The Fiscal Year 2018 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) Appropriations bill, currently under consideration by the House T-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee, will advance several crucial transportation projects in New Jersey, including a Hudson River tunnel, an important piece of the Gateway Commuter Rail project.
The current version of the bill includes $900 million in new funding for the Gateway program.
This, balanced with additional funding for Amtrak Northeast Corridor improvement provided through legislation signed by President Trump last spring, will bring federal support for the Hudson rail tunnel to nearly $1 billion.
“Now more than ever, it is imperative to our economy and to our quality of life to have safe and well-functioning transportation infrastructure. This bill makes investments in essential highway, air, rail, and maritime programs that will keep our people and our goods moving efficiently,” Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen said.
“It is not an overstatement to say that Gateway is critical to our nation’s economy,” he added. “The Northeast Corridor region, encompassing over 50 million people from Washington D.C. to Boston, produces approximately $3 trillion in economic output, equal to 20% of our national Gross Domestic Product. Safe and reliable passenger rail travel through New Jersey and New York City is essential to that economic productivity.”
The proposed Hudson River Tunnel will serve public transit through NJ Transit and intercity passenger rail through Amtrak. Of the $900 million earmarked for Gateway, $500 million will be provided in “rail state of good repair grants” from the Federal Railroad Administration and $400 million will be provided through transit money designated for construction funding. The majority of Amtrak’s $328 million in improvement funding will also be used for projects associated with Gateway.
“Congress is wise to invest in the Gateway tunnel proposal. The Hudson River tunnel project is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the country, providing a critical link between New Jersey and New York where our regional economy contributes $3.7 trillion to the Nation’s GDP,” Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) said. “This is a major win for Garden State commuters…”