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Trump stalls New York's Gateway Tunnel Project under Hudson River

    Keith Keloe
    By Keith Keloe Replies (6)

    Trump administration continues to delay the an environmental impact report for the Gateway Tunnel Project. Without the environmental impact report, project cannot receive federal funding. This is what reportedly Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao says.

    In the past weeks, New Jersey politicians had called out Trump Administration over Portal Bridge and Gateway Tunnel funding.

    Gateway Tunnel Project is important for the infrastructure project for the New York City as it involves tunnels connecting New York City to New Jersey. It includes construction of a new railway tunnel under the Hudson river as well as the rehabilitation of existing 109 years old Northeast Corridor rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River, known as the North River Tunnel. The latter has been partially damaged by the Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

    Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey governor Chris Christie had committed $5.5 billion funding for the project in 2017. The problem seems to be with the fact that Obama administration had committed federal funding for the half of the project costs in 2015. But the Trump administration in 2017 cancelled that  commitment. Trump administration also decreased the priority level of the project to moderate-to-low to decrease the eligibility of the project for federal funding.

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