Gateway Project gets $6.9B in federal money as Hudson River tunnel work ramps up, Sen. Schumer announces

A fresh infusion of $6.9 billion in federal money means it’s “all systems go” for the long-awaited Gateway project to put two new railroad tracks under the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Thursday.

“This is the largest ever transportation grant by the federal government,” Schumer said told reporters at a news conference on Eleventh Ave. in Manhattan, next to the West Side rail yard.

“The dollars are there, and Gateway will get done,” Schumer said.

The influx of federal money is specifically earmarked for the Hudson River tunnels — the centerpiece of the sweeping Gateway project, which besides adding two new tracks between Penn Station and New Jersey will refurbish the two existing Hudson River tunnels used by Amtrak and NJ Transit.

“With today’s new dollars, Gateway’s future is assured,” Schumer said. “It is all systems go.”

The new tunnel project alone is expected to cost $16.8 billion, which includes the construction of an underground concrete casing on the New York side.

New York and New Jersey are each contributing $3.4 billion towards the tunnel project, Schumer said, and the parties are applying for an additional $3.8 billion in federal money as a “cushion” for potential cost overruns.

“It is great news, and we need it,” said Schumer. “Gateway is the most consequential infrastructure project in all of America.”

The senator estimated work on the tunnels would generate roughly 72,000 “good paying” jobs.

The Hudson River tunnels are meant to augment the existing trans-Hudson route, the North River tunnels, which opened in 1910.

Every day, 425 trains transit the North River tracks, according to a Federal Transit Administration report on the project.

That heavy use — along with damage from salt water incursions during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 — has led the tunnels to need a serious overhaul.

“The old tunnels are deteriorating,” Schumer said. “They could be unusable in a year, they could be unusable in 10 years. But no one thinks they’re going to last very long”

“If the tunnels that cross the Hudson collapse or are unusable, our whole economy goes into turmoil,” he added.

The Gateway project also includes significant rail projects in the New Jersey Meadowlands, as well as an elevated extension at Tonnelle Ave. in Jersey City.

The funding Schumer announced on Thursday will allow the engineering phase of the Hudson River tunnel portion of the project to begin. Construction is expected to start next summer.

“Entering into engineering is the biggest step yet in making the entire Hudson tunnel project a reality,” Alicia Glen, New York’s commissioner for the Gateway Development Commission, said in a statement.

Schumer said the tunnel project should take seven years to complete.

Work on the Tonnelle Ave. bridge and the concrete casings at Hudson Yards are expected to begin later this year.