NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – U.S. and state officials on Friday celebrated the start of construction on the Gateway Tunnel after a 13-year pause. The massive project will build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey.
The next phase of the project will be the construction of a third section of concrete casing under Hudson Yards that, when completed in 2026, will connect the new Hudson River Tunnel to Penn Station. The first two sections are already built under the block bordered by 10th and 11th avenues and 30th and 33rd streets.
Digging for the tunnel itself is expected to begin in 2025 with boring machines that will cut through the Palisades, under the river and right into Midtown Manhattan. The entire project is expected to be completed in a decade.
Nearly $7 billion has been allocated from the federal government for the Gateway Project—the largest federal grant ever for a mass transit project. An additional $3.8 billion infusion announced Friday will mean the federal government will be picking up 70% of the cost of Gateway.
Among the officials on hand for Friday's tour of the site were Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
"The Gateway program is critically important not just to this city and this region, but to our entire country’s economic security," Buttigieg said. "Today, we celebrate a major step toward completing the new Hudson River Tunnel, as we begin work on the third and final part of the concrete casing that will eventually connect Gateway Hudson Tunnel to Penn Station."
Work had already begun 13 years ago to replace the two crumbling rail tunnels under the Hudson when the project was abruptly canceled by then-Gov. Chris Christie, who cited the huge cost.
Hochul, Schumer and Gillibrand have been big proponents of the project for many years, calling it the most urgent infrastructure project in the nation.
“For 30 years, Americans, travelers, businesses, workers have been hoping for this day,” Hochul said. “But years of inaction, excuses, delays and the infighting are finally over. We're now heralding in a new era of working not against each other but working together to accomplish great things.”