Bayonne Bridge Improvements

Location: Port Authority of NY/NJ (2002)

Owner: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Prior Experience: Sena Kumarasena

The Bayonne Bridge improvement required upgrading the roadway of this 1,600-ft span historic trussed arch bridge. Sena Kumarasena, Ph.D., PE served as the Task Manager for the upgrading of the roadway. The work included the design of a redundancy girder system and feasibility study identifying methods, costs, and construction durations for both widening the existing roadway and raising the navigated clearance over the Kill Van Kull, a tidal strait between Staten Island, NY, and Bayonne, NJ. The methods identified included:

  • Lifting the bridge by sliding on extended abutments
  • Staged construction of a new elevated roadway through the arch, and
  • New Bridge

The feasibility of raising the approaches for options (a) and (b) was also confirmed. Construction schedules and cost estimates for the three options were also developed.