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Goethals Bridge
The Goethals Bridge, seen from Staten Island
Carries	4 lanes of I-278
Crosses	Arthur Kill
Locale	Elizabeth, New Jersey and Howland Hook, Staten Island, New York City
Maintained by	Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Design	Cantilever bridge
Longest span	204.83 m (672 feet)
Total length	2,164.08 m (7,100 feet)
Width	18.90 m (62 feet)
Vertical clearance	4.3 m (14 feet)
Clearance below	42.67 m (140 feet)
AADT	76,500[1]
Opening date	June 29, 1928
Toll	$6.00 (eastbound) (E-ZPass)

Goethals Bridge as seen from New Jersey

The Goethals Bridge (pronounced as IPA: /ɡɑːθəlz/) connects Elizabeth, New Jersey to Howland Hook^[2], Staten Island, New York over the Arthur Kill. Presently operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the span was one of the first structures built by the authority. The bridge is part of Interstate 278, and named for Major General George Washington Goethals, who supervised construction of the Panama Canal and was the first consulting engineer of the Port Authority.

A steel truss cantilever design by John Alexander Low Waddell, the bridge is 672 ft (205 m) long central span, 8,600 feet (2,620 m) long in total, 62 feet (19 m) wide, has a clearance of 135 feet (41.1 m) and has four lanes for traffic. The Port Authority had $3 million of state money and raised $14 million in bonds to build the Goethals Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing; the Goethals bridge construction began on September 1, 1925 and cost $7.2 million. It and the Outerbridge Crossing were opened on June 29, 1928. The Goethals Bridge replaced three ferries and augmented the existing Arthur Kill Rail Bridge. Its unusual^{[citation needed]} mid-span height was a requirement of the New Jersey ports.

Connecting onto the New Jersey Turnpike, it is one of the main routes for traffic between there and Brooklyn via the Staten Island Expressway and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Until the bridge to Brooklyn was completed in 1964 the Goethals Bridge never turned a profit. The total traffic in 2002 was 15.68 million vehicles.

A 3D rendering of the potential replacement bridge

The Goethals Bridge has two 10-foot-wide (3 m) lanes in each direction, which do not meet the 12-foot (3.7 m) requirement of current highway design standards. The bridge also has no shoulders for emergency access. To meet modern standards and to address deficiencies on the bridge, a new span is being considered. A study in 1997 concluded that the optimal solution would be a parallel span. However, a more recent study suggested that the existing span had only 10 years of life left, even with the recent deck rehabilitation, and that the optimal solution would be to build an entirely new span. The latter option was eventually chosen to come up with a number of replacement alternatives, along with the "no build" option. It is likely that a new bridge would also include additional lanes of traffic, high-speed E-Z Pass lanes, and a reconstruction and widening of Interstate 278 from exit 4 in New York (NY 440 South) to NJ 439 in New Jersey.

A diagram comparing the four replacement alternatives and their position relative to the current bridge

As of fall 2007, the following alternatives are being considered for the replacement bridge:

• A single six-lane bridge south of the current alignment (officially new alignment south)
• A single six-lane bridge north of the current alignment (officially new alignment north)
• A single six-lane bridge with one half north of the current alignment and the second half in place of the current alignment (officially existing alignment north)
• A single six-lane bridge with one half south of the current alignment and the second half in place of the current alignment (officially existing alignment south)

This is a change from the initial alternatives put forth in summer 2006, which included the option of twin three-lane replacement bridges north and south of the current alignment (which was completely eliminated) and twin three-lane replacement bridges, one south, and one along the current alignment, with the latter being built after the demolition of the current bridge (which was refined to be a single bridge instead of twin bridges). The reason for the dropping of twin-bridge alternatives was a request by the FAA to decrease the height of the bridge's towers to prevent interference for flights into and out of Newark Liberty International Airport.^[3]

All alternatives propose the bridge be a single, cable-stayed, double-deck bridge separated by towers with a height 135 feet above the mean high water of the Arthur Kill shipping channel. Each deck would have three 12-ft lanes with a 12-ft outer shoulder and 5-ft inner shoulder and the northern deck would feature a 10-ft pedestrian walkway. In addition, permanent access roads would be built under the bridge on land for maintenance, security, and construction purposes.^[3] Lastly, "sufficient space" will be left to accommodate potential mass transit services.

Some consideration was given for mass transit. The studies indicate a bus-only lane was not economically viable, but that a high occupancy vehicle lane open to buses as well as high occupancy autos would be appropriate during rush hours, if traffic supported it. Provision for rail transit was rejected; however, it was decided that whatever alternative was constructed, the design and structural integrity of whatever was constructed should ideally be able to be retrofitted for such at a later date. The suggestion for a freight rail connection was dismissed as uneconomic.

Public open houses will be held in early 2008 in Staten Island and Elizabeth, and the Draft EIS and public hearings are set to take place in spring 2008.

As part of the construction, improvements to approaches and nearby interchanges will be made. These will include the New Jersey Turnpike Exit 13 toll plaza (and perhaps the entire interchange),^{[citation needed]} the Staten Island Toll Plaza, and the Interstate 278/NY 440 Interchange. In addition, while separate from the Bridge Replacement Project, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) may^{[citation needed]} construct full movements at the Interstate 278/U.S. Route 1/9 Junction to coincide with the bridge's replacement.

• United States Coast Guard, Environmental Impact Statement, Goethals Bridge Replacement, Newsletter 4, October 2006 [c/o Howard/Stein-Hudson Associates, 517 W 35th St., 7th Fl., NY, NY 10001]

• Goethals Bridge Replacement
• Goethals Bridge in the Structurae database

Coordinates: 40°38′9″N, 74°11′49″W

Bridges of the Arthur Kill
Upstream Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge	Goethals Bridge	Downstream Outerbridge Crossing