Progress made on Gateway funding
Feds end review, allege bias in contractor hiring
By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... After going 10 weeks without federal reimbursement, the Gateway Development Commission could be inching toward a solution to resolve a "review" undertaken by the U.S. Department of Transportation into the commission's contracting practices, NorthJersey.com has learned.
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This month, [12/2025] the Transpiration Department noticed the GDC, the bistate agency overseeing construction of the $16 billion Hudson River tunnel projects; the Chicago Transit Authority, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of its initial findings in reviews of the respective agencies' Disadvantaged business enterprise programs.
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Those reviews were timed to commence as the federal government shut down on October1, [2025] which delayed progress on the reviews and extended the pause of federal reimbursement. That was most significant for the Gateway program, the largest federally funded infrastructure project in U.S. history.
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"On December 1, 2025, the Department notified the tree entires of tis initial findings, including that all had contracting practices that are inconsistent with Equal Protection principles of the U.S. Constitution," the Transportation Department press office said in response to an inquire from NorthJersey.com via email. "the entities also were notified of steps they must take to eradicate these discriminatory practices, which will allow for Federal funds to resume for these important infrastructure projects."
..... Stephen Sigmund, a commission spokesman, said officials are reviewing the letter.
..... "We will continue to work cooperatively with our federal partners to ensure we comply with all federal laws and regulations,"Sigmund said.
..... A copy of the letter from the department to the commission was not provided to NorthJersey.com .
..... the targeting of Gateway's disadvantaged Business Enterprise program is believed to have little to do with the program - which is a federal effort to promote the use of small minority and women-owned businesses and dates back to the Reagen administration - and more to do with punishing the new York region over sour budget negotiations between President Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries.
..... The rift hit a zenith about two weeks into the shutdown when Trump vaguely threatened to "terminate" the Gateway program.
..... "The project in Manhattan, the project in New York - it's billions and billions of dollars that Schumer has worked 20 years to get,. It's terminated," Trump said October 15 [2025] during a news conference.
..... About 75% of the funding for the Gateway tunnel project is from the federal government, so that threat was not taken lightly - especial in New Jersey, where NJ Transit commuters routinely face delays and cancellation because of the decrepit tunnel failing form age and damage from Superstorm Sandy. Even weeks, after the government shutdown ended, officials treaded lightly, waiting to hear what would happen with the Transpiration Department's "review" of the enterprise program in hopes that talk of termination would be quickly forgotten.
..... Five of 10 projects in the first $16 billion phase of the Gateway program are under construction, and tunnel boring machines are expected to be delivered in early 2026, marking a significant milestone in the program to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and repair the currently sued one, which is more than a century old.
..... Construction on the new tunnel is projected to be completed in 2035 and repairs to the old one completed by 2038.