By Colleen Wilson NorthJersey.com
The project aimed at improving the decrepit, century-old tunnels that shuttle commuters back and forth under the Hudson River has been upgraded to a “medium-high” priority by the Federal Transit Administration.
This new ranking makes the $12.3 billion projects eligible for federal funding in the Capital Investment Grants program and is the first of many steps needed to get this long-awaited and mammoth project off the ground. It was previously ranked “medium-low” by former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Feds clear the way for the Gateway Tunnel project to get billions …
“Well-planned, large public transportation projects can transform lives and entire regions by reducing commute times, increasing safety, opening economic opportunities, reducing emissions, and making travel more affordable,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement announcing the change. “The Hudson Tunnel Project will enable a safe, comfortable commute for hundreds of thousands of Americans currently traveling through a tunnel that was built more than 110 years ago.”
The project partners, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ Transit, Amtrak, New York and New Jersey, according to the FTA announcement, “must complete several CIG program requirements before the project is eligible to advance into the next phase of the CIG process, which is entry into Engineering.”
Five other projects received new or updated ratings along with the Hudson tunnel proposal.
“The day many commuters never thought they’d ever see is finally coming,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement. “We are closer than ever to securing a fairly and fully funded Gateway Program and beginning the work of delivering the safe and modern infrastructure our people and economy deserve.”
A lengthy process
During former President Barack Obama’s administration, the Gateway project was developed to replace the ARC plan vetoed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in 2010.
Gateway is a collection of more than $30 billion in projects to expand and improve rail capacity under the Hudson River and through New York Penn Station and to upgrade the most trafficked and troublesome portion of the Northeast Corridor. The first phase would rehabilitate the 112-year-old tunnels rapidly deteriorating from Superstorm Sandy and build two new tunnels to increase the number of trains that can enter and exit Penn Station. Amtrak and NJ Transit trains use the tunnels
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