By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney has added his name to a growing list of elected officials urging the Port Authority to the fix the Bayonne Bridge so new, taller cargo ships can reach Port Newark and Port Elizabeth.
Sweeney made his announcement after a visit yesterday to Bayonne to discuss the economy with Mayor Mark Smith.
“When the Panama Canal project is done, we can’t still be debating what to do in Bayonne,” Sweeney said in a recent statement.
“If those ships don’t have the clearance they need to make it into our ports, they will end up going elsewhere, taking economic activity and jobs with them.”
The expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to be completed in 2014, allowing taller and bigger cargo ships to travel to East Coast ports.
Last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presented a report that showed that raising the bridge to 215 feet above sea level – 60 feet above its current height – would be the fastest and most cost-effective means of fixing the problem.
Roughly 90 percent of containerized cargo delivered to New York and New Jersey Harbors passes under the Bayonne Bridge, officials have said.
In May, the state Senate passed a resolution sponsored by state Sen. Nicholas Sacco, D-North Bergen, and Sandra B. Cunningham, D-Jersey City, calling on the Port Authority to find an engineering solution to the problem.
The Port Authority has commissioned a $10 million study to determine how best to address the “navigational issues.”
“The Port Authority shares the concerns of Gov. Chris Christie, New Jersey legislators and the shipping industry regarding the Bayonne Bridge and is committed to finding a cost effective solution,” said Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Other options being investigated by the Post Authority in its own study include building a lift-gate into the current span or tunneling under the Kill Van Kull.
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