GDC Announcement

“Test Pits" Show Where North End of Manhattan Ventilation Shaft Can Reach to Not Disrupt Electricity Lines

Newark, NJ – The Gateway Development Commission today highlighted continued ongoing preparation work for the Hudson Tunnel Project – which will build a new two-track passenger rail tunnel connecting to Penn Station New York and fully rehabilitate the existing 110-year-old tunnel.

The preparation work involves digging “test pits” on 30th Street in Manhattan, just east of 12th Avenue. The site will be the northern boundary of a large ventilation shaft for the new Hudson River Tunnel. The preparatory work confirms the location of Con Edison cables feeding electricity into Manhattan and will ensure future construction of the ventilation shaft does not cut, damage or otherwise disturb these cables. 

The Board members of the Commission said, “Digging a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey for the first time in over 110 years is an incredibly complex undertaking. This one action shows just how complex. Even placing a portion of the 12th Avenue ventilation shaft requires knowing the whereabouts and relationships between interconnected infrastructure underground, and ensuring nothing we do disrupts major functions like electricity to thousands of people. We are committed to putting the utmost care into every single project element that constitutes the Hudson Tunnel, because it must benefit the residents of this region and this nation.”

Combined with the ongoing geotechnical borings and subsurface investigations to better understand the underground conditions along the new Hudson River Tunnel’s future path and the work to relocate utilities from the path of the third section of the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing, the Test Pits demonstrate that the Hudson Tunnel Project continues moving forward in doing all the work possible to prepare for a fully funded project.  

Already, the early work on the Hudson Tunnel Project has resulted in, among other preparations, the full construction of the Hudson Yards Concrete Casing from 10th to 11thAvenues, a draft 30% design of the new Hudson River Tunnel, and over $1.4 billion in estimated construction cost savings due to reductions in risk and contingencies.  

Gateway Development Commissioners: 

Steven M. Cohen, NY Commissioner & Co-Chair

Balpreet Grewal-Virk, NJ Commissioner & Co-Chair

Tony Coscia, Amtrak Commissioner & Vice-Chair

Jamey Barbes, NY Commissioner  Janine Bauer,

NJ Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez,

NY Commissioner Jerry Zaro, NJ Commissioner

images text credit GDC.