The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey expects to
start construction of a $1.5 billion cable-stayed bridge connecting Elizabeth,
N.J. and Staten Island, N.Y., by year-end now that a public-private partnership
financing package has been agreed.
The Goethals
Bridge replacement will be the first new bridge structure built by the Port
Authority in the last 80 years and it’s the largest public private partnership
in the region.
In addition to a $461 million bond issue to be sold by the
Economic Development Authority on behalf of the project’s private developers,
NYNJ Link Partnership, and a $474 million loan, the developers will make equity
contributions to build the bridge. In return, the developers will receive
payments from tolls over 30 years.
The amount of those payments will depend on the on-time, on-budget
performance of contractors building the bridge. Completion is expected by 2017.
Yet another example of state and federal resources, local
transit agencies and the private sector all coming together to make vital
infrastructure modernization happen.
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