A new time-lapse video released by EarthCam documents the complex process behind raising an over 90-year-old bridge connecting Staten Island, New York, with Bayonne, New Jersey. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey completed the six-year Bayonne Bridge roadbed-raising project last year, with the new video condensing the process into a digestable two-minute experience.  

The project's necessity was underscored by an even more significant infrastructure upgrade, this one occuring roughly 3,500 kilometres to the south of the Kill Van Kull the bridge traverses. Already increasing container ship sizes ballooned after the 2016 opening of the Panama Canal expansion, one of many factors that required the 1928-1931-built Bayonne Bridge's deck to be extended.

Bayonne Bridge project, screenshot via video courtesy of EarthCam

From 2013 to 2019, the arch bridge's roadbed was raised by 64 feet, rising from 151 to 215 feet, to more safely accommodate the passage of large container ships traveling below.

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