- The Theodore Roosevelt container ship passed under the Bayonne Bridge on Thursday
- New Jersey and the Port Authority of New York spent $1.6billion to raise its height from 155 feet to 215 feet
- The ship is 1,202 feet long which is the length of four football fields
The largest container ship ever to visit an East Coast port has sailed under a bridge that had to be lifted to handle such vessels.
The Theodore Roosevelt passed under the Bayonne Bridge on Thursday on its way to its dock in Elizabeth during its maiden voyage to the U.S.
The ship is 1,202 feet – the length of four football fields – and 166 feet wide. It can carry more than 7,200 standard 40-foot shipping containers above and below its decks.
The Theodore Roosevelt, the largest-capacity container ship ever to visit an East Coast port, goes under the Bayonne Bridge
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has spent $1.6billion to raise the bridge and deepen the channel so very large ships can use the container ports in Elizabeth and Newark.
The four-year construction and engineering project began in 2013. It was designed to raise the clearance under the Bayonne Bridge to 215 feet from 155 feet to allow larger container ships to go under it. The harbor was also dredged to create a channel 50 feet deep.
The bridge is expected be built to its full width by 2019 and will include a wider roadway featuring four lanes, shoulders and a shared use pedestrian-bicycle path.
Bayonne Bridge connects Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey. The completion of the project will create a new era for the shipping industry in New York and New Jersey.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spent $1.6billion to raise the bridge and deepen the channel so very large ships, like the Theodore Roosevelt on its maiden voyage to the United States, can use the container ports in Elizabeth and Newark
The Theodore Roosevelt is 1,202 feet long – the length of four football fields and and the Empire State Building