The 200 Year Bridge - The New Goethals Bridge as a Roadmap

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has completed the replacement of the congested and functionally obsolete Goethals Bridge, a circa 1928 steel cantilever truss bridge, with a dual-span modern cable-stayed bridge connecting Elizabeth, New Jersey and Staten Island, NY. Designed as a 150 year service life structure, the newly opened crossing paves the way towards achieving the possibility of a 200 year bridge, both in material durability, structural redundancy / resilience, and modal flexibility.

The new crossing features three eastbound and three westbound lanes plus a 3 m wide shared use path (SUP) for bicycles and pedestrians. To accommodate future expansion, the superstructure of the cable stayed spans is designed to receive steel framing to support a variety of possible transit options including light rail, while the substructure need not be strengthened for this future load. With a 274 m main span, the new crossing provides a significant maritime navigational improvement over the original 205 m steel truss span.

Herein we focus on the strategic application of corrosion protection strategies to achieve the long service life in a competitive bid environment, structural benefit of the design as relates to resiliency, modal flexibility, and operational redundancy to withstand extreme events.