Crews have officially broken ground on the New Jersey side of the Gateway Tunnel Project, marking a milestone in a project that has been years in the making. The project, which is considered to be one of the most urgent infrastructure programs in America, will construct a two-way tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan, and rehabilitate the existing tunnel that is over a century old.
The Gateway Program aims to improve reliability, resiliency, and redundancy while creating new capacity for the Northeast Corridor, the most heavily used passenger rail line in the United States. The new tunnels will double the rail capacity, a significant upgrade from the current North River Tunnels that allow a maximum of 24 one-way Amtrak and NJ Transit crossings per hour.
Governor Phil Murphy was on hand for the groundbreaking of the project which is expected to be complete in 2035. Once the new tunnel is open, the old tunnel will undergo repairs that are expected to take 3 years.
The project is expected to create 70,000 jobs and generate nearly $20 billion in economic activity in a region that is home to 17 percent of the U.S. population and 97 Fortune 500 company headquarters.