Gerald Desmond Bridge
With replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge scheduled to begin later this year, the Harbor Department has proposed a Fiscal Year 2012 budget topping $830 million, up 27 percent from the current fiscal year.
The $172-million increase is almost entirely tied to long-term infrastructure projects that include the bridge and modernization of aging piers, roadways, truck routes and railyards.
Port authorities, whose budget requires approval by a majority of the city council, plan to take out $300 million in new debt to help finance $630 million in capital projects for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
The capital projects represent 76-percent of total expenditures for the year, with internal salaries and benefits an estimated 5 percent, debt service 10 percent and roughly $5 million, or 1-percent, on the Clean Trucks Program.