Simultaneously, the Port Authority publicly marked the kick-off of its massive $3.7 billion port expansion effort which includes the deeper dredging of port channels to attract the industry's largest ships. The authority expects this investment to sustain or increase last year's growth levels, fueling projections that container trade will quadruple or quintuple by 2020. Currently, 85% of all port cargo is now moved by truck. Without a dramatic modal shift, the planned expansion will bring further traffic problems to the metropolitan area by drawing tens of thousands more trucks per day onto the region's roads.

Port Authority officials' comments last week suggest that projects now underway could help. Port Commerce Director Richard Larrabee told the Journal of Commerce that improvements to Port Elizabeth's Expressrail facility, including a recently opened railcar storage facility, should increase on-dock rail capacity to 1 million containers per year. In 2000, Expressrail served a record 178,000 containers and is nearing capacity. Also, Chris Ragucci, manager of the Howland Hook Terminal told the Advance that the Port Authority's recent purchase of 124 acres of adjacent property and railyard refurbishment funded by the NYC Economic Development Corporation should allow a 20% shift to rail transport after mainland rail links are completed in Union County.

Linked with a barge and rail inland distribution network, these projects could hold truck trips to today's levels as port traffic grows (MTR #300). However, truck capacity expansions on the books like Portway's second phase and the Goethals twin bridge would negate their advances.