Chapter 3 The Transportation System - New York Metropolitan ...

Chapter 3commerce and capacity. One major initiativein Staten Island was the June 2007reactivation of the western portion of theStaten Island Railroad’s North ShoreLine under the name ExpressRail StatenIsland. The rail link, which required rehabilitatingthe Arthur Kill Lift Bridge,connects the New York Container Terminalin Staten Island and the New Jersey’sChemical Coast Line, which in turnconnects to the national rail network.By the end of its first year of operation,monthly container volume on Express-Rail Staten Island had grown from 451to over 5,000, removing 70,000 trucksfrom the Goethals Bridge in its inauguralyear. By 2009, the Port Authority wasoffering financial incentives to shippersusing any of the ExpressRail networkwhich includes trackage in Newark andElizabeth, as well as Staten Island.In late 2008, PANYNJ assumed responsibilityfor resuming the long-dormantCross Harbor Freight Movement EIS,and also bought New York New JerseyRail LLC and its rail carfloat assets.The agency secured FHWA approval tocommit federal-earmark and PANYNJmatching funds to modernizing the service.Damage from Superstorm Sandy inlate 2012 briefly set back steady progressin rebuilding car float volumes, butPANYNJ is advancing capital improvementsin both states under a revisedagreement with FHWA. In October2009, PANYNJ extended its leases atthe Howland Hook Marine Terminal (to2058) and the Brooklyn cruise-ship terminal(for 20 years).A more physical challenge faces the PortAuthority at the Bayonne Bridge, whichhas a clearance of 151 to 156 feet abovethe Kill Van Kull. The next, taller generationof container ships, which areexpected to access port facilities west ofthe bridge once an expansion of the PanamaCanal is complete in 2014, wouldnot be able to pass under the bridge. InSeptember 2009, the Port Authority releaseda study by the U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers, analyzing potential solutionsto this problem. After a $1 billioncommitment in September 2010, the authorityannounced that it had decided toincrease the existing bridge’s clearance to215 feet by rebuilding the existing bridgedeck, approaches and ramps at a higherelevation while preserving the span’siconic arch.The Port Authority hopes to replace theexisting span, which has four 10-footwidelanes, no shoulders, and no bicyclepedestrianaccess, with a span that hassix 12-foot-wide lanes, full shoulders, asidewalk/bikeway, and separate room fora future transit service. A final environmentalimpact statement for the projectwas completed in August 2010, and theUnited States Coast Guard signed off onthe project in January 2011.Along with major expansion plans inNew Jersey in 2008, the authority undertookseveral other port-related initiatives,many of them having to do with improvingair quality. In 2008, the authorityset an ambitious goal to be carbonneutralby 2010 by making operationalimprovements and investing in low- orzero-emission energy-efficient infrastructure.Over the next two years, the authorityprovided financial incentives tofreight operators who purchase new orretrofitted trucks with emission controltechnologies; replaced the most pollutingolder trucks; completed the docksideExpressRail system; incentivized the useof low-sulfur fuel by oceangoing vesseloperators, and provided onshore powerfor vessels docked at the Brooklyn CruiseTerminal.The Transportation System 3-41