NJ and NY officials celebrate full funding of $16B Hudson Tunnel Project. Federal grants totaling $6.88B secured, marking a milestone in improving rail infrastructure. Construction expected to last 16 years, creating 95,000 jobs. Project will double rail capacity and reduce delays.
Officials from New Jersey and New York convened in Manhattan July 8 to celebrate a major funding agreement that finalizes a long-awaited cross-Hudson rail project that will double capacity and boost the reliability of the plagued railway.
The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) signed a full funding deal with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for $6.88 billion in federal funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project (HTP) and closed on rail rehabilitation monies from the Build America Bureau totaling $4.06 billion to fund the local share of the project.
With these actions, GDC has secured the entire $16 billion commitment needed to complete the Hudson River rail tunnel. That total includes $12 billion from the federal government, the largest funding commitment to a rail transportation project in modern history.
The deal also wraps up a long fight to secure money for the multi-year project.
As a result, the signing ceremony served as a victory lap for the Gateway project's advocates, who credited President Biden and his administration for the $6.88 billion grant that pushed the railway expansion to the "point of no return."
"Today marks a significant milestone on the path to ensuring the success of our nation's most vital infrastructure project," said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. "Thanks to the leadership of our partners, both in Congress and across the Hudson, our federal government will be covering over 70 percent of the total cost of the Gateway Tunnel Project. As the main artery of our nation's economy continues to be pushed to its limits, we are now one step closer to transforming the 100-year-old infrastructure under the Hudson River.
"New Jersey thanks the Biden-Harris Administration for delivering this critical investment so that our region's transportation system will be able to support a new century of American leadership," he continued.
The massive construction effort is expected to stabilize the stretch of troubled tracks. For instance, in recent weeks, NJ Transit commuters have faced repeated hours-long delays after Amtrak-managed railways suffered wiring issues.
"Today is a day of making investments, the biggest investment of taxpayers in a transportation project ever," noted New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. "This is a day of coming back to who we say we are, a nation that invests in itself so we can grow our nation, grow our economy and continue to lead the world."
Full Construction Expected to Last 16 Years
Construction on one part of the project, the new Portal North Bridge spanning the Hackensack River, started two years ago, and will replace the more than 100-year-old Portal Bridge that is a regular source of delays and congestion. It is slated for partial completion next year, the New Jersey Globe reported.
The HTP will eliminate one of the biggest risks of failure on the Northeast Corridor by building two additional tracks and rehabilitating the existing North River Tunnel, resulting in four modern tracks between New York and New Jersey. The new tunnel will be in service by 2035 and the full rehabilitation of the existing tunnel will be complete by 2038.
Construction of the HTP itself started on both sides of the Hudson River last November. The project is expected to create 95,000 jobs and generate $19.6 billion in economic activity, according to a news release from Murphy's office.
In the Garden State, the Tonnelle Avenue Bridge and Utility Relocation Project is building a new roadway bridge to allow for a connection to the new tunnel portal and an access point for the tunnel boring machines.
Work also is under way in Manhattan on the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing Section 3 (HYCC-3) Project that will preserve a rail right-of-way to link the new Hudson Tunnel to New York Penn Station.
The new agreement also enables GDC to move forward with heavy construction and tunnel boring activity. Crews will begin working in the coming weeks on the Hudson River Ground Stabilization (HRGS) Project, designed to stabilize the riverbed on the New York side of the Hudson River to enable the massive boring machines to excavate the new tunnel.
By the end of the year, GDC will have awarded contracts for more than $5 billion in construction activity, including contracts to build sections of the tunnel passing through the Palisades in New Jersey and going through the Manhattan bulkhead under Hudson River Park, in addition to ordering the first of the tunnel boring equipment.
Later stages of the construction, which include a planned expansion of New York Penn Station, will make possible a four-track railway from Newark Penn Station to Manhattan.
"Please have some patience, this is not going to be overnight," Murphy said during the July 8 event. "But when it finally hits, it will transform literally millions of lives, and I'm honored to be a part of that."
Tony Coscia, the chair of Amtrak's Board of Directors and the vice chair of the Gateway Development Commission, said the project will more than double NJ Transit and Amtrak capacity from 450 trains per day to 900.
"The new Hudson River Tunnel will supercharge the rail connections across our region and to the nation, improving and expanding rail service in ways we've only been able to dream about in the past," he said in a news release.
New Jersey, New York Officials to Finally Realize Their Dreams
Memories of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's cancellation of a prior rail project hung heavy over the recent proceedings as several speakers lauded the expansion but noted that it should have started years ago.
In 2010, Christie controversially pulled New Jersey out of the Access to the Region's Core project, which started in 2009 and was slated for completion in 2018.
But at the agreement celebration, New Jersey officials thanked themselves, their counterparts from across the Hudson in New York, and President Biden for building the framework of the landmark project.
"The Gateway race was truly a marathon, with its twists, its turns, [and] its bumps," said New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer. "But we laced up, we kept up the pace, and we made it."
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