The Manhattan district attorney’s office has subpoenaed documents from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey concerning a range of the troubled agency’s major construction projects, including several that have come under scrutiny as a result of the politically charged George Washington Bridge lane closings, a person with knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

The subpoena seeks records for an investigation that is in its earliest stages, the person said. But it nonetheless represents a significant development for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and senior members of his administration, who have been enveloped in the scandal that grew out of the September closing of two access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J.

This new criminal inquiry opens what is in essence a third investigative front focused on the actions of Mr. Christie and his appointees, who are already the subject of an investigation by federal prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Newark, and one by a New Jersey legislative committee.

The new inquiry, being conducted by the Rackets Division in the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., brings to bear an additional staff of seasoned corruption investigators who are most likely focused in large measure on a different set of corruption allegations and are seeking evidence of state crimes, rather than violations of federal laws.