NJDOT announces $200 million Port Jersey
Deepening project
Multi-agency coordination required to increase
depth of channel to 50-feet

(Trenton) - New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Commissioner Kris Kolluri today announced the start of the 50 foot Port Jersey Channel deepening project in Bayonne and Jersey City. NJDOT, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the US Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the $200 million project.

”The Port Jersey deepening project will serve as a regional economic engine by improving the accessibility of the Port Jersey Channel for large ships,” said Commissioner Kolluri.

The Port Jersey deepening project will increase the channel’s maximum depth from 41 feet to 50 feet, providing an access point for the largest ships using the bi-state harbor. In addition, the project will improve safety by realigning the channel.

The deepening project will require the removal of over 3.6 million cubic yards of sand, silt and glacial till sediments, all of which will be beneficially used. Almost a million cubic yards will be used to create fish habitat in a defunct navigation channel on the south side of the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor. Another 750,000 cubic yards of silt will be blended with Portland cement and used to cap landfills and brownfields in New Jersey and New York. Approximately 500,000 cubic yards of clean sand will be used to fill low lying areas on the Peninsula at Bayonne, preparing them for development. The remaining clean sediments will be used to cap the former ocean disposal site off of Sandy Hook.

The Port Jersey Channel provides access to Global Marine Terminals, the Northeast Auto Marine Terminal, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Cape Liberty Cruise Terminal. The deepening of the Port Jersey Channel is considered a keystone in the overall federal Harbor Deepening Project. NJDOT’s $100 million share is provided by the Dredging and Harbor Revitalization Bond Act of 1996.

Port commerce, particularly container traffic, has increased in New York Harbor an average of seven percent every year for the last 10 years, which creates a need for additional space for container ship berthing and container processing in the region.

The project is scheduled for completion in fall 2009.