Gateway plans to restart next week

Funds released: commission gives contractors green light

By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... All $205 million in federal funds for the Gateway rail tunnel construction program hat had been frozen by the Trump administration has now been released to the agency overseeing the project - and construction should resume next week. [02/22/2026]
..... The remaining $130 million owed for the Gateway project was released on Wednesday February 18, [2026] said Letitia James, New York's attorney general.
..... The announcement came after two lawsuits were field in different federal courts by the Gateway development Commission, the bistate agency overseeing the 416 billion tunnel construction and rehab program, and the states of New York and New Jersey.
..... In the latter case, the states were successful in receiving a temporary restraining order from a federal judge while the case plays out, which ultimately led to the release of funds.
..... "This funding freeze was unlawful form the start," James said in a statement Wednesday. [02/18/2026]
"We took swift action in court, and now every dollar that was illegally withheld has been released."
..... "The president of the United States - who, you know, has some pretty big economic and jobs challenges that he's facing - would then further hit the economy likewise was bewildering and illegal," New Jersey Governor Mikie Shherrill said during a media availability at an unrelated press conference.
..... We took him to court because I care deeply about jobs and the economy, even if the federal government doesn't seem ti," Sherrill said.
..... The money has tricked out in three waves since February 13 [2026] - and now the Gateway commission has begun sending letters to contractors to restart construction activities, said a statement from the agency.
..... On February 6, [2026] all five active construction sites were paused and about 1,000 laborers were laid off because the Gateway commission ran out of money from a loan it tapped last fall [2025] amid the freeze in federal disbursements.
..... The Gateway project involves constructing a new two-track rail tunnel between North Jersey and New York Penn Station to improve service, and then rehabilitating the 116-year-old tunnel currently in use.
..... NJ Transit and Amtrak riders who take trains hat 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.
..... For nearly a decade spanning both of his presidential terms, the gateway program has been in the cross-hairs of President Donald Trump.
..... He had used the project to hurt Democratic politicians -namely Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York - to try to leverage negotiations on other issues, like immigration reform.
..... Trump recently posted on classic media that he is opposed to the project "because it will cost many BILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than projected or anticipated."
..... Gateway officials and New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said the project was on time and on budget before the pause in funding and construction, which generated unexpected financing costs and expenses to demobilize project sites, secure them and store heavy equipment.
..... Laborers have called against the shutdown for the last two weeks, calling on the president to release the money and restart what some have characterized as an "America First" program.

Where the lawsuits stand

..... Lawyers representing the U.S. Transportation Department provided a status r4eport on February 17 [2026] to Jeannette Vargas, the federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where the states sued the department.
..... The Transpiration Department "promptly lifted the administrative suspension on disbursements' starting last week [02/17/2026] and has worked "without delay to process" the Gateway commission's reimbursement requests "under the six agreements at issue in this action," court documents show.
.....The department appealed Vargas' decision to rescind the temporary restraining order in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
..... That appeal was referred to a motions panel "sitting as early as the week of February 23, 2026," according to the court's clerk.
..... Oral arguments in the Gateway commission's case, which is in the U.S. Court of Federal Appeals, are scheduled for March 12. [2026]

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