STATEN ISLAND’S GOETHALS BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT COULD BE DELAYED INTO NEXT YEAR IF U.S. COAST GUARD DOESN’T ACT QUICKLY – AGENCY HAS SAID REVIEW CANNOT BE PRIORITIZED; SCHUMER PUSHES FEDS TO EXPEDITE REVIEW OF CRITICAL BRIDGE PERMIT NEEDED TO MOVE FORWARD
Goethals Project Will Replace Functionally Obsolete Bridge & Alleviate Traffic Issues on Staten Island Expressway; Port Authority Still Waiting on Application Approval From USCG -- Delay Will Throw Project’s Schedule Off Course & Create Significant Economic Consequences
Schumer Urges U.S. Coast Guard to Expedite Review of Much-Needed Bridge Permit; Approval is Needed by End of September In Order for Goethals Bridge Project to Stay On Track
Coast Guard Has Said That The Project Simply Isn’t A Priority
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer called on the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to immediately move forward with the review of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s (PANYNJ) bridge permit application for the Goethals Bridge Replacement Project. The PANYNJ’s Goethals Bridge project will involve replacing and relocating the bridge directly south of the existing and functionally obsolete 80-year old bridge. Despite assurances that the bridge permit would be approved in time to keep the project on track to start this year, the PANYNJ is now being told that the permit may not be issued until late October. This delay could throw the project’s schedule off track by up to six months, exacerbate traffic, and needlessly drive up costs to the project and the Port Authority. Schumer is asking the USCG to expedite the review of the bridge permit application and finish the review by the end of September, the absolute deadline before the project would be delayed well into 2014.
In initial inquiries, Schumer’s office was informed by the Coast Guard that the agency could not prioritize the Goethals permit, and that other projects needed to be reviewed first. Schumer said that this position was absurd, and that approving this application needed to be a top priority because of the construction schedule, which the Port Authority made the USCG aware of many months ago.
“The Goethals Bridge Replacement Project is not only necessary to the many commuters and truckers who drive over this bridge every day, it is also important to the economic well-being of New York City,” said Schumer. “Thousands of jobs are linked to this billion dollar construction project and by delaying the review of this necessary bridge permit, the U.S. Coast Guard is throwing the entire project off course. The U.S. Coast Guard should review the Port Authority’s application by the end of September so that the project can move forward as originally planned.”
The Goethals Bridge connects the Staten Island Expressway, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the New Jersey Turnpike, Routes 1 and 9 and other New Jersey highways. In April, the PANYNJ authorized an award of $1.5 billion Public-Private Partnership to NYNJ Link Partnership to provide the design, build, finance and maintenance for the replacement of the Goethals Bridge. The Goethals Bridge Replacement Project involves creating a new bridge south of the existing 80-year old bridge. The project is expected to create more than 2,250 construction jobs. The new bridge will have six travel lanes, a 12-foot wide outer shoulder, a 10-foot wide bikeway and a central area sufficient to accommodate the provision of future transit service. The new bridge is expected to ease congestion on Staten Island. In order for the PANYNJ to move forward with the project, a bridge permit is needed from the USCG. According to the USCG, a bridge permit is needed for any individuals, partnership, corporation or local state or federal legislative body, agency or authority planning to construct or modify a bridge or causeway across a navigable waterway of the United States.
“Traffic on Staten Island is already bad enough. The last thing we need is a completely unnecessary bureaucratic red tape delay on the Goethals rebuild that makes a bad situation intolerable,” said Schumer.
The PANYNJ submitted its bridge permit application to the USCG in June 2010 and after some back and forth, the permit was said to be issued July 2013. The project deadline requires receipt of all permits by September 30th and so the assurance of July was on-schedule.
The PANYNJ was recently informed by the USCG that the permit would be issued in October. The consequences of this delay in the bridge permit to the Goethals Bridge Replacement project are significant. If the bridge permit is not received by the end of September, it could potentially delay the overall project by up to six months due to other factors involved. For example, this coming December, the Developer was planning to install cofferdams in the bridge waterway to allow work to continue during the “winter flounder” ban on in-water work that begins on January 1st. Without the permit and the cofferdams in place before the environmental window closes, work will be delayed until late spring 2014.
