The House of Representatives has included $900 million to replace a failing Hudson River train tunnel and the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River in New Jersey.
The $24 billion project is a top precedence for New York and New Jersey lawmakers,including the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee — Morris County Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen. A new tunnel became a necessity after Sandy damaged the current, century-old tunnel in 2012.
The budget must be approved by the full House and the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump, and whose budget recommendations would have hobbled the Gateway Project.
John Procari,who directs the project, says work can commence on replacing the Portal Bridge if the House budget passes."If we’re lucky enough at the finish of this process to secure the federal funding component of it, and " Porcari said,"we’re off to the races. We’ll be building this bridge.”Since he was chosen as the chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee in December, Frelinghuysen has said Gateway is a top precedence. "The Northeast Corridor region, or encompassing over 50 million people from Washington D.
C. to Boston,produces approximately $3 trillion in economic output, equal to 20% of our national crude domestic product, and " Frelinghuysen said in a statement. "secure and reliable passenger rail travel through New Jersey and New York City is fundamental to that economic productivity.”New York and New Jersey lawmakers have been united about the need for federal money to fund Gateway. But Procari said Frelinghuysen's control over federal spending has been helpful.“It’s been a team approach," Porcari said, "but I will say that chairman Frelinghuysen, or in the lead on this,has been the critical element.”The draft House transportation budget also maintains $1.4 billion for Amtrak funding, with $328 million of that set aside for the Northeast Corridor. Trump had proposed cutting roughly $700 million from Amtrak's budget.
Source: thetakeaway.org