A new financial plan submitted by the Gateway Program Project Partners for the Hudson Tunnel Project should qualify the project for advancement to the next phase of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program.
The new financial plan recalculates and strengthens the financial commitments by project partners for the project — the construction of a new two-track rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River; the comprehensive rehabilitation of the existing 110-year-old North River Tunnel; and the completion of the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing. During the previous administration, delays in the project meant new cost estimates were required.
“The Hudson Tunnel Project is of the utmost importance to the economic well-being of New Jersey, our region, and our country,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. “The updated financial plan that is being submitted today exhibits the commitment of our state and that of our partners to the commencement and completion of the single largest critical infrastructure project in the United States. We look forward to working with the Biden Administration, Amtrak, New York, and the Port Authority to begin construction and to provide reliable rail service while creating tens of thousands of jobs and billions in economic benefits to the New Jersey – New York area.”
Major construction on the new tunnel is set to begin in August 2023, and the Project’s construction cost is estimated to be $12.3 billion, including $10.1 billion for the new tunnel and $2.2 billion for rehabilitation of the existing tunnel.
Those figures are down from the $12.7 billion cost in 2017, despite a four-year delay during the Trump Administration. However, the cost is an increase from last year due to time-driven escalation and the need to push back the calendar for beginning major construction.
Overall, the Project Partners have eliminated more than $2 billion from the cost estimate, including $1.4 billion based on advanced design work in the 2019 filing and more than $900 million in property acquisition, since Amtrak was able to acquire a major Manhattan property recently.
“Construction on the Hudson Tunnel Project cannot begin soon enough for the thousands of NJ TRANSIT customers who must continue to rely on the century-old tunnel daily,” Balpreet Grewal-Virk, Gateway Commission Co-Chair and New Jersey Commissioner, said. “This financial plan is a major step toward finally putting shovels in the ground and getting to work building the rail infrastructure we need for the economy of the future.”
The plan seeks an estimated $5.6 billion in FTA Capital Investment Grant funding or approximately 44 percent of the CIG-eligible project costs, and is supported by more than $6 billion in commitments toward construction costs by the State of New York, the State of New Jersey and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.