Bridge woes underscore need for Hudson River rail project

Massive New Jersey Transit delays Tuesday caused by a stuck 108-year-old bridge underscore the urgency for the Trump administration to get on board with supporting the long-stalled Gateway Program, according to backers of the major infrastructure project.

The 1910-built swingspan Portal Bridge, which carries NJ Transit and Amtrak trains over the Hackensack River, was stuck in an open position twice on Tuesday, leaving thousands of commuters stranded at Manhattan’s Penn Station. The bridge would be replaced as the first stage of the $11.1 billion Gateway project if the needed federal funds appear.

Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg

President Trump and his Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao have resisted efforts to advance Gateway after the Obama administration brokered a 2015 funding plan where the federal government would pay for half of the project. The project would add a new tunnel to the century-old tubes under the Hudson River linking New Jersey to Penn Station, which transportation advocates argue is essential economically because of its impact on the nation’s busiest stretch of passenger rail between Boston and Washington, D.C. The Hudson River tunnels suffered severe water damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

“The Portal bridge has to be replaced with a higher, modern, reliable, non-moveable bridge so 200,000 daily passengers and 10% of the nation's economy don't continue to suffer from ancient infrastructure,” Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Gateway Development Corp., said in a statement. “There is no more time to waste."

Gateway Development is planned as part of a partnership with New York, New Jersey, Amtrak and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority was tapped as the lead sponsor for the tunnel project after the Federal Transit Administration determined that Gateway Development as constituted is not eligible for federal capital improvement grants.

New Jersey agreed in June to assume the state’s entire share of local costs for replacing the Portal Bridge with hopes that the pledged support would boost chances of obtaining federal funds. The financing would come from the issuance of $600 million in state-appropriation-backed bonds that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority NJ Transit board of directed has approved.

“The Portal Bridge replacement is fully permitted and shovel-ready,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement. “It is past time for the Trump Administration to fund its share so our commuters can get to work and our economy can get moving."

The press offices for the U.S. Department of Transportation did not immediately respond for comment on the status of federal funding for the Gateway project.