A real boring job
Gateway planners intend to get machines digging soon
By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
NEWARK - The Gateway commission overseeing the Hudson Rive tunnel project plans to start operating its tunnel boring machines close to schedule even though construction was halted amid the federal government's pause on funding.
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James Starace, chief of program delivery, said the two tunnel boring machines should likely begin excavating through the Palisades sometime between April and the end of September 2026.
..... The first of the two machines is being assembled now, and the parts for the second machine have begun to arrive from Germany, where they were manufactured.
..... The Gateway Development Commission is analyzing the impact the shutdown had on delays and costs, Starace said. Gateway is charged with overseeing the $16 billion project to build a new two-track rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between North Jersey and New York Penn Station, and then rehabilitate the existing tunnel, which is 116 years old.
..... "We're analyzing that, whether the pause had an impact across all our projects," Starace said. "Our goal is always to mitigate any schedule impacts."
..... NJ Transit and Amtrak riders who take trains that sue the old tunnel routinely deal with delays, cancellations and unreliable commutes because of the tunnel's age, as well as the damage from corrosive salt water during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
..... The Gateway commission was forced to pause work at its five active construction sites - and halted the bid process on two other packages - in February 2026 after it ran out of money.
..... The agency and its partners have agreements in place to receive about $15 billion in federal funding reimbursements, but they were paused September 30 [2025] by the Trump administration.
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The construction pause forced the Gateway commission to lay off nearly 1,000 construction workers and spend millions to secure the project sites and store heavy equipment. It prevented the agency form moving ahead on schedule on two bid packages.
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More than $205 million was withheld until a federal judge forced the administration to disburse those dollars at the end of February. [2026]
..... There are currently two lawsuits pending in two courts - one filed by the Gateway commission, the other by the states of New York and New Jersey - to force the Trump administration to keep federal funding flowing for the projects.
..... New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill vowed to keep fighting the Trump administration as long as it takes.
..... "Funding for the biggest, most urgent infrastructure project in the nation cannot be threatened every time Donald Trump decides to break the law," Sherrill told the Gateway board commissioners during their meeting Monday, March 23. [2026]
..... "We'll be in court again on April 16. [2026] We're seeking that injunction to make sure work continues uninterrupted until this case concludes, and we're seeking a final ruling to make clear for good that the federal government has no legal right to withhold any of those funds," Sherrill said.
..... Gateway is trying to get the two packages that were expected to go out to bid before Mach done "as soon as possible," Starace said. The bid package for boring under the Hudson River is closer to the award phase, while the other bid package for the New Jersey alignment, which would connect the tunnel tracks to Secaucus Junction station, is in the process of qualifying bidders.
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Thomas Prendergast, the CEO and president of the Gateway commission, said the agency is showing some caution but the contracting community is still showing interest in participating in the bid process.
..... "Contractors are always concerned," Prendergast said. "They want to make sure that this project is continuing forth, so to that extent they want to know, and we're sending a very clear signal, we expect to award these contracts."
..... Garth Naar, the CEO and founder of broadband cable company Avatar Tech, said those hit hardest by funding unreliability are the subcontractors, many of which are women-and minority-owned businesses.
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When momentum is stopped, "it cause a large degree of uncertainly, and that can be even more devastating for subcontractors," Naar told the board commissioners at the March [2026] meeting.
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"Ensure subcontractors are aid on time, especially during funding delays or if there;s continences that can be made during these funding delays," Naar said.