Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured Amtrak’s deteriorating tunnels between New York and New Jersey on Monday, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer swore the still-unfunded Gateway Tunnel project to replace it is “all systems go.”
“It could be seven years, it could be five years, it could be 10 years — this tunnel will not last, so we are full speed ahead to get Gateway done,” Schumer (D-NY) told reporters at a press briefing in Penn Station immediately following the tour with Buttigieg.
Speaking alongside Buttigieg and eight members of the New York and New Jersey congressional delegations, Schumer pledged to deliver $11.4 billion to build the new crossing and rehab the existing tunnel after US DOT gave the go-ahead last month.
“Once we appropriate that money, things will move very quickly,” he said. “We have no choice but to move quickly.”
Schumer and Buttigieg, who toured the tunnels at the senator’s request, held up corroded wiring from the 110-year-old tunnel as evidence of its deterioration.
“It’s one thing to hear about it, it’s another thing to see it,” the transportation secretary said. “You go into that tunnel and … you see the consequences of sea water that came in, accelerated by Superstorm Sandy, and further degrading the infrastructure.”
The long-awaited Gateway project to replace and rehab the train tunnels connecting New Jersey and New York got the green light from the DOT in May after years of delays by President Donald Trump, whose administration had refused to honor an Obama-era agreement to fund half the project with federal dollars.
The two states agreed in 2015 to split half of the cost of construction, which Schumer hopes will begin in 2022 and take six or seven years to complete.
Schumer said part of the federal portion would be included in the $115 billion allocated for rail and transit in the bipartisan infrastructure deal reached by Republican and Democratic senators earlier this month.
But neither he nor Buttigieg would respond directly to recent remarks by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that New York would not let the feds “do stupid with our money.”
“It’s one thing to hear about it, it’s another thing to see it.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaking about the run-down tunnels
Cuomo in November suggested Amtrak rehab the existing tunnels immediately, as opposed to waiting to do so until the new tunnel is operational.
“If they have concerns, we can talk through them,” Buttigieg said, without referring to Cuomo by name. “But this is the result of a lot of technical expertise and a lot of thorough community input, evaluating the different alternatives and assessing the best way to move forward.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has said Cuomo’s proposal would make life “miserable” for his state’s commuters.
On Monday, Cuomo said he feels “much more optimistic about the direction” of the Gateway project — while reiterating concerns about its hefty price tag.
“It is imperative that we use our state funds in a cost-effective manner to do as much work as possible,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“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.”
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan
