Kiewit Infrastructure Company. The construction involved building support columns first, then adding prefabricated road segments using a gantry crane that rolled on top of the arch. The gantry crane would construct one rope-supported section of the new roadway at a time, using a temporary beam to support the existing roadway while each rope was replaced. The existing roadway would then be removed. Temporary bridge closures allowed new floor beams to be attached to the arch's ropes in order to support steel stringers that would hold up the new roadway. This work was expedited by Barack Obama's presidential administration due to the importance of the project to national commerce, being one of the first applicants to Obama's "We Can't Wait" initiative of important infrastructure projects. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also considered the project a high priority for his state.
The pedestrian walkway, cantilevered from the western side of the roadway, was closed on August 5, 2013, for demolition. It was to be replaced with a walkway on the eastern side of the bridge. The walkway was scheduled to open in 2017. In 2015, the completion date was delayed to 2019, due to unfavorable weather conditions in the winter of 2014–2015. This also delayed the desired navigational clearance to late 2017. The delays in the project meant that, with the expansion of the Panama Canal being completed in mid-2016, larger ships would not be able to serve Newark, thus possibly negatively affecting traffic to other ports on the United States' East Coast. The Port Authority revised its timeline, expecting traffic to be shifted to the new roadway in early 2017, the old roadway to be removed by late 2017, and the project to be completed in mid-2019 with the completion of the roadway for southbound traffic. In November 2016, the future northbound span, intended temporarily for both directions of travel, was completed.
On February 20, 2017, the completed eastern (northbound) roadway opened for traffic, with one lane in each direction, and the old lower roadway was permanently closed. The western (southbound) roadway was scheduled to be completed in 2019, at which time there would be two lanes in each direction and a pedestrian walkway. That same day, the Bayonne Bridge became the first Port Authority crossing to use a fully automated and cashless electronic toll collection system. All vehicles proceed without stopping at the toll plaza. Those with E-ZPass are billed in the usual way, while cameras record the license plate numbers of those without an E-ZPass tag and their registered owners soon receive a toll bill.
At this point the original deck was partially demolished to allow the new piers to connect through. Work started in February 2017 to fully demolish the old viaduct and deck, the desired navigational clearance was achieved on June 8, 2017, and the deck was fully demolished months later.
On February 11, 2019, the new southbound roadway was completed, and the traffic flow of the bridge was restored to two lanes in each direction. This deck features multiple upgrades over the Original, such as a median, LED street lighting, shoulders, and. Additionally, fro the first time since it opened, it was restored to its original arch integrity, as all of the rust that had been building up since its opening was removed. a complete reconstruction was made to Exit 13 on the New York side, as well as the Avenue A/Kennedy Boulevard interchange on the New Jersey side. Permanent toll gantries were also installed, and the temporary ones were demolished.
In May 2019, the rebuilt pedestrian and bicycling path was opened, completing the project. Unlike the original walkway, it was ADA compliant, and was also more friendly to bike riders.
The redcking project received the 2020 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award from the American Society of Civil Engineers, citing the "first-of-its-kind construction sequence, ... keeping both road and sea traffic open."
Work since reconstruction[]
The walkway was closed on May 11, 2020 for maintenance.[16]
In June 2020, plans were made for a potential Pedestrian Plaza at an unimproved section of 2nd street near the New Jersey viaduct.[17]
The east coast greenway was routed over the walkway in 2021.[18]
Bike lanes were added near the walkway approach on the Staten Island side in 2022.[19]
Suicide prevention callboxes were installed on the pedestrian walkway in March 2023.[20]
Also in March 2023, cameras to let viewers look at the then unborn falcon baby's were installed.[21] It was deactivated and removed after summer ended.[22]
Bike lanes were added to the roads near the bike path on the New Jersey side in late 2023.[23]
After already implementing it on the George Washington Bridge in December 2023,the 11 K1 Call Boxes on the pedestrian path were upgraded to utilize the Knightscope Emergency Management System (“KEMS”) in March 2024.[24]
A study is being commenced to potentially upgrade existing suicide equipment, as well as adding equipment to the northbound bridge.[25] Upgrades include adding netting to the fences of the pedestrian path, and upgrading call boxes to have increased communication capabilities with the Port Authority Police.
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1936/08/15/archives/staten-island-plans-rapid-transit-link-palma-outlines-proposal-to.html?searchResultPosition=3
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1940/05/29/archives/jersey-bridge-tolls-end-for-pedestrians-george-washington-and.html?searchResultPosition=1
- ↑ https://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/en/bayonne-bridge/history.html#:~:text=Construction%20of%20the%20Bayonne%20Bridge,and%20%243%20million%20under%20budget.
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/11/archives/city-dimming-lights-on-bridges-in-effort-to-save-electricity.html
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/03/nyregion/bayonne-bridge-hit-truck-traffic-barred.html?searchResultPosition=1
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/04/nyregion/one-lane-to-be-open-on-the-bayonne-bridge.html?searchResultPosition=2
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/12/nyregion/bayonne-bridge-closed-following-accident.html?searchResultPosition=1
- ↑ https://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/en/bayonne-bridge/history.html#:~:text=Construction%20of%20the%20Bayonne%20Bridge,and%20%243%20million%20under%20budget.
- ↑ https://www.panynj.gov/port-authority/en/press-room/press-release-archives/2017_press_releases/port_authority_celebrates20thanniversaryofe-zpassuseonitsbistate.html
- ↑ https://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/en/bayonne-bridge/history.html#:~:text=Construction%20of%20the%20Bayonne%20Bridge,and%20%243%20million%20under%20budget.
- ↑ https://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/en/bayonne-bridge/history.html#:~:text=Construction%20of%20the%20Bayonne%20Bridge,and%20%243%20million%20under%20budget.
- ↑ https://www.panynj.gov/bridges-tunnels/en/bayonne-bridge/history.html#:~:text=Construction%20of%20the%20Bayonne%20Bridge,and%20%243%20million%20under%20budget.
- ↑ https://www.panynj.gov/content/dam/bridges-tunnels/bayonne-bridge-shpo-documents/Bayonne Bridge Publication.pdf
- ↑ https://www.ledtronics.com/Applications/ApplicationsDetail.aspx?id=75
- ↑ https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20171102/st-george/michael-sykes-rebecca-cutler-murder-conviction
- ↑ https://www.silive.com/news/2020/05/the-bayonne-bridge-pedestrian-walkway-closed-monday.html
- ↑ https://www.tapinto.net/towns/bayonne/sections/economic-development/articles/city-officials-eye-pedenstrian-plaza-at-foot-of-bayonne-bridge
- ↑ https://exploringbybike.com/2021/07/11/we-tested-out-the-east-coast-greenways-new-route-through-northern-new-jersey-heres-what-we-found/
- ↑ https://www.silive.com/news/2022/05/new-staten-island-bike-lanes-planned-connections-to-bayonne-goethals-bridges.html
- ↑ https://www.nj.com/news/2023/04/officials-widow-plead-for-more-suicide-prevention-fencing-on-bayonne-bridge.html
- ↑ https://www.nj.com/hudson/2023/03/cuties-alert-port-authority-debuts-falcon-nest-cam-near-bayonne-bridge.html
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1gZ-6L2GQs
- ↑ https://www.silive.com/news/2023/05/delayed-staten-island-bike-lanes-near-bayonne-goethals-bridges-expected-to-be-completed-this-year.html
- ↑ https://ir.knightscope.com/news-releases/news-release-details/port-authority-ny-nj-expands-use-kems-after-life-saving-event
- ↑ https://www.nj.com/galleries/4HUFK74WBVENJCO3QB66Y5SCA4/