As reported in the Star Ledger (3/12/07):
Railroad bridge is found shaky in tests
Link to Staten Island has had problems with track alignment, officials report
Monday, March 12, 2007
BY JOE MALINCONICO
Star-Ledger Staff
Much depends on the reopening of the dormant railroad bridge between Elizabeth and Staten Island.
The traffic-choked Goethals Bridge would handle about 150 fewer tractor-trailers a day when the rail connection opens.
Elizabeth residents would no longer have to put up with New York City's garbage trucks rumbling through their streets.
And the Port of New York and New Jersey would gain a vital asset for handling the anticipated growth in cargo shipments over the next decade.
But all that has to wait, because the bridge -- which is almost a year behind schedule -- has not done well during recent testing.
"The delay has been too long. It's starting to cause alarm over here," said New York City Councilman Michael McMahon, chairman of the council's committee on solid waste management. "The longer it takes, the worse it is for everybody."
Most parts on the bridge -- an old-fashioned vertical lift mechanism that originally opened in 1959 -- are the same as in 1990, when it stopped operation, officials said.
Officials need to make sure there are no kinks in the lift apparatus; if the bridge were to get stuck in the down position, it would block traffic on the bay, and if it got stuck in the up position, rail freight would get stranded on Staten Island and be late for delivery.
That hasn't been a problem during the preliminary tests, said Joan McDonald, senior vice president of transportation for the New York City Economic Development Commission, the agency that owns the bridge.
But several times during 40 test runs, the railroad tracks did not line up when the bridge was lowered, McDonald said. In those instances, within a minute or so, the bridge was raised and put back down in the proper position, she said.
"I don't want to minimize this, but I don't want to blow it out of proportion, either," McDonald said.
This week, Conrail is sending one of its movable bridge experts to the Staten Island span to try to solve the problem with the track alignment, McDonald said.
Conrail officials, however, were reluctant to discuss the project, referring questions to the city agency.
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