By Tim Nostrand, NJ Spotlight News

President Joe Biden came to New York City yesterday bearing a significant cash infusion for the Gateway transportation project and a promise to work out all financing for its centerpiece element — two more rail tunnels under the Hudson River.

• At a Manhattan news conference, Biden said $292 million from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law had been earmarked for the completion of a concrete casing for the tunnels, running under the Hudson Yards complex.
• Biden also said he was committed to finalizing a financing structure for the entire $16 billion project, which had been slow-walked and de-emphasized by the Trump administration.
• “It’s going to take time. It’s a multi-billion-dollar effort between the states and the federal government,” Biden said. “But we finally have the money and we’re going to get it done — I promise you. We’re going to get it done!”
• The two existing rail tunnels — shared by Amtrak and NJ Transit — are more than a century old and deteriorating.
• Estimated to be more than a decade away, completion of the new tubes would allow for restoration and, ultimately, doubling of rail capacity.
• See NJ Spotlight News for a video report.

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