(Save the date: RealShare New Jersey comes to the Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick, NJ, September 19.)

BAYONNE, NJ–The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey officials are now promising that the deck-removal portion of the $1-billion project to raise the Bayonne Bridge will be done by fall of 2015 when the first super-size ships start bringing goods from Asia through the widened Panama Canal.

Port Authority Chairman David Samson said the agency has shaved six months off the projected completion date for the project, which has not yet begun except for lead paint removal on the existing structure. Also, the Panama Canal Authority has pushed back the completion date for the widening due to construction delays, he said. “Competition is fierce among all the ports on the East Coast,” Samson said. “All of them are racing to prepare themselves for the widening of the canal. That’s why it’s important for us to get this job done.”