NJ backing for WTC financing deal comes with $1 billion price tag

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey agreed to pay $1 billion to rebuild the Bayonne Bridge in exchange for support from Garden State commissioners in the agency’s recent financing deal with developer Larry Silverstein to rebuild the World Trade Center, the Daily News reported. The Bayonne Bridge, which links New Jersey and Staten Island, currently has a 151-foot clearance that’s too low for many large ships, and New Jersey politicians have long been pushing to increase that height in an effort to bring business to Port Newark. If the Port Authority hadn’t agreed to fund the bridge’s rebuilding, Gov. Chris Christie had planned to block the much-delayed Ground Zero financing deal, which gave Silverstein $1 billion worth of public financing and subsidies for his planned Tower 4 and $600 million for Tower 3. [NYDN]