Dive Brief:
- A federal judge on Monday permanently prohibited the Trump administration from withholding funding for the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel project, which the U.S. Department of Transportation put under administrative review in October.
- Construction was halted in February, several months after the DOT froze the project’s funding. The Gateway Development Commission, which oversees the project, received a temporary injunction a month later to unfreeze the funding, allowing construction to continue while it challenged the move in court.
- “We are thrilled that a federal court has once again agreed that the Trump administration’s decision to freeze billions of dollars in grants for the Gateway Tunnel Project is flagrantly unlawful,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherill and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
The Hudson Tunnel project includes a new two-track tunnel and rehabilitation of the existing North River Tunnel, which carries Amtrak intercity passenger trains and New Jersey Transit commuter trains. That tunnel, constructed in 1910, was severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Some 450 trains and 200,000 passengers move through the tunnels each day.
The governors and attorneys general called the Hudson Tunnel project “the most important infrastructure project in the nation.”
According to the GDC, 70% of the project’s budget is funded by federal grants. The remainder comes from federal loans, which the two states and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will repay. The DOT withheld disbursements from both federal sources beginning on Oct. 1, 2025.
While the tunnel project has been a source of contention, the DOT has taken control of the New York Penn Station redevelopment project. The $8 billion project includes expanding track capacity, a new Eighth Avenue entrance to a new train hall and improving the station’s existing subterranean structure. The Hudson tunnels feed into Penn Station.
The new tunnel is scheduled for train operations in 2035, and the North River tunnel rehabilitation will be completed in 2038, according to the GDC.
