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Port Authority Announces Expansion Plans
After handling more cargo than ever before, the bistate agency unveils $2 billion capital program. Also, Route 18 project advances in N.J.
Record Cargo Spurs Upgrades
After watching record amounts of international cargo move through its seaports in 2006, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey expects to roll out $2 billion in infrastructure upgrades over the next decade.
The upgrades of the agency’s marine terminal facilities will include improvements to off-port roads and rail lines to improve the flow of cargo, which is expected to double within 10 years, says Steve Coleman, a Port Authority spokesman.
“We haven’t seen this type of upgrade before – not to this degree,” he adds.
The agency has scheduled upgrades to North Avenue in Elizabeth, as well as Port and Corbin streets in Newark, in an effort to increase capacity, and will build an overpass for increased truck traffic over Corbin Street.
The agency also plans to spend $237 million on improving and expanding its on-dock rail system from eight to 18 tracks by 2011. Improvements have been ongoing since 2004.
The authority recently installed a $40 million support track at ExpressRail Port Newark, which should double that property’s capacity. And in March, work began on a $51 million project to build an additional lead track into the Elizabeth property, Coleman says.
Route 18 Project Moves Forward
The long-awaited reconstruction of Route 18 in New Brunswick, N.J., continues to advance as work recently began on the Commercial Avenue overpass, one of four new bridges being installed on the 1.8-mi corridor of the heavily traveled highway.
 One of New Brunswick’s major thoroughfares, Route 18 provides access to the downtown district, Rutgers University, hospitals, and major corporate offices, with more than 80,000 cars using it on a daily basis, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Work on the $200 million, multiple-stage project began in August 2005 to enhance the road’s safety and traffic flow. Conti Enterprises of South Plainfield, N.J., which is heading up construction, is expected to complete the project in summer 2009.
The project entails full reconstruction of Route 18 from Route 1 to the New Jersey Transit-Amtrak Northeast corridor rail bridge, adding new outer roadways to separate local traffic from express traffic, and building auxiliary lanes in both directions to reduce congestion caused by traffic exiting downtown New Brunswick.
Other highlights of the project include creating safer pedestrian crossings with new traffic signals at Paulus Boulevard, George Street, and Commercial Avenue and new pedestrian bridges at Carpenter Road and Richmond Street.
East Side Subway Work Begins
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke ground on the Second Avenue line, in what should result in the city’s first major subway expansion in more than 50 years.
Work began in April on the line, tentatively called the “T Line,” which will run from 96th to 63rd streets in Manhattan, where it will link up with the rest of the subway system grid. The team will first excavate the launch box between 92nd and 95th streets to dig tunnels from 92nd to 63rd streets, using a tunnel boring machine.
The MTA awarded a $337 million contract to S3 Tunnel Constructors, a joint venture of Skanska USA Civil Northeast of New York, Schiavone Construction of Secaucus, N.J., and J.F. Shea Construction of Walnut, Calif., during the spring.
The contract, which includes construction of two shafts at 69th street and 72nd street for the construction of the 72nd street station, is the first of six to be awarded in the $3.8 billion first phase. Other contracts will build out the 96th Street, 86th Street Station, and 72nd Street station; reconfigure the 63rd Street/
Lexington Avenue Station; and a track and systems package.
Once the first phase finishes in 2013, the new line will initially operate as an extension of the existing Q service, running from 125th Street to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan, and will carry 190,000 weekday riders, according to the MTA.
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