US DOT July 14 press release:
Gateway Program Projects Take First Step Toward Qualifying For Major USDOT Funding. Excerpts:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced today that two major infrastructure projects in the New York City area are now one step closer to qualifying for federal funding. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has moved the Hudson Tunnel Project and Portal North Bridge – both critical elements of the Gateway Program – into the Project Development process for New Starts, a type of Capital Investment Grant available through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
....
Project Development is the first phase that these projects will be required to complete before a construction grant could be awarded. In this phase, the Hudson Tunnel Project and Portal North Bridge will move forward with identifying a specific development plan and, in the case of the Hudson Tunnel Project, completing the environmental review process. The Portal North Bridge has already completed the necessary environmental review. The move also authorizes the project sponsor, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) and its partners Amtrak and NJ TRANSIT to begin incurring costs related to the environmental review and engineering and design activities.
And from
https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/NJ%20Portal%20North%20Bridge%20PD%20profile_0.pd fand
https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/NJ-NY%20Hudson%20Tunnel%20PD%20profile_0.pdf respectively:
[SIZE=16pt]Portal North Bridge Project [/SIZE]
[SIZE=14pt]Hudson County, New Jersey [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]New Starts Project Development Information Prepared June 2016 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Portal North Bridge Project entails the construction of a new, two-track fixed structure bridge across the Hackensack River in Hudson County, New Jersey along the Northeast Corridor (NEC). The existing moveable swing span bridge has only 23 feet of vertical clearance above the mean high water level and must pivot open to allow maritime traffic to pass through, closing the bridge to rail traffic interrupting operations on the NEC for both Amtrak and New Jersey Transit (NJ TRANSIT). Additionally, the “miter rails,” which allow the rails to disengage and the bridge to open and close, permanently restrict speeds on the bridge to 60 miles per hour, while trains can operate at 90 miles per hours on adjacent portions of the NEC. These conditions create bottlenecks along the NEC, especially during peak commute hours. The new bridge will provide enough vertical clearance to accommodate current and forecast maritime traffic and allow trains to operate at higher speeds. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Project is part of the Northeast Corridor Gateway Program, a series of strategic rail infrastructure investments designed to improve current service and create new capacity. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) currently serves as the project sponsor, but the Project is a joint undertaking that also includes Amtrak and New Jersey Transit (NJ TRANSIT). [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]A Notice of Intent to initiate the environmental review was published in the Federal Register on December 12, 2006. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was published in February 2008, with the Final EIS published in October 2008. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued a Record of Decision (ROD) in December 2008. The current schedule anticipates selection of a locally preferred alternative and its incorporation into the region’s fiscally constrained long range plan in 2017, entry into Engineering in the first quarter of 2017, receipt of a Full Funding Grant Agreement in the second quarter of 2018, and the opening for revenue service in the second quarter of 2024. [/SIZE]
Hudson Tunnel Project
[SIZE=14pt]Secaucus, New Jersey to New York, New York [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]New Starts Project Development Information Prepared June 2016 [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Hudson Tunnel Project is a new two-track heavy rail tunnel along the Northeast Corridor from the Bergen Palisades in New Jersey to Manhattan that will directly serve Penn Station New York. It consists of three major elements: the Hudson Yards right-of-way preservation project, the Hudson Tunnel, and the rehabilitation and modernization of the existing North River tunnel. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Hudson Tunnel Project is part of the Northeast Corridor Gateway Program, a series of strategic rail infrastructure investments designed to improve current service and create new capacity. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) currently serves as the project sponsor, but the Project is a joint undertaking that also includes Amtrak and New Jersey Transit (NJ TRANSIT). [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The existing 106-year old North River Tunnel is owned by Amtrak. NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak operate approximately 450 trains each weekday through the tunnel that carry over 200,000 daily passenger trips. The North River Tunnel presents reliability challenges due to damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, as well as the overall age the tunnel and the intensity of its current use. Significant delays to a large number of trains occur when problems arise. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The benefits of the Hudson Tunnel Project are twofold. First, the new tunnel will enable the closure of the existing tunnel for reconstruction without causing a significant reduction of capacity. Second, once renovations on the North River Tunnel are complete, its reopening will greatly increase rail capacity and provide greater redundancy in the event of malfunction. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is currently underway, and is expected to be completed in March 2018. The selection of a locally preferred alternative and its incorporation into the region’s fiscally constrained long range plan is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2018. The current schedule anticipates the project will enter Engineering in the second quarter of 2018, receive a Full Funding Grant Agreement from FTA in spring 2019, and have both the new tunnel and the rehabilitated tunnel open for revenue service by 2028. [/SIZE]
