Designed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Chief Engineer, Othman Amman, and architect Cass Gilbert, the Bayonne Bridge was completed in 1931. A marvel of design and engineering, the Bridge was selected as the Most Beautiful Steel Bridge in 1931 by the American Institute of Steel Construction. Spanning the Kill Van Kull, a waterway essential to moving products throughout the region, the Bayonne Bridge would stand as the world’s longest steel-arch bridge for 45 years until the New River Gorge Bridge opened in West Virginia in 1977.

Understanding that the rapid increase of automobile traffic in the 1920s and the limited interstate crossings between New York and New Jersey presented a problem to the region's economy, the Port Authority began a bold effort to transform the region’s infrastructure by building a series of bridges and tunnels that would knit New York and New Jersey together. During the 1930s the Bayonne Bridge would join the Outerbridge Crossing, the Goethals Bridge and the George Washington Bridge in connecting New Jersey to Staten Island as well as to Brooklyn and New York City. As predicted, the Bayonne Bridge, along with its sister bridges and tunnels, proved essential to the region's economy. By facilitating the movement of goods and people, the Bayonne Bridge has provided our residents with access to good-paying jobs as well as access to the world beyond our peninsula.

The Bayonne Bridge served its purpose well throughout the twentieth century but technological innovations in the maritime shipping industry and the arrival of ever taller container ships, made the Bridge outdated and a danger to the region’s economy. As a result, the Port Authority began the ambitious “Raise the Roadway” project in 2013. Completed in 2019, “Raise the Roadway” ensured that the larger ships would be able to safely pass underneath the Bridge and that the port complex would remain the largest on the East Coast and a driver of the regional economy. Importantly, for the residents of Bayonne, the Bridge maintained its iconic arch while Port Authority engineers were able to keep the roadway open to traffic. Additionally, a large pedestrian walkway, which the public has flocked to since its opening, was included in the design.

Designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1985, the Bayonne Bridge has been a distinctive feature of our City and an integral part of the region's economy for nearly a century. Thanks to the “Raise the Roadway” project, the Bayonne Bridge and its famed arch will continue to be a part of our City’s landscape for years to come.