The New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s board of directors has approved spending $149 million to complete the final design of a portion of the controversial highway expansion project through Jersey City.
A contract signed with Parsons Transportation Group will finalize the design for a project that will double the capacity of the Newark Bay Bridge. The bridge currently has four lanes, two in each direction.
The bridge will be replaced with twin bridges with four lanes in each direction. Construction is estimated to cost $6.2 billion, with construction expected to begin in 2026 and take 10 years to complete.
The section approved Tuesday covers “between mileposts 1.3 and 2.9, including the Newark Bay bridge and approach span,” Turnpike Authority spokesman Tom Feeney said. “In the coming months, he will have two more design contracts presented to the board,” he said. One for the section from interchange 14 to milepost 1.3 and the other for the section from milepost 2.9 to interchange 14A.
The existing bridge, officially known as the Vincent R. Casciano Memorial Bridge, spans Newark Bay and connects Newark and Bayonne. It is part of the Newark Bay Extension of the Turnpike, which diverts traffic from the Turnpike’s main route to Route 78, to Bayonne and Jersey City, and ending at the Holland Tunnel approach.
