Governor Christie: Today Is A Great Day For The Metropolitan Area, Thanks To Reaching This Milestone

Statement

Today is really a great day for this entire metropolitan area as we reach a really important milestone in one of America's most significant and complex infrastructure projects to facilitate global trade. Port Authority has advised me that by June 30, the $1.6 billion Bayonne Bridge "Raise the Roadway" Project will have progressed to the point where the world's largest, most efficient and environmentally friendly container vessels will be able to travel beneath it to reach the East Coast's busiest port terminals in Newark and Elizabeth after passing through the recently widened Panama Canal or the Suez Canal. Now, we all remember this important bridge project had a slow beginning. The task of building a new roadway through an existing steel arch while the bridge's original roadway remained functional was an unprecedented engineering challenge for the people of the Port Authority. There also was the harsh winter of 2014 to 15, changes in project staging and modifications to the existing steel arch to ensure that the project and those who travel over the bridge would be safe. But by late 2015 we had a new timeline and a renewed effort to see the project through at the Port Authority and I'm pleased to announce that we have reached this phase of the project six months ahead of the project's revised schedule and Steve Plate and everybody at the Port Authority deserves great credit for that.

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