Amtrak Gateway Tunnels

Some more good news.

Nevertheless, Coscia believes that once the environmental review process is complete, which should be sometime in March 2018, construction will commence. “We're operating on the basis that sometime shortly after March of 2018 we're going to start construction on these tunnels,” he declared.

That is probably a valid strategy until March of 2018, after which actual money is needed to do actual work.

I think there's a decent chance you see that money-- or some money, at least-- forthcoming. Next year is a midterm election year. The whole House is up for re-election, as are Senators Menendez of NJ and Gillibrand of NY. Given the amount of attention the Penn Station "Summer of Hell" got in the press I'd say there's a pretty strong incentive for the local delegations to do whatever it takes to get at least something moving forward so they can brag about it in their campaign ads come summer.

Although Sen., Menendez political future may be in doubt given the upcoming corruption trial. Then again this is New Jersey.

There is a red machine that looks like a drilling rig in the area where the viaduct before the new tunnels is supposed to go. I have marked the approximate location with on the attached image. Does anyone know if the presence of that rig is related to the future tunnels? The only reason I can think of for this thing being there is to determine the depth of the solid rock below the marshes. That could be needed for preliminary/final engineering. Then again, why wouldn't they have this information already from the cancelled ARC?

Funding for the Gateway Tunnel project was included in the $1.2 trillion spending bill that the House passed on Thursday. The legislation contains $900 million in federal funding for the project, which includes construction of new rail tubes under the Hudson River so the existing tunnels damaged by Hurricane Sandy can be closed for repairs.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/20 ... _bill.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Now off to the Senate...

As a NJ voter I can't stand Cory Booker, but on this issue he is right on the money.

As another NJ voter, I admire Cory Booker for taking the most thankless and uncomfortable political job in the US; being a mayor of Newark, NJ...

And I agree with him on the Gateway issue of course. But he could've said that we are at this point due to the stupidity of the Fat Moron, the Governor of NJ who killed ARC tunnel...

JamesRR wrote:http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/20 ... _bill.html


Now off to the Senate...

OK, 900 million is better than nothing but it is still a drop in the bucket. And it still has to survive Senate...

Maybe the work on replacing Portal bridge can now start?

JamesRR wrote:http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/20 ... _bill.html

While I support this project, zeroing the funding for other states including TIGER grants is the wrong way to finance it. We need a broad coalition supporting investments in public infrastructure including rail and this is not the way to do it. If anything, this is a project where borrowing money is worth it -- it is a productive asset that will be use for centuries to create more economic output. The same cannot be said about the majority of the junk the Feds spend my taxes on, including defense.

Defiant wrote:

R&DB wrote:As a NJ voter I can't stand Cory Booker, but on this issue he is right on the money.

As another NJ voter, I admire Cory Booker for taking the most thankless and uncomfortable political job in the US; being a mayor of Newark, NJ...

And I agree with him on the Gateway issue of course. But he could've said that we are at this point due to the stupidity of the Fat Moron, the Governor of NJ who killed ARC tunnel...

This is better than ARC. Amtrak couldn't even use the ARC tunnels as it was designed. Christie did us a favor on this one.

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About the coring work going on. The more coring's done the better Amtrak and any contractor can bid on the project. As well alignment may be slightly different and maybe some parts deeper ?

To all on this thread;

Tadman wrote:MOD NOTE

We can't discuss this issue without getting political. Please note, however, that there is a right way and wrong way: you may agree or disagree with a member here or an elected politician all you want. Ad hoc attacks on members are absolutely not allowed. Ad hoc attacks on politicians are not really in good taste.

As this is a highly politically charged issue and we live in an era of political tension, PLEASE BE CIVIL HERE!!!

Those starting flame wars will be given unpaid vacation from the site.

Thanks and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

I had no intention to start a political discussion. I only stated that I personally like Senator Booker's stance on this subject, although I usually disagree with him.

$900m sounds like a great start, especially if matched by the other stakeholders--Probably enough to create tunnel launch points on both sides of the river.