The new timeline cuts six months off the initial bridge construction schedule to ensure completion in time for the opening of the widened Panama Canal.

The five prequalified teams are:

  • American Bridge (American Bridge, Tutor-Perini, Traylor Brothers);
  • Bayonne Bridge Builders, Joint Venture (Schiavone Construction, Granite Construction Northeast, Yonkers Contracting Company, Defoe Corporation);
  • CRJD Bayonne (Conti Enterprises., JH Reid General Contractor, Judlau Contracting, Dywidag-Systems International USA);
  • Flatiron/EE Cruz/Tully, a Joint Venture (Flatiron Constructors, EE Cruz & Company, Tully Construction); and
  • Skanska Koch – Kiewit JV Team (Skanska Koch, Kiewit Infrastructure


The Port Authority announced that it will finish the deck removal portion of the ‘Raise the Roadway ‘project at the Bayonne Bridge six months ahead of schedule, ensuring completion in advance of commercial operations at the widened Panama Canal. The deck removal will provide critical navigational clearance for larger post-Panamax ships to access port terminals in New York and New Jersey when the Panama Canal opens.

Deck removal is now due for completion by autumn 2015 whereas the original project timeline called for its completion in mid 2016.

Work will start in mid-2013 when crews begin to build a new elevated roadway 19.5m above the existing deck. Once completed, the Bayonne Bridge roadway will be 65.5m above the Kill Van Kull waterway, allowing larger cargo ships to pass beneath the structure.

The Bayonne Bridge project is extremely critical the port, which currently handles 30% percent of all goods shipped to the east coast of the USA. In 2011 it handled more cargo containers than its closest competitors – Savannah, Norfolk and Baltimore – combined.

However, other East Coast ports are continuing the fierce competition for port business. Major investments are being made by other East Coast ports to attract business, including a US$450 million investment by the Port of Miami to build a new tunnel connecting the port to the road network, and a US$300 million investment by the South Carolina State Ports Authority to pay for channel deepening in the Port of Charleston.