The New Jersey Turnpike Authority will soon begin the search for a construction crew to replace the 70-year-old Newark Bay Bridge, a project that new Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) scaled back significantly last month amid cost concerns and community pushback at its congested location, but is still a multibillion-dollar undertaking.
The agency will begin the process this summer to prequalify contractors for the estimated $6.7 billion effort to build a single, four-lane cable-stayed replacement for the Vincent R. Casciano Memorial Bridge as part of its Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension program, according to an authority spokesman. Requests for bids will follow at the end of the year.
According to comments last month by Kris Kolluri, the authority’s chief executive, the contract to build the cable-stayed bridge structure could be awarded within a few months.
But early recruitment is already underway. In March, the authority approved separate contracts to build wooden deck trestles to support construction of the new bridge. PKF-Mark III will build a $74.1 million, 177,000-square-foot easel in Bayonne, while George Harms Construction Co. will build a $38.3 million, 106,000-square-foot structure in Newark.
Additionally, the Newark Bay Corridor Joint Venture, comprised of Jacobs and STV Inc., was awarded a $141.3 million construction management contract for the replacement project.
Citing input from mayors, community leaders and organized labor, Sherrill scrapped the controversial $10.7 billion two-lane replacement proposal advanced in 2020 by his predecessor, Phil Murphy (D). That plan would have doubled the crossing’s capacity and added new lanes to the 8.1-mile freeway corridor between Newark and the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City that connects to Manhattan.
Instead, the authority says that building a single new bridge and limiting roadwork to safety improvements will maintain the corridor’s existing capacity while allowing traffic to be moved off the existing structure by 2031. The spokesman adds that the agency is committed to Sherrill’s recommendation to require project labor agreements to be on schedule “to ensure that work meets the highest standards of safety and quality and strength.”
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Reduced, moving forward
The authority did not say how the revised project will affect its existing contracts with Parsons Transportation Group to design the new bridge, and with Michael Baker International and Gannett Fleming for road and bridge improvements, although the agency said last month it will not change the final bridge design already approved.
The move to scale back the overall corridor upgrade follows the authority’s December 2025 announcement that it would preserve the extension’s two-lane configuration through Jersey City, saving about $500 million in program costs. Instead, the agency said it will build direct connections to port facilities in Bayonne and Jersey City, improving the flow of trucks and local traffic through the area.
In a joint statement, Mayors James Solomon and Ras Baraka of Jersey City and Newark, respectively, said the decision to further scale back the extension program “recognizes that the previous proposal would have opened the floodgates to heavy traffic through communities that already bear heavy traffic and air pollution burdens.”
In a statement, NJ Transportation and Utility Contractors Association CEO David Rible said the program will “ultimately create a more efficient, modern and safe infrastructure,” but Samantha Roman, president of Associated Builders and Contractors-NJ, expressed opposition to the project’s labor contract mandate, which she said would increase costs and exclude many local women and non-union minority-owned businesses.
