Even with Gateway’s federal funding restored, some closest to the Hudson River rail tunnel project fear more potential stall tactics from President Donald Trump.
Michael Hellstrom, Eastern regional manager and international vice president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LIUNA, says key equipment remains stalled at the North Bergen tunnel entrance site. Roughly 1,000 construction workers and others remain off the job.
“Right now on Tonnelle Avenue, one tunnel boring machine is in 95 different parts that have to be assembled. The other is still in Germany waiting to be shipped,” Hellstrom told NJ Spotlight News. “The work happening in New Jersey is the most critical work.”
Trump froze congressionally approved funding on the $12 billion project in October, citing concerns about diversity, equity and inclusion clauses in construction contracts. This month, after money awarded earlier ran out, Trump was sued by the Gateway Development Commission on its own and New York and New Jersey together.
On Monday, three days after a federal appeals court backed a judge’s order to unfreeze the funding, Trump ranted on Truth Social about his opposition to “the future ‘boondoggle’ known as Gateway.” He argued that it would cost “many billions of dollars more than projected or anticipated.”
Gateway boosters say Trump’s own interference could lead to such overruns on the country’s biggest infrastructure project.
A six-month delay could add $721 million to $1.34 billion due to inflation, financing costs and ongoing obligations, according to Tom Wright, president and chief executive officer of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit civic group that researches tristate transportation issues.
‘This situation again’
The plan calls for rehabilitating a pair of tunnels damaged by Hurricane Sandy and constructing another set, ultimately doubling rail capacity for a vital Northeast Corridor link. Amtrak says the century-old tunnels are safe, though increasingly unreliable.
“It’s absolutely essential we build Gateway so we don’t lose the capacity and connectivity we have today,” Wright said. He cautioned that the recent court ruling doesn’t guarantee long-term stability. “This doesn’t mean six, nine, or 12 months from now we won’t be in this situation again,” he said.
Of the $205 million expected last week from the Trump administration, roughly half had been paid as of Feb. 13. Trump’s “boondoggle” remark this week prompted
Gov. Mikie Sherrill called Trump’s comments “ridiculous political rhetoric” and vowed to continue legal action to secure full federal funding for what she called the nation’s most urgent infrastructure project.
Hellstrom, the union official, had his own read on Trump’s post.
“It’s his way, in my opinion, of walking away from the battlefield defeated but wanting to lay down the gauntlet that the federal government would not be responsible for so-called overruns,” Hellstrom said.
