The Gateway project to build two new badly needed tunnels for trains under the Hudson River is already running two years behind schedule — even though it just broke ground, a federal audit shows.
Officials at the Gateway Development Commission have publicly stated that by 2038 they will have finished digging and constructing the new tunnels and then rehabilitate the two existing trans-Hudson tubes, which were badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy.
However, the audit performed for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transit Administration shows the work will likely take until 2040.
The audit revealed that the biggest tasks the agency faces include staffing up, awarding massive contracts and the need to do substantial prep work because of the complicated Hudson River geography. If this doesn’t happen soon, the project could fall even further behind.
“If GDC cannot reach the necessary level of capacity and capability to effectively execute the work according to the 18-month staffing plan, it could result in significant delays to the schedule and additional cost,” the review warned.
Officials at Gateway say they’ve already grown their staff of eight to 44 and taken other steps to respond to the audit’s findings.
Construction started on the tunnels earlier this year after federal officials, including U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, scored $11 billion in funding for the project. The rest of the price tag will be split between Albany and Trenton.
The tortured history of the Gateway Project could fill a book.
Officials on both sides of the Hudson River have campaigned for new tunnels under the river for decades to relieve overcrowded trains, which were frequently delayed by breakdowns that would cascade because of schedules that had no slack.
All the while, traffic at the tunnels and George Washington Bridge continued to worsen.
The first major attempt, dubbed ARC, was controversially cancelled by then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in 2010, who cited concerns about cost overruns and then diverted funds to pay for road repairs.
The existing tunnels were then badly damaged when they were flooded by salt water by Superstorm Sandy.
ARC’s successor, Gateway, was delayed for years over struggles to obtain funding and — New York and New Jersey officials alleged — by President Trump’s administration in its feud with the two heavily Democratic states.
The tunnels will provide a critical second route between New Jersey and Penn Station, where a train breakdown or wiring problem can cause massive delays that ripple across the whole East Coast
