After years of delays and political fights, construction finally began Nov. 3 on the Hudson River Tunnel portion of the Gateway Program, a $16.1 billion group of projects that will double capacity for the Northeast Corridor rail segment connecting New Jersey and New York City. President Joe Biden in January called Gateway “one of the biggest, the most consequential projects in the country.”
The federal government in November pledged to cover 70% of the cost and gave the project $3.8 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That’s welcome news for local politicians, who warned the decaying, century-old tunnel poses a bottleneck for New Jersey commuters and Amtrak passengers.
