Under the Bridge(s)

Sometimes what passes beneath makes for great visuals, but is actually pretty damn important

Today, May 20, 2021, witnessed a remarkable coincidence of two transportation infrastructure phenomena that also serves as some mighty fine symbolism as the region reopens and continues its recovery from the pandemic (and should be especially appreciated by civil engineering/transportation/economic development geeks, of which I am proudly one). 

At LaGuardia Airport, whose soaring new Terminal B opened its front doors last summer despite the severe impact of Covid-19 and as part of the airport’s $8 billion total rebuild, an aircraft taxied under the terminal’s distinctive pedestrian skybridge for the first time. 

So why is this important? Because a big part of the impetus for rebuilding LGA in the first place (aside from it being a woefully crappy airport and the punch line of too many SNL Weekend Update jokes), which entailed moving it 600 feet closer to the Grand Central Parkway, was to allow for significantly enhanced taxiway space for planes to get to and from their gates – and help reduce the dreaded pilot announcement that the aircraft is ready to push back or pull in but for another one blocking the way.

Ultimately, the terminal will have a second pedestrian skybridge (making it one of the only such airports in the world) – both of which easily connect passengers to their gates at “island” concourses replete with all the CX fixin's – space, light, numerous food and retail options, charging outlets, a playground, and yes, spacious restrooms with stall doors designed to not force you to contort your body when rolling in your luggage.   All the things that the old LGA drastically lacked. Also, critically: the whole place doesn’t smell like Auntie Anne’s. 

A few miles away, just on the other side of the Hudson River, a different type of major vessel passed beneath a different type of bridge when the Marco Polo (or technically the CMA CGM Marco Polo), the largest container ship ever to call on an East Coast port, glided under the raised and rebuilt roadway of the Bayonne Bridge as it made its way to the Elizbeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal. The ship is longer than the height of the Empire State Building and wider than 5 Manhattan city blocks. With containers stacked nine deep above the deck, it holds over 16,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).

And why is this important? Because before the Bayonne was raised to a navigational clearance of 215 feet (from its previous clearance of 150 feet), the largest ships that passed through held less than 10,000 TEUs, or about one-third less cargo, and weren’t as environmentally friendly. And it’s not just that these ultra large bad boys can carry more stuff we need (food, clothing, drugs, furniture, appliances, holiday decorations, beach umbrellas, etc.) Because when they stay in port longer (takes more time to get off more stuff), and NY/NJ is their first port of call, there’s also more incentive to unload more here that is bound for other parts of the country by freight rail – it’ll get there sooner than if they waited to unload in say, Norfolk or Savannah. Which is part of the reason why the Port of New York and New Jersey has continued to see record volumes, even during the pandemic, proving its resilience at a time when supply chains in other parts of the country and world have been seriously compromised.

Which is all a way of saying, as we all finally take some serious steps toward getting back to life as we knew it – including of actually moving around – I’m grateful to have colleagues that designed and built such awesome bridges (among other cool things) that help things move better both across and under them, and that throughout all of the darkness that descended pretty acutely on this region 14 months ago, never once lost sight of moving us forward.

Most of us take infrastructure for granted. And that’s OK. In a functioning society, we’re supposed to. After all, one way or another, we pay for it. And it’s also OK – in fact it is vital – that we get mad at hell when it doesn’t work. So at a time when the national conversation tries to urge us to try to finally rectify the historic underinvestment in infrastructure the country has ignored for the past several decades, look no further than what happened under these bridges today as proof of what it can yield.