• Additional dredging to further deepen the channels north of Staten Island between Newark Bay and the harbor.
• A 520-acre deep water port for massive container ships combining the areas of the Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal with the Global Marine and Auto Marine Terminals in Jersey City.
• Expanding the recently reopened Howland Hook container terminal on Staten Island near the Goethals Bridge.
• Investing $500 million to refurbish docks and other infrastructure along Brooklyn's Sunset Park waterfront.
• Upgrading warehouses, roads and shipping equipment around the Harbor.

Both the news accounts and reports from recent briefings the Port Authority has conducted indicate that few details have been forthcoming about the "land side" transportation -- highway and railroad -- aspects of the overall plan. It can be expected that the full plan will call directly or implicitly for construction of a second Goethals Bridge, widening of the Staten Island and West Shore Expressways and development of the Portway, a proposed new highway in New Jersey that would connect freight terminals and rail heads lying between Little Ferry (Bergen County) and the port in Elizabeth. The plan also assumes positive resolution of the current fight in Union County, NJ over reactivation of the Staten Island and Chemical Coast rail lines that have the potential to connect the Howland Hook container terminal to rail networks to the west and south.

Despite its call for investment in Brooklyn, the plan apparently devotes no resources to development of a NY Harbor freight rail tunnel. Last year, the Port Authority said it was working to significantly increase cross-harbor rail car barge activity. Hopefully more details about this pledge will surface as elements of the PA plan become clearer. NYC Economic Development Corporation President Charles Millard criticized the PA in a NY Times account for "hedging its commitment" to port revitalization in the city by excluding the rail tunnel.

While elements of the plan represent victories for common sense, the "land-side" issues could become the Achilles' heel for regional port expansion. Utilization of the Bayonne terminal as a deep water container facility seemed far off of most radar screens just 18 months ago, and its apparent prominence in the PA plan is welcome. But with communities around the region already aching over and ready to take action against impacts from current levels of truck traffic, port planners would do well to develop approaches that emphasize rail freight as much as possible. Serious attention should also be given to "greening" port activities by introducing less polluting fuels and strictly enforcing port access and egress routes by regulation and traffic calming installations that inhibit trucks from using local roads near port zones.