As cargo traffic grows, antidotes to
bridge gridlock are resurrected

The Bayonne Bridge isn't the busiest of bridges. Neither is the Goethals, nor the Outerbridge Crossing.

But just wait. The areas these three spans serve - Hudson, Union and Middlesex counties and Staten Island - are central to a coming infusion of rail and ocean cargo. Think megaships. Think freight.

To handle the sheer weight of the traffic, the bridges are getting a $1 billion overhaul. Until the work is finished, thought, it will only add to the bottlenecks. So the talk turns to other possible antidotes, including a new toll scheme and bridge-building. (See 20 Year Project to Fix 3 Bridges)

"It's heated up and we're talking about this stuff in a way that we haven't been in a number of months," said Ken Philmus, director of tunnels, bridges and terminals for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. "If we don't take care of this corridor, the region suffers."

One option is "congestion pricing," in which drivers who use the bridges during peak hours - say 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. - would pay an extra $1 or $2.

"We don't have toll increases in mind, but it's hard to imagine, with E-ZPass technology, that should one come along some day, value pricing wouldn't be part of it," Philmus said.

As for bridge-building, there still are plans to build a $350 million twin to the Goethals just south of the present link between Elizabeth and the Howland Hook section of Staten Island, but it has been on hold for four years. Politicians in Staten Island and in Union County recoil from the thought of potential congestion unless local road improvements are made on both sides to handle the spillover traffic. They're being contacted to find a solution.

Both possibilities are being resurrected as traffic volumes on the spans grow and work begins on the Bayonne bridge before moving on to the Goethals and Outerbridge.

Photos: Above, Bruce Wines of Shiavone Construction works on the Bayonne Bridge, which is at the start of a long rehabilitation project. Below, two engineers inspect the underside of the bridge as a boat scoots by far below on the Hudson River. Photos by Chris Faytok.

But it's not commuters who worry transit officials. It's consumables.

"We're are also an agency charged with (expediting) the movement of goods," Philmus said. "There's too much focus on cars."

Warehouses and terminals already abound in the area, but even more will be needed to handle the freight brought by CSX and Norfolk Southern trains as the carriers work to increase business absorbed from their takeover of Conrail's Northeast routes.

As inland freight movements grow, so will those on the high seas.

The number of ocean cargo containers handled in the bistate port is projected to double to more than 3 million by 2010. New marine terminals are envisioned along the Hudson County waterfront at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne and nearby Port Jersey. Howland Hook on Staten Island and Port Newark-Elizabeth are targeted for expansion.

Critical juncture

In the goods-shipping business, trucks are needed to bring products to and from warehouses and rail heads. It is the Bayonne, Goethals and Outerbridge bridges that are the critical junctions at the south end of this mixing bowl.

Haulers and warehousers are looking forward to that day.

"Twenty years ago, people were moving out of Jersey City and Bayonne and buildings were sitting vacant," said Anthony R. Becker, president of Port Jersey Logistics. "Now it's a major growth area."

Becker's Jersey City trucking and warehousing company has seen its gross revenues jump to $40 million from $1 million some four decades ago. During that time, highway changes have been far less dramatic.

From his Colony Road premises, the outbound route remains the New Jersey Turnpike bridge over Newark Bay. But with only two lanes, it is subject to congestion. One short-term solution would be to eliminate the breakdown lane and another is to improve outlets to the south, Becker said.

The sooner, the better.

"The megaships are going to bypass the smaller ports, and that's going to drive more freight through the Port of New York and New Jersey," he said.

While together, the three Staten Island crossings have never had as much traffic as the George Washington Bridge, their volume increased 52 percent after the 1964 opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge created a major travel corridor through Staten Island between New Jersey and Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

Growth on the Goethals was most intense, increasing an average of 33 percent annually until 1973, and 200 percent between 1976 and 1985 after the West Shore Expressway opened. Also known as Route 440, the West Shore Expressway links the Outerbridge and the Staten Island Expressway from the south while its northern leg connects the Staten Island Expressway with the Bayonne Bridge. That connects with the new Route 169, which connects with the Turnpike's Exit 14A.

Truckers who have recognized that as an alternate route are the main reason the Bayonne and the Outerbridge have experienced the biggest traffic growth, Philmus said. Volumes at the two crossings have jumped 22 percent each since 1988, compared to 7 percent at the Goethals. By comparison, traffic on all Port Authority bridges has increased 9 percent.

While building a twin to the Goethals might bring additional access, it's not a fix-all by any means, which brings the Port Authority back to variable tolls.

Another old idea

The E-ZPass electronic toll collection, introduced at Port Authority crossings in 1997, system has eased rush-hour traffic flows significantly, and variable tolls could ease peak flows even more.

The pricing idea is not entirely new.

A Port Authority consultant in 1996 recommended drivers pay $1 or $2 premiums to use the bridges and tunnels from 6-9 a.m., arguing that delays could be reduced as much as 31 percent. At the time, deputy executive director John Haley, who went on to become New Jersey's transportation commissioner, faulted the study's methodology but said the concept merited further study.

That is continuing, Philmus said.

"We see it has potential, but we're just not sure what the potential is now," he said, adding that any changes should be implemented with other toll agencies, like the Turnpike and New York Metropolitan Transportation authorities.

As for a Goethals twin, its building would be an historic event.

Not since 1962, when the agency opened the lower deck of the George Washington Bridge, has a New Jersey-New York span been erected.

The Port Authority will have to make a decision on the twin before 2003, when the Goethals deck is scheduled to be replaced, Philmus said. "The question we're asking ourselves is, should the region and Port Authority be spending just on maintenance and rehabilitation, or should we spend more on capital up front?"