Gateway Program is back on track as Buttigieg, Schumer offer financial support
All aboard!
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer paid a visit to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan on Monday and toured the century-old rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey to offer billions in funding to build a new tunnel that has suffered from decades of disrepair and political infighting.
Members of Congress from New York and New Jersey, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), took a ride on a special train that allowed them to survey the damage inside the dilapidated, 111-year old Hudson River tunnel flooded by the corrosive saltwater in 2012 during Superstorm Sandy.
Speaking from Amtrak’s concourse in Penn Station, Buttigieg said he was eager to move forward with the Gateway Program for repairs to the tube, which got signoff from the U.S. Department of Transportation last month.
“It was the best construction you could possibly get 110 years ago. Now, it’s time to upgrade and secure this infrastructure for the 21st century.”
The approval had been a sticking point during the Trump administration, as Schumer, Gov. Cuomo and others had accused Trump of purposely delaying the environmental review for political reasons, a charge administration officials denied.
However, the DOT’s approval mandates a new set of Hudson River tunnels be built before repairs on the old ones begin.
That strategy is a sore spot for Cuomo, who’s said the repairs and new tunnel construction can be done at the same time without interrupting NJ Transit or Amtrak service.
The project requires New York taxpayers to cover one-fourth of its estimated $11.6 billion cost. But Cuomo last month said he wouldn’t pay up unless a new strategy was taken — and last year pushed a report that found crews could perform repairs on the old tunnels without closing them to service.
“If they [state officials] have concerns, we can talk through them,” Buttigieg said of the project. “But this is the result of a lot of technical expertise and a lot of community input.”
Cuomo, who was in the city Monday, did not meet with Buttigieg to talk through his concerns — or the disbursement of funds for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package Washington lawmakers hope to pass next month.
“We look forward to working with our federal partners and expect to see a smart, fair, cost-effective plan to get the Gateway Tunnel project completed,” Cuomo said in a statement. “The state also has other pressing infrastructure needs such as East Side Access, Second Ave. subway, congestion pricing and infrastructure in our upstate cities.”
Transportation Department spokeswoman Dani Simon said Buttigieg came to New York at the request of Schumer, not Cuomo or New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
The tunnel project is part of a larger $33.7 billion effort called the Gateway Program, aimed at revitalizing passenger rail in New York and New Jersey. The program includes an expansion of Penn Station that would require the seizure of the block to the south of the train hub.
Officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — which is run by Cuomo — have already released preliminary plans for the expansion.
Buttigieg did not meet with anyone at the transit agency Monday, MTA officials said.
Cuomo’s aides declined to say whether the governor would approve New York’s share of the tunnel project — but Amtrak Chairman Tony Coscia said he’s on the governor’s case.
“It is on us to convince all of the funding partners that we are doing our job and we are doing it effectively,” said Coscia. “The environmental impact statement that was approved was approved after an exhausting review of all the options available.”