The U.S. Coast Guard says they can only review one permit at a time and this project is not a priority. Schumer is saying their response is absurd.
“Don’t tell me you can’t walk and chew gum at the same time, especially when hundreds of jobs and a billion dollar investment in our critical infrastructure in the core of the American economy is on the line,” said Schumer.
Schumer today called on the USCG to expedite the review of the PANYNJ’s bridge permit application so that the Goethals Bridge Replacement project can move forward as planned. Schumer explained the importance of the Goethals Bridge to the New York region and made the case that over 2,250 construction jobs are linked to the replacement construction project. Schumer also said that the Port Authority is financially responsible for a delay and a setback like this could cost the PANYNJ tens of millions of dollars and put wholly unnecessary upwards pressure on the PA that could intensify the need for future toll hikes.
A copy of Schumer’s letter is below:
Dear Acting Secretary Beers,
I write today to urge your assistance in expediting the review of a critical bridge permit application submitted by the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey (PANYNJ) for the new Goethals Bridge project. It has come to my attention that despite assurances that the permit would be processed and a decision rendered by the end of August, the PANYNJ has been told that the permit review could drag out well into October, potentially delaying the construction of the project into mid-2014 and costing Port Authority facility users tens of millions of dollars in additional costs. In addition, the creation of hundreds of good-paying construction jobs would be delayed. After many months of good faith negotiations and due diligence on the part of both the PANYNJ and the regional staff of the United States Coast Guard in New York, it is only fair that this permit review being immediately executed by Coast Guard headquarters and finalized in time for begin construction this year.
Port Authority received final binding bids for the $1.5 billion Goethals Bridge Replacement Project in March 2013. ‘NYNJ Link’ – a partnership of Kiewit and Macquarie – was the winning low-bid developer. The project is being funded by significant developer equity, a USDOT TIFIA loan of approximately $500 million, and approximately $500 million private-activity bonds, pending bridge permit approval from the USCG. The current project deadline requires receipt of all permits by Sept 30th. Unfortunately, US Coast Guard staff has reported to my office and the Port Authority that they will not be able to provide the permit until late October at the earliest, which will have significant negative consequences for the Project.
The PA originally submitted its Bridge Permit application to the Coast Guard in June 2010, and was originally told the permit would be approved once New York and New Jersey water quality certifications were completed in October 2012. However, in June of 2013, the Federal Highway Administration became the lead Federal agency because the Goethals project was utilizing a TIFIA loan and the PANYNJ re-executed their application. The Port Authority has been in constant dialogue with Regional Coast Guard officials on the project and our timetable, and previously received verbal assurances that the USCG permit would be received by July 31st.
The consequences of any further delay in the Bridge permit to the Goethals Project past September 2013 are significant. If the bridge permit is not received by end of September, the project schedule may slip by up to 6 months. The reason for the 6 month project delay arising from a 2-4 week permit delay is that the Developer had been planning on installing cofferdams in December in the bridge waterway to allow work to continue during the “winter flounder” ban on in-water work that begins January 1st. Without the cofferdams in place, work cannot take place until late spring 2014. The Port Authority is financially responsible for such a delay to the project, which could run in the tens of millions of dollars.
The Goethals Bridge PPP is critical for the greater metropolitan New York region. It is a functionally obsolete bridge whose replacement has been over a decade in the making. It is a critical artery on the I-278 corridor, both for freight movement and passenger traffic. The project is also the first surface transportation public-private partnership in the entire Northeast region. Thousands of jobs are also linked to the $1.5 billion replacement construction project and the federal government is already heavily invested in its success. I implore you to do everything in your power to finish this review in September of 2013.
If you have any questions, please contact Gerry Petrella in my Washington, D.C. office.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer