NEW YORK — Calling the project “a matter of national security and economic stability,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy pushed Friday for funding for the Gateway Project, which includes a new tunnel between New Jersey and New York as part of a series of infrastructure upgrades to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line.
Murphy, in testimony at a field roundtable of the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure committee, said 20 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product depends on the current, 109-year-old tunnel under the Hudson, which sustained significant damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. More than 200,000 Amtrak and NJ Transit passengers pass through the tunnel each weekday.
“Either the federal government is going to finally come to the table with New Jersey and our partners in New York, and at Amtrak and the Port Authority [of New York and New Jersey], to get this done proactively, or there is going to be a catastrophic failure in one of these tunnels that is going to force us to build,” Murphy said, according to NJbiz.com.
Murphy told the roundtable that he has tried several times to discuss the project with U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, but there has been no response.
“I know her number,” Murphy said, according to northjersey.com. “The fact we’ve met is not our fault.”
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) called Gateway “the most urgent infrastructure project in the nation” during the roundtable.
Earlier on Friday, before touring the Hudson tunnels and other parts of the Northeast Corridor, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), the chairman of the committee, said the house might waive certain environment requirements to allow the tunnel project to advance. [See “House committee chairman vows to get new Hudson tunnel built,” Trains News Wire, May 3, 2019.]
Second comment –
The users of the tunnels are the Jersey Tranrsit commuters and Amtrak northeast corridor. Since they are the users, they should pay their way.
Jersey Transit – you want to live in the Garden State but work in the Big Apple? Well, then cough up the money to get across the Hudson River. One writer had the idea of $1.00 per trip surcharge. Make $2.50 per trip.
Amtrak – you want to ride the Northeast Corridor – why should everyone else subsidize your trip under the Hudson. Add $15.00 per ticket for the new tunnels.
I live in New York State, but I have no interest in having my taxes pay for people who want a cheaper commute.
Fact – People who say the failure of these rail tunnels would be a disaster are like chicken little and the sky is falling.
Amtrak would be hurting, true – but the real users of the tunnels, the people who ride Jersey Transit, would quickly find alternatives.
There are many ways to get from New Jersey to New York City – including PATH which has four rail tunnels under the Hudson River, buses which have two multilane tunnels (Lincoln and Holland) and three multilane bridges (George Washington, Verrazzano, and Tappan Zee) and even some ferries. So of those 200,000 people, most would find alternate means of getting to work within a short time. Not so nice as Jersey Transit – but they would get there.
So the failure of these tunnels isn’t the disaster everyone seems to say it is. I suspect that everyone (except Amtrak) would adjust within days.
Not to say these two rail tunnels aren’t important – but let’s not exaggerate like Governor Murphy when he says 20% of the nation’s GDP depend on these tunnels.
Great post Mr Larson, pretty much says it all.
An analogy: Yesterday I was elected to the Select Board of a very small New England town. In years past, those who lived in the outlying sections of town did not want to support the building of a sewer system in the center of town. Those in the center of town did not want to support building fiber optic broadband to the edges of town. But our economic viability depends on the well being of all the town’s citizens. We can’t have businesses thrive or even exist in the center of town without the sewer. We can’t maintain keep our population from moving away to cities without broadband to allow them to grow their home businesses. We are all in this together.
I don’t travel through the Hudson River tunnels very often. More often I ride the Lake Shore Limited and Empire Builder or Southwest Chief to work and visit family in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and the Southwest. I support the building of the new Hudson River tunnels with my tax dollars and I hope that the users of the North East Corridor will support their tax dollars to support and expand long distance service because we are all in this together.
Mr. Morrison,
If, as you say, 200k people go to work each day using those tunnels, then that is at a minimum 1,000,000 trips per week. At 1 dollar extra per trip, that should generate $365,000,000 dollars per year. I think that should be able to fund almost any type of construction, and the taxpayers are off the hook as the users pay for the upgrades. Sounds fair to most undesirables.
The only fair resolution is to have the state of New Jersey pay 40% of the cost, the state and city of New York pay 40% of the cost and the remaining 20% paid for by a ticket surcharge on all Amtrak and NJ Transit tickets sold for trains that use the tunnels. They are the three entities that benefit from these tunnels. That way people in Oregon, Texas, Missouri, Ohio etc. don’t have to pay the extravagant union labor rates that these corrupt states’ politicians give to their unions in order to buy their votes. Let those who benefit pay the cost.
As for contractors hired, lowest qualified bid gets the job. No exceptions.
Mr. Lampman: I’m not an economist or accountant, but doing basic math, I get these numbers:
200,000 people per day, 5 days per week. That’s 1,000,000 trips per week. We postulate an extra charge of $1 per trip. That comes to $1,000,000 per week. There are 52 weeks in a year. This is the US and people aren’t encouraged to take vacations. So let’s go with 52 weeks. 52 x 1 million = $52 million. Still nothing to sneeze at and after a few years adds up to real money. But far, far short from the $365 million per year total you came up with. But maybe I missed something…
In all seriousness, the Hudson tunnels are a national concern. We need them. So let’s all get together, fund and get going on building the new ones. Enough talking already.
Let us see, in order to solve the country’s various transportation crises, according as someone asserts to, as necessary, “abolish the Democratic Party, a party which is indistinguishable from the Communists.” How does one “abolish” a political party except within a tyrannical dictatorship? The very first thing the Nazis did in 1933 was to abolish all parties but their own: the commies, the socialists, the liberals, the catholics, the aristocrats. But, like Mussolini’s Italy, the trains ran on time.
Am I the only one who has become tired of the political opinions offered up on this site. FYI i am an independent voter. I was a blue collar democrat until the party veered to far to the left. That being said it seems to me both parties have offered up some good ideas only to be rejected by the partison politics we see to often today. How about taking some of these ideas and seeing if we can reach some common ground. Enough of the name calling and lets try act as adults.
I agree with Mr. Morrison. Please leave your political opinions to yourselves. It would appear that those tunnels are critical infrastructure to the economy of not only New York City, the States of new York and New Jersey , but also the entire nation. Yes, they are expensive and yes, they will take some time to complete, but cut the political garbage (and that is what it is) and start the project to replace them to more modern standard.
John Morrison – I couldn’t agree with you more on the need to replace these tunnels, starting a decade ago. Davis Bacon and minority/ women set-asides are thefts of taxpayer money. I have a perfect right to advocate that needed infrastructure come in at a reasonable and a proper cost. And that goes as well for extremely needed extremely critical extremely urgent infrastructure.
Curtis, there is nothing in the least fascistic about the Republican party and a whole lot about the Democrat party that is fascist. I have read hundreds of books about nahzieism and the more I see of the Democrats the more they resemble Mr. A. H.
The logic which suggests that Democrats are indistinguishable from Communists also would argue that Republicans are likewise fascists. One might better stay “on-topic” than prove to be illogical.
Democrats are 100% committed to packaging any infrastructure program to some version of the Green New Deal. (Apparently they’re color-blind; the actual color is Red.) If that’s the case then the only way to get these tunnels built is to abolish the Democrat party, a party which is indistinguishable from the Communists.) Getting rid of the Democrats would be a wonderful thing on so many levels.
This is not a place for partisan political yapping one direction or another. I grow sick of the polarization and demonizing from both camps. Let’s talk facts here.
Hurricane Sandy storm water did a job on this 100 plus year old under riverbed tunnel NEC Amtrak/commuter link. Period. Fact, not opinion. Every weekday about 200,000 train passengers go through a dangerously deteriorated structure. It is an imminent danger? Can we take a chance? That is is in very poor shape is not in dispute. The President to his credit has now said he wants a big infrastructure program. He is running for re-election. Facts.
Reasonable people of good faith should be able to get this and the Portal Bridge nearby (another deteriorated obsolete structure) replaced. The overarching problem and elephant in the room is that Amtrak has been both mismanaged and given minimal funding to keep it tottering along, but nothing to near enough for an alleged national rail system.
The passengers in those commuter and Amtrak intercity trains (NEC) are independents, Republicans, Democrats and none of the above. They pay taxes, some of the highest in the country and it’s not some handout the region is asking. The states are proposing they pay a big slice and so is the local Port Authority. Again, facts. We once had a country that did big things in a bi-partisan manner. A tragedy we seem to have lost that spirit.
Davis-Bacon is long overdue for retirement. The situation has long changed since it was established to prevent Depression era contractors hiring minorities from underbidding the contractors using white union labor. Here in PA we have something like it which requires school districts to use only union labor to build schools. It adds 20% or more to the cost and takes longer to have them completed.
No Bob the Democrats haven’t had a single good idea since the last several years.
Were I Mr. Trump here’s what I’d offer:
Federal support in a big way for the tunnels, with the following conditions.
(1) Repeal Davis Bacon
(2) No set-asides. Not to minorities. Not to women. Not to anyone. Lowest qualified and responsive bidders, period, no exceptions. (Read the 144th Amendment).
(3) No Green New Deal, no broadband, no this, no that, no nothing.
When the Democrats reject that deal (and they will), then no tunnels.