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By: Hellen Zaboulani
Finally, here’s some promising news about the long-delayed Hudson Tunnel project linking New York and New Jersey. As reported by Crain’s NY, the Gateway Tunnel project has secured a $6.8 billion federal funding agreement. The White-House funding will help advance the $16.1-billion project which aims to overhaul the decaying 100-year-old rail tunnel and add a new tunnel.
Regional officials who have been working on the project were thrilled to secure the Federal commitment, before a possible change in the White House with the upcoming November presidential election. The deal has already been in the works for years, and has been derailed several times. The newly inked federal funding agreement by the Gateway Development Commission, the bi-state agency overseeing the project, means that major construction can start on the project this month. Based on this updated timeline, the project’s slated completion date has been set for 2035.
Kris Kolluri, Gateway Development Commission chief executive, described the funding deal as “the point of no return” for the infrastructure project. “History will remember those who led the effort to get us to a point of no return and those who build this project,” said Kolluri, at a news conference on Monday. “This time it’s real,” added Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “The Gateway race was truly a marathon but we laced up, kept the pace and we made it.”
The project is considered one of the most important and complex infrastructure undertakings in the country. Overhauling the rail infrastructure beneath the Hudson is said to be imperative to the financial health not ony of the region, but the U.S. as a whole. This Northeast corridor is Amtrak’s busiest one, serving over 2,200 trains each day, with trips stretching from Boston to Washington. The corridor has become infamous for infrastructure and equipment failures, which have led to delays in rail freight and for commuters.
Per Crain’s, the Gateway project includes the construction of a new underwater tunnel as well as the replacement of an existing tunnel damaged in 2012 by Superstorm Sandy. The $16.1 price tag for the project is roughly 14 percent higher than a previous 2021 estimate. The recently inked federal funding agreement is the biggest and final piece of $12 billion in federal grant dollars secured for the tunnel project. About 70% of the project’s cost is being paid for by the federal government, with the remainder being funded for by New York and New Jersey, with contributions from Amtrak and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Back in 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy had reached an agreement, under which NY and NJ would each cover $386.2 million of the $1.6 billion reconstruction of the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River.
Per Crain’s, the Port Authority had committed $2.7 billion toward the bridge, and towards repairing existing Hudson River tunnels and building new ones. “We are establishing the framework to get this project over the finish line and are making good on our promise to modernize the state’s transportation infrastructure and create a mass transit system worthy of New Yorkers,” Gov. Kathy Hochul had said in a statement at the time.
